{"id":5875,"date":"2013-02-19T11:45:47","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T18:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fullcontact.com\/?p=5875"},"modified":"2022-04-05T07:13:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T13:13:39","slug":"let-my-people-go-skiing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fullcontact.com\/blog\/fullcontact-news\/let-my-people-go-skiing\/","title":{"rendered":"Let My People Go Skiing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a big fan of the book Let My People Go Surfing<\/a>\u00a0by Yvon Chouinard, the Founder of Patagonia.<\/p>\n

Yvon’s message is part of the inspiration behind our new Powder Day<\/strong> policy.<\/p>\n

But only part<\/em> of the inspiration. There’s a little more to it:<\/p>\n

The Back Story<\/h2>\n

When I was a kid growing up in Bozeman, Montana, we had some epic winter storms.<\/p>\n

In 1991, I remember a storm that dumped two feet of snow. The governor called a \u00a0‘state of emergency.’<\/p>\n

It was awesome.<\/p>\n

For two days, schools were closed.<\/p>\n

Offices weren’t. \u00a0 All the grownups still had to go to work.<\/p>\n

But my Dad was no grownup.<\/p>\n

Instead of going to work, my Dad played hookey and went skiing at Bridger Bowl with a co-worker.<\/p>\n

He called it a Powder Day. \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember seeing the pictures. \u00a0 They were awesome.<\/p>\n

Powder up to his neck, there is my Dad, busting through the turns.<\/p>\n

This was before big fat powder skis<\/a>. \u00a0This was old school. “Long Effin’ Skis” – as my Dad calls them.<\/p>\n

The secret to powder skiing is to “just lean back and keep the tips up.”<\/p>\n

My Dad used to be a ski patrolman, a ski instructor and a ski bum. He knew what he was talking about. And he knew how to ski powder.<\/p>\n

Looking back, I don’t really remember most of the days my Dad went to the office.<\/p>\n

But I do remember him playing hookey to go skiing for a Powder Day<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

My Dad Framed this Photo of his Epic Powder Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And I remember being really proud of him at the time. \u00a0\u00a0I also remember thinking: ‘doesn’t seem fair – why don’t all grownups get a Powder Day?’<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, how things change.<\/p>\n

For some reason, I didn’t inherit my Dad’s attitude towards work-life balance when I entered the workforce.<\/p>\n

I was a workaholic at age 16. \u00a0 And it only got worse.<\/p>\n

Physically, I let my body go.<\/p>\n

Emotionally, I wasn’t available to anyone I was in a relationship with – and I have a long list of ex-girlfriends that will testify to that.<\/p>\n

My motto was MTFU<\/em> – meaning “Man the Fuck Up” – whenever an employee complained about burnout.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I asked my Dad about his approach to work-life balance, and he said something that stays with me.<\/p>\n

I lost two brothers before I was 30 years old. \u00a0Makes you realize that life can be pretty damn short.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My Dad lost his older brother Bob in a car accident and his younger brother Ken in a plane crash.<\/p>\n

Strangely, before that moment, I had really never thought about the profound impact these events had on him.<\/p>\n

When faced with a choice, between ‘work more’<\/em> or ‘live a little’<\/em>, my Dad always chose to ‘live a little<\/em>.’<\/p>\n

He worked hard, but he also chose to take a Powder Day<\/strong> once in awhile.<\/p>\n

He chose wisely. \u00a0 Which brings us to:<\/p>\n

The Powder Day Policy<\/h2>\n

As I was reviewing some 15Fives<\/a> the other week, an employee wrote the following:<\/p>\n

After working 14 hours one day, and then it snows 14 inches the next day, it’d be nice to hit the slopes on a weekday with the ability to make it up on a weekend.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I read that, and thought of my Dad. \u00a0 As an avid skiier myself, I totally agreed with him.<\/p>\n

Plus, there’s a reason we live in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Our motto in Colorado is ‘work hard, play hard.’<\/p>\n

We love the 300 days of sunshine and we enjoy the outdoors.<\/p>\n

It just doesn’t make sense to limit that enjoyment to Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays.<\/p>\n

So, last week at our all-hands we announced our new Powder Day<\/strong> policy.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, an employee can simply take a day off to go skiing, or snowboarding, or whatever, whenever they need to<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At FullContact, we trust our employees immensely. \u00a0 But with trust comes responsibility.<\/p>\n

So, we set a few basic ground rules:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You can’t screw your team.<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. You have to make the day up within 14 days.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. This is an experiment based on trust.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We’ve learned from our Paid, PAID Vacation policy<\/a>\u00a0that people really benefit from a break from routine once in awhile. \u00a0 Sometimes it doesn’t need to be a week off the grid. \u00a0 Sometimes it’s just one day in the mountains on a weekday.<\/p>\n

    We’ll see how this new Powder Day policy goes. \u00a0 \u00a0I’m excited and so is everyone at FullContact.<\/p>\n

    Personally, can’t wait to call my Dad up on a Tuesday and say\u00a0“Hey old man, let’s go skiing.” \u00a0He’ll be thrilled.<\/p>\n

    And yes, we’re hiring<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \t\t\t\tI’m a big fan of the book Let My People Go Surfing\u00a0by Yvon Chouinard, the Founder of Patagonia. Yvon’s message is part of the inspiration behind our new Powder Day policy.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_improvement_type_select":"improve_an_existing","_thumb_yes_seoaic":false,"_frame_yes_seoaic":false,"seoaic_generate_description":"","seoaic_improve_instructions_prompt":"","seoaic_rollback_content_improvement":"","seoaic_idea_thumbnail_generator":"","thumbnail_generated":false,"thumbnail_generate_prompt":"","seoaic_article_description":"","seoaic_article_subtitles":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[258,53],"class_list":["post-5875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fullcontact-news","tag-startup-life","tag-startup"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLet My People Go Skiing | FullContact<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you live in Colorado, sometimes you just want to call in sick and take a powder day. 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