DG Group employees get extra day off in exchange for a can-do attitude

In the fight to appease talent, some companies are offering extra benefits. Our sister publication Paperjam is looking at seven examples this summer. This week: DG Group, which has given its employees an extra day off, in exchange for which they can no longer say “yes, but…” in meetings.

The 75 employees of DG Group ( five companies, from marketing with Noosphere to construction with Comodo) enjoyed a very long weekend in May. This is because they got Monday 8 May off, neatly sandwiched between the weekend and the public holiday of 9 May.

But it wasn’t a one-off: it’s a new annual holiday for DG Group employees, one with strings attached.

The strings: having a can-do attitude

“The original idea was that, in a meeting, there’s always one person who says ‘yes, but…’,” says DG Group CEO David Gavroy. He illustrates the conversation: “‘Can you do that?’ ‘Yes, but…’”

“I don’t want excuses,” he continues, “I want solutions. I don’t want employees complaining while others have to think for them.” The company has therefore used the play on words between the near-homophones “8 May” and “yes, but”--in French huit mai and oui mais--to ban both the phrase, with all that it implies, and the workday of 8 May.

How much is this costing the company?

The loss of revenue, says the CEO, is “in the region of €45,000.”

What will it accomplish?

Says Gavroy: “As soon as someone says ‘yes, but…’ someone else will immediately reply: ‘there are no yes, buts here.’ In the management committee, we have insisted that this message be given to all managers.” With this, the CEO believes that his objective of “empowering” the group’s teams has been achieved. “We want intrapreneurs, not people who have to be told what to do.”

And the results so far?

“It’s costing the company a lot of money, but everyone enjoyed the long weekend and it allows us, throughout the year, to abolish the ‘yes, but…’ attitude in a fun way. In the end, it’s a win-win situation.”

Another dose of flexibility

DG Group flexible working early last year, a perk that is difficult to apply in the construction sector, which the group with its acquisition of Comodo in December. The company is therefore considering other measures. For example: “We are going to try to organise things so that workers can carpool using Comodo vehicles,” says the CEO, something which wasn’t possible before. The relocation of the storage hall, so that employees lose less time on the road, is also on the agenda.

This article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.