Unbounce Reveals New Bean Bag Chair Escape System to Boost Company Productivity
“Hack This Sack” reported to increase overall company productivity by 20%
Time can be found in unlikely places. For the employees of marketing SaaS company Unbounce, it was right under their butts.
Among the sitting, standing and fetal position desks dotting Unbounce’s office floors are several bean bag chairs for those who like working in maximum comfort with minimum lumbar support. But it turns out what these chairs offer in comfort, they take back in time. An internal study revealed Unbounce employees were spending a collective 8 hours desperately trying to free themselves from the bean bags’ cavernous grip.
Luckily, freeing them and their time required nothing more than some employee initiative, a fistful of bungee cords a few minutes of handiwork.
“The bean bag chairs are fantastic for sinking into and getting some real focus time,“ says Cody Campbell, Marketing Manager at Unbounce. “But have you ever seen a full-grown adult try to get out of one of these things? The grunting. The clawing. The dead-eyed helplessness. Sometimes I have nightmares that I’ve stepped in quicksand, only to be consumed by beans.”
The struggle was real enough to inspire a group project for Unbounce’s Ship It Day, a regular company-wide event in which employees take one day to plan and execute any idea they want. With the help of his team members, Cody created “Hack This Sack,” a bean bag chair escape system that’s already made up for itself in company time.
The project started off by conducting live tests with employees of varying height, age and fitness levels to get an average escape time before polling Unbounce’s 158 employees to see how many regularly use the chairs. To everyone’s surprise, all that maneuvering added up to nearly a full workday.
“Some might do away with the bean bags entirely,” Cody explains. “But ever since an unfortunate Halloween incident involving a Paper Bag Princess costume and a backfiring water gun, I promised myself I’d never be bested by any bag ever again.”
The team then set to work on what would become a deceptively simple yet effective system. After a quick trip the hardware store, a few extra holes in the walls and one impromptu eyepatch purchase due to a rogue bungee cord, “Hack This Sack” was installed throughout the office to make getting out of each chair as easy as plopping into it. Two months later, that bean bag time suck has been almost completely eliminated and overall company productivity has increased by 20%.
“Working in tech makes it easy to forget about tangible, real-world solutions,” Cody communicated through a series of Bitmojis.
The system is still in its rudimentary form but, with a burgeoning interest in and experimentation with artificial intelligence, Unbounce is exploring ways to make it even more efficient.
Next up? Training the office dogs to take themselves out for a walk. Dog Whisperers can apply at info@unbounce.com.
Unbounce is the conversion platform designed for marketers. Learn how they can improve your campaign performance at www.unbounce.com.
