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Working at Hatch

by Cody Carnachan,
March 10, 2017

Hatch isn’t your everyday digital agency. We place an emphasis on people, because our industry isn’t about pixels and code, it is about people. People work with people, people understand people, and people help people.

Most businesses do a great job of looking after other people. Though too many fall into a trap and neglect their people.

Business owners need to take responsibility for looking after their staff, and not just because it is the right thing to do. The economic benefits are immense. Did you know:

  • Over $11bn is lost annually due to employee turnover
  • Engaged employees out-perform those without by up to 202%
  • Or, that a 5% improvement in employee engagement could mean a 3% increase in sales?

Whilst it may be clear that looking after your team is (or should be) an important priority in business, what does prioritising your people actually look like?

Prioritising People

In our team, prioritising people is creating an environment with the right conditions to allow them to be challenged, to grow, and to develop themselves.

There’s a common misconception that happiness at work can be bought with bonuses & holidays. The reality is, there’s more to it than that.

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a model that defines what intrinsically motivates people. SDT identifies three innate needs that, if satisfied, allow optimal function and growth:

  • Competence — the act of developing oneself & gaining proficiency
  • Relatedness — the universal want to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others
  • Autonomy — the universal urge to be in control of your life & where it goes

I’ve used the SDT framework to look back in on our organisation and assess how I’m creating opportunities for the team to grow as people.

Great people make great employees

I’m a big believer in the value of striving to be all-rounded, holistic people because they are:

  1. More resilient & prepared for dealing with difficult or stressful situations; and
  2. Mindful of their strengths & weaknesses and know how to work with them; and
  3. More aware of how to synergise with other people through a greater sense of empathy from a wider & deeper set of life experiences.

This is why, earlier this year, our team created and adopted our own values framework: “Nest”.

Nest is a model of the values that we think are important in creating a well-rounded person, and hence a well-rounded team. It’s comprised of five core values:

Mindfulness — Raising your level of awareness by developing the skill to extract yourself from situations and assess where you are, what you’re doing & not be overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around you.

Balance — Understanding that placing too much focus on one area can be unhealthy for both the body & soul & that enriching our lives through variety can help us to be more empathetic, understanding & generally happier.

Proficiency — Developing our skills to a high degree, honing our attention to detail & looking for ways to become more productive & efficient in the way we work both individually & as a team.

Synergy — Learning how we tick, how the people around us tick & how we can work better with those people to achieve mutually beneficial & successful outcomes.

Curiosity — Accepting you will never have all the answers but valuing the pursuit of knowledge, developing your ability to think outside of the box & compose creative solutions to the problems around you.

Making work, work for you

A lot of people think that work is the most important thing in life.

I disagree.

This model has created a framework for us to look at things in new and different ways. Sometimes with surprising results. Since introducing Nest, we’ve launched a few internal initiatives, including:

  • Hatch Week: a yearly one-week company retreat, more: Hatch Week 2017
  • Four-day work weeks, more: Introducing the Hatch four-day work week
  • Daily team exercise sessions, more: Introducing the Hatch 90 Minute Lunch

Hatch has a holistic working environment, which encourages team members to always be on the lookout for opportunities to grow and develop.

Written by
Cody Carnachan, Managing Director
Kia Ora!
I'm Cody and I started Flume over 10 years ago — and it's been a wild ride! I started my journey at the ripe, young age of 14, when I taught myself to code, and ever since, I've been passionate about tech and business. Outside of work, there's a good chance you'll find me cruising out on the Waitematā.
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