Good morning!
Earlier this week I had an interview with one of the most hustle culture-driven founders I’ve talked to in a long time.
Sebastian Jimenez is the CEO and cofounder of Rilla, a software company that provides transcription solutions for sales and service teams. He doesn’t believe in work-life balance and expects his roughly 80 employees to put in at least 70 hours per week in-person at the office. That’s a big ask, but the company offers competitive compensation and some niche benefits to sweeten the deal.
In addition to traditional benefits like medical, the company expenses gym memberships, covers at least two meals per day and pays for Ubers should employees stay late. But there’s one benefit in particular that stands out from the rest: If an employee chooses to live within a five to 10 minute commute from the office, they get $1,500 a month towards rent.
That’s certainly a tempting proposal given the high costs of New York City rent. But Jimenez says that’s not the point. The real aim is to get employees into the office for as much time as humanly possible. So far, around a dozen workers have taken Rilla up on the rent offer.
“If you live 30 minutes away from the office, that’s an hour a day that you could be working,” says Jimenez, who also lives within a short walk to the office.
That kind of live-to-work ethos isn’t for everyone, and Rilla is also very clear with prospective employees about what’s expected of them. But it is an example of a company with a particular world view that created benefits to reflect that.
“This is by no means the way to run every startup,” says Jimenez. “This is just the way it works for us.”
You can read more about Rilla’s rent stipend here.
Brit Morse
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