Entrepreneur Sarah Sham ends late work hours to boost creativity and protect employee well-being.
An entrepreneur has caught social media’s attention after revealing that she had opted for clients walking away rather than ask her employees to work beyond the stipulated hours. In a now-viral LinkedIn post, Sarah Sham, who claims to run design projects across 18 cities, said she made it a point to send her team members home by 6 pm every day.
Akin to most bosses, Sham also believed during her initial years in the industry that working round-the-clock was necessary to deliver the projects. However, as Sham analysed the projects that turned out well, she noticed a pattern.
“Over time, I started paying attention to which projects actually turned out well. It was rarely the ones we pushed through exhaustion. The best ideas came from designers who had just had a proper weekend off,” Sham said.
“I started comparing creativity to a well instead of a tap. A tap never runs empty. A well does, and once it does, no amount of pushing brings the water back faster. Push too hard without rest, and it runs dry, no matter how skilled the person is.”
After this realisation, Sham said she changed how her studio works. The work starts sharp at 9 am in the morning and wraps up around 6 pm, five days a week. She added that there were no weekend calls and no Sunday deadlines.
On the brief occasion that a project was behind, Sham said she preferred to hire another designer instead of asking her team to give up their weekend.
“Some clients have left because of this. They chose to keep the rule instead of a team that would answer calls on Saturday. I let them go and kept the rule,” Sham said.
“A tired designer does not run out of ideas all at once. The work just slowly gets less interesting, and nobody notices until a client points it out.”
‘Couldn’t Agree More’
As the post went viral, social media users agreed with Sham’s assessment, highlighting that managers often overlooked the rest factor.
“I resonate with this, though perhaps not to the extent that you do. On most days, I make it a point not to have my team work late,” said one user, while another added: “Productivity and passion is best protected when work is done with the permission to switch off when the body and mind naturally feel exhausted. Rest is restoration.”