At work, the notion of a traditional 9 to 5 is gone, with even more legacy companies opting for more flexible work weeks.
The crazy (and exciting!) part of this is that no one has the answers. Seasoned people leaders and executives are all figuring out what their company plans are, which are still changing by the week. We’ll be sharing stories of people leaders who we’ve interviewed to highlight the diversity of thought and creativity exhibited by some of our favorite companies as they approach new challenges over the coming weeks. We'll also be sharing our own.
It has been a time of reflection for many of us. We’ve taken a pause and thought deeply about how we live our most fulfilling professional and personal lives. That goes for the Marco team and me, as well as employees across the world.
As writer Annie Dillard so aptly put it: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
Jessica Pryce-Jone, author of “Happiness at Work”, put data behind this, calculating that the average person spends 90,000 hours at work. This equates to roughly 1/3rd of our lives. It has always been important to think through how we live our best lives at work. A moment of reflection has provided us the opportunity to realize that it’s really, really important.
One trend that has emerged during COVID is being called “The Great Resignation.” The Labour Bureau calculates that 4 million Americans left their jobs in April of 2021, heralding an era of greater consideration of employees saying “sayonara” to their employers if they don’t feel fulfilled.
Microsoft did some great research in their report “The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready?”. One wild finding was that 41% of employees are considering leaving their current employers. If you are an employer - you have to be thinking WHOA. You’ve worked so hard to attract employees, how do you get them to stick around? Hybrid work, now more than ever, will make it easier for employees to find something that makes them feel more fulfilled.
Marco is a small but mighty company. We are trying to live up to what we’re selling, which is building culture for companies. To achieve that, we need to have a best-in-class culture. As part of that, we’ve tried to define both a mission and a set of values that defines our culture.
To be honest, as an early-stage startup, we weren’t sure how to create a mission statement or set of values. So we put our heads together and brainstormed with our entire team.
Here’s what we came up with:
We bring people together through extraordinary experiences.
Whether it's for the customer, our hosts, or our team, we strive to build community through extraordinary experiences. Customer experiences should be best-in-class. We enable Marco hosts to build the most unique experiences. Our team should come to Marco to have the most meaningful professional experiences of their careers.
Everyone at Marco is an owner. Our team relies on each other. Don't let your immediate role limit what you do or learn. Lil’ Wayne put it best: "Real G's move in silence like lasagna." Stay curious and stay humble.
We aspire for greatness. We also strive for action. So rather than NOT do something in favor of ensuring it's done perfectly, have a bias towards action. Do the simple things first, and then iterate and improve to achieve greatness.
Define a new way to solve a problem, or find a new problem that people didn't know they had. Find these problems and solve them with excellence - whether that's on a company or an individual level. Seek different, not just better.
We trust our team, and assume positive intent. But know that someone on the team is trusting you, and that that trust is yours to lose.
We embrace transparency within our business and as team members. As a business, be clear about where we are and where we're going. As team members, provide transparent feedback—thoughtful in nature and delivery—to help one other become the best version of ourselves.
Come join us. We promise you, it'll be one of the most rewarding experiences of your career.
We have some incredible openings right now:
We can't wait to meet you!