“The first incident was when we issued a letter asking our employees to invite their parents to a dish party we’re having,” said Mohamed Naiem, the CEO of Shark and Shrimp; a marketing agency with an unusual reputation in Egypt’s work environment. The letter invited the agency’s employees a formal and authoritative tone. The intended goal? According to Naiem, this would allow the employee’s parents to understand what it means to work in an agency and get a grasp on what exactly do each of their sons and daughters do as well as answer questions like: why are they on calls at strange times of the day and why do they sometimes have to stay so late at the office?
There are other fun events at Shark and Shrimp too but “they all have to add value to us as an agency and, you know, not just be fun,” explained Naiem.
For instance, there is the internet-famous termination letter which is issued to employees on their birthday. It informs them that they have a paid day off to celebrate their birthday. “Because back in the day – before I started my own company – I’d always make ridiculous excuses to take my birthday off. And I felt that none of my employees should have to do that.“
Place these holidays and fun events aside and you’ll still find Shark and Shrimp venturing unchartered policies and decisions that are alien to Egyptian work life. Last Ramadan, the company paid transportation (through Uber and Careem) for all employees without a car. “I found people coming into the office sweaty and drained and I knew I needed to do something about it. There response was that they helped us save on transportation money through carpooling,” he recalled joyfully.
In months other than Ramadan, and when the subway tickets jumped in price, Naiem quickly responded by promising that for Shark and Shrimp employees, the price of the ticket will remain EGP 2 for all – no matter where they live – and the agency will take care of the rest. Similarly, an instant and proportional increase in salary was implemented when gas prices spiked. They even have a Pajama Tuesday that bears resemblance to Instabug’s work-from-home day.
The boldest decision the company has taken, however, was none of the above. It’s the three-day weekend. Yes, each week you get Thursday, Friday and Saturday off. “They have to be available to take calls from clients on Thursday though. But contrary to all doubters’ expectations, this increased our productivity! And that is still hard for some people to believe. So, they instead accuse us of having nothing to do.” But the Shark and Shrimp, which was only founded in 2017, has already accomplished work with promising and big brands like Allianz, El-Sewedy Cables and Siemens on their portfolio. And this swiftly kills that accusation.
Why is Naiem doing this? “I just put myself in the shoes of my employees. I worked in many low-skilled jobs, in customer service, in airports and in banks. So, I know what it’s like to be an employee and I remember what frustrated me and what I thought was unfair. No one has a reason to withstand corporate slavery these days. Although it is not pleasant, and you may have to borrow money from your parents, but there shouldn’t be a reason to stay in a job that doesn’t respect you,” he firmly stated.
He also admitted that it is one of his core beliefs that “if you pamper your employees, they will pamper you back.” So, this is also good for business and keeps valuable employees. “If anyone, however, doesn’t match the caliber of what we do or tries to misuse the privileges, we just don’t have a place for them.”
