Hire Better Solutions CEO JONATHAN DAVIS ON BEING A SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEUR
Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize winning economist,
has been talking about Social Responsibility for business since the 70's. To the
chagrin of many who were hoping for something very liberal, his definition of it
was that, "there is one and only one social responsibility of a business - to use
its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits." And while
I share with Adam Smith and Mr. Friedman skepticism towards the idea that there
are benefits expected from "those who affected to trade for the public good", I
think there are still ways for businesses to act in a socially responsible way and
increase profits as a direct result.
Today, I've got 25 Work at Home Moms (I'm the only Dad) that work for Hire Better Solutions. I've discovered that Social Responsibility doesn't always mean using recycled paper or car-pooling. For my company, Social Responsibility is allowing a family to come first and building an entirely virtual organization around that core value.
Don't get me wrong, our form of Social Responsibility comes with some other really fantastic perks too: by allowing everyone to work from home, the quality of work that we receive and provide for our clients is exponentially better and more efficient than I've ever seen in other organizations that I've both run and worked in. Think about the last time you saw a Mom who had 2 toddlers and was handling them with ease while you thought to yourself, "That must be exhausting!" My team brings this ability to juggle and work under pressure to work every day. Further, when I hear fellow EO members ask about employee morale and retention I just scratch my head because we don't have to deal with any of it. We've placed a priority on real work/life balance, our team knows that it's ok to go to the doctor's office at a moment's notice, or a kid's recital or spend 2 hours in the morning reading books and finger painting. We're managing to results and not a time clock and it's been, quite honestly, very liberating.
It hasn't all been utopian - this audience would know better than any that there's always a hitch. For some people that start with us, the idea and dream of working again is a lot easier when you're not actually engaged in it. They get 3 hours into their first day and feel guilty or recognize that they're not ready yet. For others, the demands of working and raising a family are too much of a burden. I also have to employ a full-time, non-revenue producing employee who does nothing but manage calendars and ensure that we're covered each week with everything we need to handle because our average employee only works 4 hours a day and in increments of 1 hour.
When it comes right down to it, I've learned that the hardest part of having an entirely virtual company was having faith that the people in the organization were doing their part even though I couldn't see them every day. When I finally got comfortable with that level of trust I found that the rest of the team recognized it too and they've stepped up tremendously. It still, after nearly 2 years, makes me smile every time I get a call or email from one of our Moms who says, "I can't believe how much this job has helped my marriage and my mind and made me value the time that I have with my kids." Mr. Friedman wouldn't agree with me, but I think that the impact we're having on the lives of our employees directly and positively affects our bottom line.
