Where did everyone go? The summer holiday / founder conundrum
An extra short bonus article from me. Because I’m working flat out. All hours. Busy busy busy.
You see, I’m the only one in the office. Everyone else is off on the summer hols.
I don’t mind — they all bloody deserve it and they’ve worked like absolute soldiers over the last couple of years. Hell, I’ve even encouraged a couple of my team to take time off and recharge their batteries.
We’ve actually got an unlimited holiday policy. So bizarrely, the hardest part of my job is actually getting my team to take enough time off. I LOVE the fact that they love their jobs so much that they just want to keep on cracking away. That I’ve been able to create a culture where they feel part of a bigger machine with one shared goal. But they need the break to recharge their batteries, come back fresh…
But it doesn’t half get lonely when everyone ups and leaves.
It’s the eternal challenge for entrepreneurs, founders, business owners… and those freelancers out there. Can we ever really stop. Unplug. Relax.
I know I need to. It’s just trying to find the time. And working around the holidays my team have booked in. And client meetings.
I always end up taking a couple of weeks off in the depths of mid-winter. When the weather sucks. Maybe this year will be different. I’ll take some time off and enjoy the summer sun. Work on my tan. Do some sight-seeing. Get the BBQ fired up.
Or maybe I’ll save that for next year… who’s with me?
Thom Gibbons is CEO of Apptaura, a local app development agency based in Basingstoke. Apptaura has an unlimited holiday policy, which causes loads of issues with a whole array of HR reporting tools. Currently the entire team have around 900 days holiday available in their Breathe accounts. It was the only solution we could come up with.
