By Alyssa Khan, Inc., June 23, 2023
Shane Heath was well-acquainted with burnout when he founded his Venice, California-based coffee alternative brand Mud/Wtr in 2018--which is why he's gone above and beyond to keep his own employees feeling their best.
Heath, who previously worked as a designer for multiple tech startups, says that he launched Mud/Wtr to push against the overly caffeinated culture of Silicon Valley. That aim has shaped his company's benefits. In January 2023, Mud/Wtr instated a new policy that guarantees employees at least 46 days of paid time off in addition to an existing unlimited paid time off policy. That's in addition to perks like flexible scheduling on Fridays, a $200 monthly wellness budget, and one annual paid solo trip for each of the company's 30 employees. All the while, Mud/Wtr has grown at a clip, ranking 30th on the 2022 Inc. 5000 list and landing on Inc.'s Best Workplaces list in 2021.
"Travel and time to unplug were something I built into our system from day one because that's what I wanted for myself," says Heath. "When we started, it was unlimited PTO, but research shows this is a bit flawed. It's common for companies to dangle the carrot of unlimited PTO to potential talent, but once in the door, no one actually uses it. We want our team actually to use it."
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