CEO Of Boxed Pays For Employees’ Weddings — Here’s Why That Matters

Have you ever spent a work day thinking about bills and how you’ll pay them? Full disclosure:  That was me, today. I was sitting at my desk and before I knew it, my teeth were clinched and a heavy feeling was moving through my chest. I was about to have a full blown panic attack as I thought about the fact that recent unexpected circumstances are going to leave me hundreds short this month.

As a single mother, everything I just shared in the spirit of transparency, sucks.

Despite what America’s so-called President Donald Trump, as well as his flunkies, would like people to think, folks like me aren’t lazy, living off the system, etc.  I’m one of many people who makes too much to receive help that I need, but not enough to live comfortably. I’m educated, but the paradox of that is that even though I’ll benefit from that education for the rest of my life, I’ll probably being paying for it equally as long.

I wasn’t productive today. Of course I accomplished a few tasks, but in terms of my output and efficiency being as high as they usually are, nah, that wasn’t me at all. I looked for jobs, thought about whether or not I could just quit and find something better in a reasonable amount of time, and had a pity party about how frustrating it is to do the work I do for the salary I’m paid. I thought about everything but doing my job.

Fact is, my employer doesn’t care about my bills or my inability to pay them. My employer has a fair expectation that I do the job I was hired to do and that I do it well. Period.

Wouldn’t it be grand if I worked for an entity that understood that struggling employees are sub par employees? Do those employers even exist? Actually, they do.

Chieh Huang, CEO of Boxed, gets “it.” He understands that happy and secure workers who are able to focus on their jobs while at work, then go home and focus on home, positively impact his bottom line. It’s that understand that has caused Chieh Huang to begin using some of his profits to pay for employees’ children to go to college. That’s not all! In 2016, Chieh Huang sweetened the pot and offered staffers up to $20,000 to cover the costs associated with getting married.

Why? Well, refrain to my candid overview about my day. I wasn’t productive. As much as my employer talks about self-care, work/life balance, and other great stuff, what they pay my colleagues and me makes it extremely hard to practice any of the wonderful theories that are preached.

Chieh Huang is smarter than the average CEO, though. He said:

“After leading my first company, [gaming start-up Astro Ape], I realized that it doesn’t matter how powerful or big an organization is. If all of its people walked out one day, that organization is worth zero the next day. That was a huge epiphany for me, and it made me realize that I’m only as good as the people I lead.”

Chieh Huang’s journey to his current place of leadership brilliance started in 2015 when he went to his Atlanta packing center. He quickly learned that most of his employees didn’t own a vehicle. He initially thought he’d just buy them cars, but then remembered that his ticket to success has been an education.

Yes, Chieh Huang pays his employee’s college tuition; he pays out of his own salary.

Where do the weddings fit in? Well, Chieh Huang said that he once witnessed one of his New Jersey employees break down because he had to pay for his wedding and his sick mother’s medical care. As for the rest, Chieh Huang says:

“This is a very stoic guy. So when I found out he had left, I called him that night and he told me what happened. He was working seven days a week, so I wasn’t going to say to him ‘work harder.’ We stepped in, and we paid for the wedding.”

Happy, supported, nurtured, educated employees who feel empowered holistically, are better employees. So now I really just need to know if Chieh Huang is hiring and if he would do me a huge favor and offer some lessons in leadership to the Trump administration.

Kudos, Chieh Huang.

 

Featured Image screengrab via Twitter.