CJ from Planes shares revenue, profitability, and the cash flow forecast with the entire team every two weeks. That level of openness runs through everything at Planes, from how they hire to how they handle a bad quarter.
"It all stems from the core premise: hire good people, treat them like adults, and get out of their way," CJ says.
When the first quarter of last year got difficult, nobody panicked. "The whole team got stuck in," CJ explains. "Reaching out to old friends, speaking to old clients, helping put proposals together. What people didn't do is jump on LinkedIn jobs."
Salary bands are open and reviewed every four months against market data. "In a normal job, you turn up and feel like you've got to fight for your pay rise," CJ says. "We've tried to take that transaction out of it." If the team spots market data that suggests the bands need adjusting, they're invited to share it. People on parental leave have received pay rises because someone in the same band was moved up.
Planes also tried unlimited holiday early on and it failed. People took less time off, not more. "Without any way of understanding how much holiday to take, people weren't taking the time off," CJ says. They switched to a fixed allowance and added a month of unpaid leave available to anyone each year. Three people have already used it this year, two to travel to New Zealand.
CJ built a 250-strong community of chief product officers through curated dinners and research. It took 15 dinners before a single brief came from it. "The intention is to bring people together," he says. "We don't pitch people at these."
Listen to the full conversation with CJ on the Happy Teams podcast.
