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You should expect him to work 8 hours day and depending on the culture you wish for your company, I also suggest you be laid-back with office hours. The most im

by mprovo1 16y ago

You should expect him to work 8 hours day and depending on the culture you wish for your company, I also suggest you be laid-back with office hours. The most important is that things get done regardless of when. Losing good employees is very costly, you want to maximize your chances they are happy. Having strict rules and implying that employees are more or less "required" to work more than 40 hours (because everybody else do) will eventually burn them out and they will leave. Great developers have a lot of opportunities!

rikthevik 16y ago
Speaking as a relatively early (#5 or so) employee in a startup, I second this. I work 40 hours a week remotely, but if I'm on a roll or I head to the office, it's not uncommon for me to put in overtime. I worry a bit that I'm underperforming because some of the other guys put in the kind of time the OP describes, but I don't think it's ever been expected of me, as long as we're getting stuff done and hitting our targets. The founders at my place may be unusually cool, however, so YMMV.
andrewce 16y ago
Seconded! If you're working 19 hours a day, there aren't many hours when you're not working. As such, there's no reason to put too many limits on when your 1st employee can work (so long as those 40 hours/week are met and stuff is getting done). You may wish to consider allowing telecommuting, as well as to allow employees to save every hour over 40 they work per week as vacation time ("comp-time"?). Another alternative: as the employee what type of schedule s/he would like to set, and make it a cooperative process rather than an autocratic process. Autonomy is a huge component of job satisfaction (along with complexity and a clear payoff between effort and reward), so the more autonomy you can give, the more likely it is that you'll keep this person happy enough to stay. The last full-time job I worked, I was the only full-time employee, and was not allowed to set my own schedule, nor to choose my own tasks, and I was frequently required to work 10-20 hours per week of unpaid overtime. Needless to say, my happiness levels jumped significantly when I quit that job, in spite of the tenuous nature of substitute teaching and non-profit work. Hopefully your first employee will have a much better experience.
bstrong 16y ago
I've been involved with a number of startups, and I can't think of a single occasion when early employees worked less than 10 hours a day. I think setting a lower expectation is wrong for at least three reasons: 1) It is entirely possible to work 50 hours a week and have a good work/life balance without burning yourself out (I say this as an actively involved father who works more than that). 2) The first few employees are absolutely critical to how the company and culture will evolve, and if you want to build a high-performance team, you really need employees who are driven to work harder than they would an established company. Setting clear expectations about work hours is a good way to screen out those who aren't ready for the challenge. 3) The very first employee is practically a founder and needs to think and act like one. Which isn't to say they need to work as much as you do, but certainly a good bit more than a 40 hour week.

by mprovo1 16y ago

rikthevik 16y ago

Speaking as a relatively early (#5 or so) employee in a startup, I second this. I work 40 hours a week remotely, but if I'm on a roll or I head to the office, it's not uncommon for me to put in overtime. I worry a bit that I'm underperforming because some of the other guys put in the kind of time the OP describes, but I don't think it's ever been expected of me, as long as we're getting stuff done and hitting our targets. The founders at my place may be unusually cool, however, so YMMV.

andrewce 16y ago

Seconded! If you're working 19 hours a day, there aren't many hours when you're not working. As such, there's no reason to put too many limits on when your 1st employee can work (so long as those 40 hours/week are met and stuff is getting done). You may wish to consider allowing telecommuting, as well as to allow employees to save every hour over 40 they work per week as vacation time ("comp-time"?). Another alternative: as the employee what type of schedule s/he would like to set, and make it a cooperative process rather than an autocratic process. Autonomy is a huge component of job satisfaction (along with complexity and a clear payoff between effort and reward), so the more autonomy you can give, the more likely it is that you'll keep this person happy enough to stay. The last full-time job I worked, I was the only full-time employee, and was not allowed to set my own schedule, nor to choose my own tasks, and I was frequently required to work 10-20 hours per week of unpaid overtime. Needless to say, my happiness levels jumped significantly when I quit that job, in spite of the tenuous nature of substitute teaching and non-profit work. Hopefully your first employee will have a much better experience.

bstrong 16y ago

I've been involved with a number of startups, and I can't think of a single occasion when early employees worked less than 10 hours a day. I think setting a lower expectation is wrong for at least three reasons: 1) It is entirely possible to work 50 hours a week and have a good work/life balance without burning yourself out (I say this as an actively involved father who works more than that). 2) The first few employees are absolutely critical to how the company and culture will evolve, and if you want to build a high-performance team, you really need employees who are driven to work harder than they would an established company. Setting clear expectations about work hours is a good way to screen out those who aren't ready for the challenge. 3) The very first employee is practically a founder and needs to think and act like one. Which isn't to say they need to work as much as you do, but certainly a good bit more than a 40 hour week.