About Steven Fendley
In a 2011 interview, Steven Fendley discussed the organizational culture at his company in Austin, Texas. He described the environment as "laidback" and noted that the company has tried to be flexible with work hours, maintaining core hours while allowing employees freedom in their schedules. Fendley stated that balancing freedom and structure has been a "constant area of change," as the company has sometimes found that too much freedom affected productivity.
Fendley characterized the process of adjusting workplace policies as an "evolution" that changes continuously. He said that his earlier belief in a fixed, optimal structure had proven incorrect, and that the work environment shifts with each new hire or departure. He described managing this dynamic as "a study in human nature that's actually a fascinating and a frustrating part of a business."
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Transcript (2 segments)
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Steven Fendley0:00
Environment in Austin, Texas is very laid back and people want the freedom to come in. What some people like to sleep in, some people like to work early and leave early. We tried to be flexible in that. We kind of have some core hours and want people to be here over a certain range of hours.
You asked earlier about whether we make changes often or do things. That's been an area that we've had constant change because you're constantly going back and forth between wanting there to be a lot of freedom and realizing we got a little too much freedom and not quite getting the work done the way we need to, and applying structure. It's a balance. You want to be happy, but at the same time you want enough structure to be productive. That's something that we've evolved, and if you'd asked me that question five years ago I would have said we're going to have structure and here's how it's going to work, that's the best way. It's not true. It's a continuous change, it sways back and forth every time a new person comes to work or a person leaves. The environment changes a little bit and we adapt to that each time. It ends up being a study in human nature, which is both fascinating and frustrating in a business.
