CEO of Girls on the Go, Vickey Owens, have revealed her rules she enforces on her team that might be seen as controversial, but she claims it makes her team better and more productive
Gen Z has over time been criticised for their thoughts about work-life balance – as they’re seen as more likely than older generations to set boundaries in their work lives, both good and bad.
Vicky Owens is the founder and CEO of Girls on the Go, a social and wellness community with the mission to make the country a less lonely place for women. Located in Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester, they often organise events for women to meet likeminded people and make friends.
But being a young CEO of a company does come with its challenges. And to make her workplace and team as comfortable as possible to tackle these obstacles, she revealed she had a few unusual rules for her team to follow that some might say are controversial.
Opening up in a TikTok post, Vicky’s first rule was that she didn’t mind where her staff worked, and revealed that she’ll most likely be working from her sofa.
“Our offices ranges from coffee shops, our beds, sofas or anywhere between. Everyone feels productive in different spaces and to say you need to sit at a desk to do your best work is unrealistic and outdated,” Vicky said.
She went on to her second point, where she claimed that flexible working hours are key for running a productive team.
Explaining that everyone feels productive at different times of the day, she said: “I like waking up early and getting most of my work done by 7pm, my team feel more productive after 10pm . As long as the work gets done and schedules are met, why does it matter what time of day it is?”
In terms of communicating with her team, the most used used formats are simple text messages and FaceTime calls, as it’s easy and convenient.
She also revealed they have amore relaxed tone when speaking with each other, saying: “I also hate corporate language, say slay if you want girl, as long as you’re professional.”
Her relaxed feeling about being professional also includes the dress code, as there is none. The main reason for this is the fact that everyone is working from home.
“I’m sorry, but who wants to sit at home in jeans for no reason?” she said. “I can’t tell you the number of serious meetings I’ve gone to in joggers and I still get taken just as seriously.”
She went on to defend all of her managing choices by saying that giving your team more freedom and flexibility doesn’t make it a worse working environment.
“People have lives, we don’t live to work anymore,” she said. “Treating staff and team like they’re actual human beings rather than robots is, in my humble opinion, a much better way to lead a team.”
