David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify “outsourced” all the company’s work in October. And that, writes Business Insider, does not mean it has replaced his employees with cheaper workers.
Barrett moved more than 20 colleagues of the online research company established a few years ago to Thailand for a whole month in October, so that they can stay on the beach. The move has traditionally happen every year, because Barrett believes that “there is no better way to coagulate a team.” “We go for a month in a place with holy trinity: electricity, internet and beach. We seek inexpensive locations,” says the head of Expensify. Last year they were in Vietnam and this year they went to southern Thailand at Railay Beach.
The company just hired six people in September, just before the trip. At most companies, new employees would be discriminated against, but at Expensify they went straight to work, leaving for the beach with their new colleagues. And yet, we are not talking about a classic corporate initiative, it is not a holiday with all expenses included, but rather a journey. People are doing their daily duties and attend meetings. Expensify pays the flight and a few lunches, but that’s not a big deal, because at its San Francisco office, the company pays the meal for employees. Employees pay their own accommodation, some of them renting their housing while they are away from home to reduce costs.
Altogether, Barrett estimated that the trip cost the company about $30,000. This is not a big hole in the company’s budget. Expensify was declared one of the best start-ups in 2009 with sales of $6.7 million, a lucrative business.
The trip is optional, but almost all employees participate. Only one of the new employees did not make the trip, because he was just moving from the other end of US to San Francisco, and some older employees go for only two weeks. “It is the most productive month of the year. We change time zone, they are unable to speak the local language, it is a very closed environment. So they have time to talk, which would have never happened back home. The best business ideas come from these trips,” explains Barrett.
Reply