Karman, Culture, and Policy Pt2.1 — Equipment Selection
This week I want to cover our equipment selection practices. This isn’t so much a policy as it is a practice but it fits the equipment use theme we discussed last week and I think it’s important so here we go.
Third post and we’re already on a tangent… This is going great
Of all the equipment we use in our day to day work there are a few key tools that are highly personal. I’m talking about mice, keyboards, chairs and other items you physically interact with everyday. These are such an integral part of our daily work lives that an uncomfortable or underperforming mouse can be a persistent downside to an otherwise enjoyable workplace. Since these items are so personal there is no “best” mouse or keyboard for everyone. That’s why we do something crazy that we see surprisingly few other companies offer.
We let our new hires choose their own equipment
Shocking, I know right? It’s so simple but this small practice has had a huge impact on the team here. For the skeptics in the crowd, let me break down our rationale and tackle some of the immediate criticisms we’ve heard.
One Gold Plated Mouse Please!
One of the most common questions that comes up is the question of controlling costs. What’s to prevent someone from making a ridiculous purchase? How’s a new hire supposed to know what they can spend?
The simple answer is, they can spend whatever they can rationalize. To help set expectations we provide a baseline of what others in the office have so they at least have a reasonable expectation of cost and what their colleagues will be using. However, if someone tells me they’ve mastered some crazy one handed keyboard and it will make them more effective, I’m sold! Of course, I’ll be the first in line to watch them wield that keyboard effectively.
“What if they dump all their equipment budget into a gold plated mouse and cheap out on the rest?”
We see the list before purchases are made so we can catch issues like that early but even if we didn’t, paying a few hundred extra dollars to find out someone can’t make responsible choices is far more cost effective than the alternative. The cost of a bad hardware purchase is a fraction of bringing someone into the office for a week or longer only to find out they’re a poor fit. I could understand distrusting a new hire’s judgement if their job was trivial but the nature of our work means we need our team members to be thoughtful and make smart choices that optimize cost/value trade-offs for both our team and clients.
I don’t mean to make it seem like we’re hyper critical of people’s hardware choices. There are just guards against the absurd. You should really only be worried if you’re planning to buy a diamond for your mouse and a loaf of bread for your keyboard.
Hit the Ground Running
It’s already expensive to ramp someone up onto your team. Why not reduce that time and cost by letting them use equipment they’re familiar with. The cost of buying a new keyboard for each new hire far outweighs the cost of mis-types over their first week to month of employment as they get used to slightly different key positions.
While we’re on the topic of efficiency there’s the issue of comfort. Discomfort distracts and injuries cost a fortune. So why not let people choose equipment they know will work well with their body? The cost of having to deal with repetitive stress injuries or discomfort far outweighs the cost of any reasonable amount of hardware you’re going to buy someone.
I Get to Choose Everything?!
Not quite. There are some items that you just can’t reasonably get each person to choose. As people come and go (not a problem for us yet!) you can’t exactly be left with a room of abandoned desks. In the same vein, some equipment is less personal than others. There are also efficiencies to be found in similar hardware between staff (Ex: Laptop Models). At our small scale, the IT overhead of dealing with a variety of hardware is greater than the cost of giving your sales team an overpowered system.
For some tools we take the traditional approach and don’t allow individual choice. However, we always lean towards higher quality and comfort when making our selections. These are the items are chosen for new hires:
- Desks — Adjustable sitting/standing desks so they can still be personalized
- Top of the line Laptops — We’d go Windows but we work too often with iOS for it to be a reasonable choice. Not to mention the Macbook Pros have grown on us over the years.
- USB Hubs — With laptops that only have USB-C ports these are a must. After testing countless hubs we finally found some that don’t emit interference that knocks out 2.4GHz wireless devices. Thanks Apple…
- Power Bars — What are you really going to get out of personalizing this?
- Coasters — Yep, studies show this is best left to the boss
So What Exactly Do I Get to Choose?
Today, our new hires get to choose…
- Mouse
- Keyboard
- Chair
- Laptop Bag
…and any peripherals they like…
- Headphones
- Laptop Stand
- Standing Desk Mat
- Mouse Pad
- Back to school goodies (Pens, Pencils, notepads, etc…)
We have new hires make these selections before they start with us so we can order everything ahead of time. Their first day at work is like a Mini-Christmas unwrapping all of their new goodies. The new hardware, for the developers at least, is a great ice breaker to chat about with your colleagues on your first day too!
Of all the policies and practices this has by far been the easiest to implement and best received. It’s an easy boost to build excitement for someone’s first day and set expectations early that their input is trusted.
