7 Reasons Why Every Company Should Have Autonomy Day

By Amanda Patterson, MarCom Manager

 

G5’s second Autonomy Day was held on Thursday and Friday, May 19-20.

 

Once again, all G5ers were allowed to do whatever they wanted for a day, and then prepare presentations of the results for a 3pm All Hands Meeting on Friday. And again the results were surprising, funny and brilliant. They should be proof to any company considering a similar endeavor that YES, you should absolutely host your own Autonomy Day.

 

Here are 7 reasons why:

 

1. You’ll end up with office décor you could never get at Ikea.

 

Team Propaganda spent the entire day creating art that is inspired by the culture of G5. Watercolors of the Executive Team, a comic strip/poem called the “ABC’s of G5” and custom bumper stickers were just a few of the inspired creations that resulted. We’ve included images below, but you have to see it in person to really appreciate it. Stop by our office anytime for a G5 Art Walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Your Office Manager will thank you.

 

One very industrious (or should I say constructive?) team decided to build a new and improved beverage cart for our hard-working receptionist Cassidy.  Another team launched a brilliant new website – Kegalytics – that allows G5ers to see the G5 Keg capacity and contents in real-time, and rate the beer that’s on tap. (This also helps our Office Manager, who ensures that the Keg never taps out).

 

3. Your HR Manager will thank you. (No, really).

 

Does Autonomy Day scare your HR department? Tell them not to worry – the results could make the employee benefits aspect of their jobs a lot easier. The G5 “Discounts App” team launched a new website, Facebook page and Twitter account – the G5-finger Discount – dedicated to spreading the word about G5’s employee discounts and encouraging downtown retailers to become a G5-Finger Discount retailer. Within a few short hours of launch,  MadHappy Lounge, PUPUS Grill and the Honey Pot Bakery all signed up. So did the Bend Yogurt Factory across the street. Talk about a sweet deal.

 

4. Recruiting and training issues? Slay them with light sabers.

 

Good software engineers are hard to find. So a few of our innovative engineers put their heads (and love for sci-fi) together to create G5 Jedi, a comprehensive online training program that will turn any motivated G5er into an engineer in six months.  They worked on it in the company’s biggest conference room with all six Star Wars Episodes looping throughout the day on the big screen for inspiration. The result? Total annihilation of Recruitment-The-Hut.

 

5. Brilliant product and business ideas will emerge.

 

 

Notice that I said they “will” emerge. I didn’t say “they might.” When you give your employees an entire day to brainstorm, create, think and challenge each other, brilliant ideas are bound to result. In our case, they were so brilliant that we can’t even share them with you yet. Our patent lawyers won’t let us.

 

6. Your employees will benefit in more ways than one.

 

Several of the Autonomy Day projects were designed with G5 employees in mind – the G5 Yearbook, which will commemorate G5’s culture and history, is in development and will be released to all employees at the end of the year. A 3D Virtual Tour of the office allows prospective and current employees to take a digital tour of Suite 200 in the Franklin Building. The G5 Skunk Bank allows engineers to give back to the Ruby community. A day to work on whatever you want could be considered a reward in and of itself, but at G5, the best ideas won a lot more than a round of applause. After all of the projects were presented, G5ers voted for their favorites, and the two top winners were awarded VIP passes to the upcoming Death Cab for Cutie and Decemberists concerts. How’s that for a perk?

 

7. Your employees will love you.

 

And no, I don’t mean in a desperate, creepy kind of way. They will be motivated by your generosity and belief in them, and that translates to increased productivity and creativity on a daily basis. Who wouldn’t be excited to work for a company that  empowers you to make it a better place?

 

Thanks, G5, for restoring Jedi-like excitement to the galaxy of business-as-usual.