Be Quiet.
Enabling our most creative work
In life, there is Busy Work, and there is Quiet Work.
Busy Work is how we earn our keep: attending meetings, estimating, rendering, and emailing.
Quiet Work is how we create the most impact: reflecting, contemplating, analyzing, sharing, and sometimes doing nothing, alone with our thoughts. So finding more time for Quiet Work outside our busy calendars is imperative.
One of the many ways we help our employees find this time outside of Busy Work is through our Open Vacation Policy— Unlimited Paid Leave for the HR types. Yes, I imagine my esteemed European counterparts at Affinità rolling their eyes as they read this as if to say, “we don’t have vacation issues in Europe.”
However, in the United States—the only advanced economy in the world without federally mandated paid vacation laws—it’s up to the private enterprise to set standards. And while the vast majority of companies offer paid vacation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it takes an average of 20 years of service to accrue 20 days of paid leave in the private sector.
Of course, exceptions like Netflix and LinkedIn provide Unlimited Paid Leave as a matter of principle and as a talent retention tool. They know that Unlimited Paid Leave fosters positive feelings and a sense of well-being.
But it isn’t all altruistic. Particularly in the creative world, supporting Unlimited Paid Leave is also good for business. A fresh mind improves productivity and decision-making while strengthening personal relationships—inside and outside the workplace.
How do we make it work?
Trust is the basis of all relationships. But trust is not given; it’s earned. Every day at Agenda, we make dozens of small decisions in pursuit of each other’s trust, such as:
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But two vital elements rise to the top in enabling the building of that trust.
We decentralize decision-making.
We are structured in distinctive and complementary teams with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. When things inevitably overlap, we ensure each team knows who drives and who plays shotgun without unnecessary involvement from senior leaders. Every person and team get a chance to find time outside Busy Work on their own terms, resulting in tightly-knit units consulting with and covering for each other. It is an ongoing process. But guided by our values, it gets easier every day.
We work hard to rest.
Our core policies work symbiotically to promote work-life balance. Like living organisms, one feeds into the other, seldom standing on its own. For example, we linked our Unlimited Paid Leave to our Profit Share policy. At Agenda, vacations are rewarding—and mandatory. Simply put, only employees who take the required number of days off are eligible for profit-sharing. That’s right, no break, no bonus.
So even when the Busy Work gets too much, our policy nudges people to take time off without guilt or fear of appearance.
Vacations are a necessity, not a perk.
It took us a long time to realize this—20 years, to be exact. Today, we foster an environment where employees grow personally and professionally to realize their best.
In exchange, they give back to our clients and us the most precious gift—their absolute, most creative, and impactful work.
To whom at Agenda should I email my resumé? Un abrazo amigo.