In a post last week about how to measure the effectiveness of startup employees, we mentioned that perhaps the number of hours worked isn’t the best metric. With that said, this weekend was Labor Day weekend in the U.S., one of the more popular get-out-of-town weekends of the entire calendar, but does that apply for entrepreneurs and startups? Certainly there were some die-hards out there that refused to leave their desks this weekend, but we still wanted to know – do startups labor on labor day? I polled Twitter over the weekend and got some interesting responses. Here’s what you had to say.
“No question. It is something I enjoy too much, had to put at least a couple hours in.”
-techofnow
One of the most succinct responses I was sent came from Pasadena-based IT pro Brian Jeremy, who
, “entrepreneurs never take days off.” Never? Not even on Labor Day, a holiday meant to be a celebration and respite from work? I suppose, for an entrepreneur, the right mindset means never feeling satisfied with one’s work, and always wanting to work harder and longer (and enjoying every second of it). Perhaps the hardest working entrepreneurs don’t feel they deserve a day like Labor Day?
Jeremy isn’t alone in his sentiments. In fact, many of the responses leaned in favor of working on Labor Day. Chris Grayson, a New York-based digital media consultant and marketing strategist, said, “What @brianjeremy said.” Others jokingly hinted at the fact that they were unaware any holiday even existed today.
When I asked if it was even a question that startups and entrepreneurs would work this weekend, the entrepreneur behind the Twitter account techofnow replied, “No question. It is something I enjoy too much, had to put at least a couple hours in.” Another response said, “I love to use holidays as a chance to get ahead of the competition,” which is certainly a good move, if your competition gets lazy.
It would seem that time off and holidays are few and far between for young companies looking to get off the ground. For those with some experience (and a team of employees) under their belts, holidays are avoided less often. Jeff Powers, co-founder at Occipital, says that even though his team officially had the day off, he’s “been working all day as usual.” Sometimes even the most seasoned entrepreneurs-turned-managers can’t break old work habits.
But perhaps polling Twitter was a bit of a biased method for this question. After all, those out enjoying the holiday weekend are less likely to be paying attention to Twitter well enough to chime in.
So here is your opportunity – let us know: did your startup get work done this Labor Day weekend? Or did you take the time to decompress before getting back to business Tuesday? Or was it a mix of both with laptops on the beach? Leave us a comment with your opinion on working holidays!
