Four weeks and a shave

Hello everybody,

I apologize for my long absence from the blog, but I have just returned from my Homestead Sabbatical, a nice perk that all employees at Homestead receive.  For every five years of employment at Homestead, you get four weeks off paid, on top of your normal vacation time.  The intent is for folks to take an extended break, whether to explore the world, take an intensive continued education course, learn to cook, or bike across the country (all real examples).  For me, it was an extended overseas trip with my family, and a chance to grow a beard.  (Some sort of romanticized notion of freedom from social constraints when travelling overseas? Or all those caveman ads getting to me?)

Besides making our employees feel great, the sabbatical also plays another important role in our company.  It makes us a better organization.  When one of your key employees leaves for a month (and anybody who's been here for five years is definitely key), it forces other people to walk in his/her shoes, and learn how to do his/her job.  This is a key piece of building a "learning organization" which is my term for a company where employees are encouraged to ask/answer questions, enjoy teaching their colleagues about their jobs, and welcome feedback from folks who have different or new perspectives.  A learning organization is the opposite of  "silo" or "Dilbert" organization, where people hold on tightly to their knowledge and don't want to share it, because they think it is the key to their job security and/or power.  Just read Dilbert if you want to know what it's like to work at a place like that.  Or, you probably can just recollect one of your past jobs.

I realize that not every entrepreneur is in a position to give their employees long amounts of paid time off, or may be too new to benefit from a policy like this.  But there are other ways to get the same results.  Schedule a key presentation when you know your best presenter is going to be out of town.  Then watch other folks step up, and watch how your star tries to prep them and help from afar.  Or encourage some of your senior folks to take off a week of extra paid vacation and then get all of your new people into a room and tell them you are counting on them to step up and learn the ropes quickly.  Have "ride along" days where person A "rides along" on person B's job; then switch positions the next day.

I am pretty confident that you want to build an organization, no matter how big or small, where the knowledge in the collective organization is greater than any individual.  And you want employees who know you care about them hollistically as people, and realize that it makes them better employees.  For every day or week or month of time you give them, they will give you back many multiples of that in hard work, fresh ideas, and loyalty.

What I can tell you for sure is that I've returned more energized than ever about the business, and in dire need of a shave.

--jsk