How to Inspire Your Employees to Work 12 Hours on a Saturday
Quick: Think of the top three items on your to-do list. These are likely must-do tasks that cannot wait another day. While each item may be essential to your business, you probably wish that you had more time to tackle big-picture projects.
My team and I felt this way for years until one day a solution became crystal clear: Why not schedule a 12-hour, weekend shift where employees and management would work together to knock out pie-in-the-sky projects? While, yes, I’ll admit it sounded crazy at first, we’ve now executed two ‘Build-A-Thons’ and they get better each go-round. With solid focus, we’ve been able to start and finish initiatives we never would’ve found time to do otherwise.
Interested in giving your own Build-A-Thon a try? If so, here are a few tips.
Establish an agenda
Sit down with your management team several months before the Build-A-Thon to discuss proposed projects. Whittle down your list and then send out a survey (or a simple email) to employees asking what items they’d like to focus on during that day. A week before the event, circulate an agenda and a timeline for each project. Established goals will help the day go by quickly.
Make it fun
Our Build-A-Thons are voluntary. While our salaried employees do this out of the kindness of their hearts, our hourly employees earn overtime. We inspire both sets of staffers to attend by making the event an absolute blast, complete with a DJ that spins lively beats all day long and t-shirts made specifically for participants.
In addition, we have designated breaks where we play games and give away prizes like trips to Las Vegas and Disneyland. If your budget is too tight for this, I recommend giving away gift cards to local coffee shops or fun gag items from the dollar store. The more fun your event, the more enthusiastic your employees will be to attend.
Respect the timeframe
Our Build-A-Thons start at 12 p.m. Saturday and end at 12 a.m. Sunday. We are strict with this timeframe and strongly encourage our employees to stay through the end. We instituted this thought process after our first one, when we saw employees start to trickle out around 8 p.m. Those who stayed were visibly distraught at the next four hours ahead of them. Since then, everyone who signs up is agreeing to stay. Sticking to this rule increases focus and camaraderie within the group.
Avoid alcohol
A DJ, games and prizes will make your event loads of fun; you don’t need alcohol on top of that. Especially if you are tackling client-facing projects, stay away from the booze.
Still not sure? Try proposing the idea to your employees and management staff. You’ll be surprised by the positive reaction.
