I'm kind of a big deal

A couple of months ago, I was at an networking event.  It's the kind of networking event that has a wide variety of people: from people who dream of starting a company to CEOs of very successful enterprises. Like most events, I was wearing a name badge with my name and company.

Towards the end of the event, I was approached by someone who I'd never met before. He came up to me as I was saying goodbye to someone else, and he said, "Matt Douglas?! Wow, I'm a big fan of what you guys are doing at Punchbowl." I smiled and thanked him. After a few more accolades, he launched into a description of the start-up that he was trying to build. I honestly can't remember a thing he told me about it. It was the end of a long day. And if I remember correctly, it wasn't particularly innovative. It sounded like he was still in very early stages, and he didn't yet have any demonstrable traction. And in the back of my head I was thinking, "Wow, you're pretty clueless, and I'm tired. I'm kind of a big deal, you're not, and I need to get going."

Yeah, that's right. I'm kind of a big deal. I'm the founder of a successful consumer-internet company. I've raised multiple rounds of funding from venture capitalists. Millions of people use the product that I created. I have lots of employees and a big office. People get excited when they see me at an event or conference. I have won awards. I'm kind of a big deal!

Back at the networking event, I said goodbye to my admirer and I made my way to the exit. Just as I was about to leave, an old friend called out to me "Hey Matt, I want you to meet a colleague of mine." The next thing I know, I'm standing in front of one of most well-respected CEOs in Boston. This guy is top-notch. His company has $500M+ in revenues and he has hundreds of employees. It was awesome to meet him. Of course, I wanted to tell him a little bit about Punchbowl -- so I described to him what we're doing, how we're doing it, and how the company is growing fast.

And that's when I saw it. He had that slightly glazed look in his eyes. He was tired, he wanted to go home, and I was blathering to him about my rinky-dink start-up. I looked into his eyes, and it was almost as if I could see the words painted onto his retina: "I'm kind of a big deal." I'll never forget that moment and how it made me feel. Just minutes earlier *I* was a big deal, and now I was in the presence of someone who was (in my eyes), a really big deal. And yet, in the presence of one of the great CEOs of our time, this "big deal" CEO would feel like a nobody just as I did in front of him. How do you think Steve Ballmer or Steve Jobs would act in front of this "big deal" CEO at the end of a long day?

I think back to the early days of my journey of starting Punchbowl, and I'm certain that there have been numerous people who had a similar experience with me. I was a nobody, trying to be somebody, just hoping for my break. I'm sure that I sounded clueless and naive to lots of "big deal" CEOs. And look at me now. That's right, I'm kind of a big deal.

SWAMI SAYS: Don't you see? We're all kind of a big deal. To have start-up success, you need to start with that attitude in mind. And then, regardless of your success, stay humble and down to earth. You never know who you might run into next.

Why we pay 100% of employee benefits

I've been doing a lot of hiring recently, and it reminded me a policy that we came up with in the early days of Punchbowl when we hired our first employees. When it comes to health benefits, we pay 100% of the employees health plan. This means that if you work for Punchbowl, the company pays 100% of the costs of your health insurance, your dental insurance, your workers comp, and your basic life insurance.

From my experience, this is fairly unusual. For all of the companies where I've ever worked, the company would pay anywhere from 50-80% of the health care costs. It's a fairly standard practice. So why do we pay 100%?

As a CEO of a start-up, I believe that it's the company's responsibility to care for the entire well-being of the employees. It's not enough to care for people between the hours of 9-6. I believe that we have a responsibility to protect and care for our most valuable assets. The health care costs of employees is a cost that I think the company should bear.

So what's the catch? How do we afford to pay for 100% of the employee benefits? It's pretty simple. Unlike other organizations which pay for 50-80% of your TOTAL benefits package, we only pay for the employee. This means that if you have a spouse, and choose the Employee + Spouse plan, we only pay for the Employee's portion. The Employee is responsible for paying the difference. If the employee has children, and needs the Employee + Family plan, the employee is responsible for paying the family portion. We cover 100% of the employee.

The co-founder of Punchbowl and I made this decision a while ago (hat tip: Sean Conta) because we think it sends a clear message to our employees: you are very important to us, and we want you to be taken care of completely. While we care about your immediate family and understand the impact they can have on your well-being, we believe your personal decisions have nothing to do with your contribution as an employee. We provide you an easy and cost-effective way to cover health benefits of anyone that you choose.

We don't care if you want to cover your spouse, domestic partner, or same-sex partner under our health care plan. As long as you pay the difference in cost, you can cover your pet armadillo (well, ok.. maybe not). Also, we don't care how many children are in your family. As long as you pay the difference in cost, you can cover all twenty of your offspring. Again, we don't care about your personal decisions. It's none of our business, and we're not going to pay the costs associated with your personal decisions.

This policy has made recruiting simpler. As a small start-up, this makes the cost of each employee's benefits equal. We don't shy away from more established candidates who have multiple children, and we're not influenced by whether your spouse already has a health plan. Our policy underlines that we don't care if you're single, married, divorced, or gay. When we make a hiring decision, it's with the expectation that we'll be paying for 100% of the costs for the employee's benefits.

It's pretty expensive to cover 100% of the cost of employee benefits. For each full-time employee, it's more than one thousand dollars per month (when you include all benefits, service fees, and processing fees). So it's a significant part of the overall compensation for an employee. Often, employees don't realize how much of their compensation is the health plan, and it's something that we should probably emphasize more often.

The policy of paying 100% of employee benefits has worked well for us, and potential employees seem to like the clarity that our policy provides. My hope is that even as health care costs continue to rise, we'll be able to continue to offer this benefit.

SWAMI SAYS: Employees are your most important asset, right? So show them you mean it by covering 100% of the cost of employee benefits.