Millennial boss reveals why she lets her staff do whatever they want

A Millennial boss has revealed the bizarre strategy she has in place for managing her staff, claiming the unorthodox change saved her business.

Millennial Boss spills on her workplace.

Millennial boss Maddy Birdcage runs a digital marketing agency and her staff can do “pretty much whatever they want”.

The Queenslander, 34, recently got traction on TikTok for sharing her relaxed approach to managing her staff and why she doesn’t spend her days telling people what to do.

“I let them choose when they work, what days they work, what time they work, what they wear to work, and even the tasks they do when they are at work,” she said.

Ms Birdcage’s management style was born from being a “reformed people pleaser” and realising that people work best when given freedom and trust.

Her untraditional approach caused a stir online, with some people claiming it won’t work long term, others asking if they could work for her, and one saying this is what “leadership” looks like.

Maddy lets her staff do what they want. Picture: Instagram/maddybirdcage

She said her method works. Picture: TikTok/Picture: Instagram/maddybirdcage

Ms Birdcage’s method comes from a place of wanting her workers to be happy and making changes that aren’t just superficial.

There’s an obvious temptation for a boss to implement some fun scheme to win over employees, whether it’s free pizza Fridays or putting a pinball machine in the office, but Ms Birdcage explained that isn’t what people want.

They don’t want work to be more fun; they want autonomy and work that fits into their lifestyles.

She told news.com.au that she used to do things traditionally and had a manager who micromanaged the staff, but people were unhappy, the business suffered and when she started taking things too “seriously” it all fell apart.

She ended up with a $100,000 tax debt and in a position where she wasn’t even paying herself a salary.

When she decided to rebuild her business, she cut the team from 14 members down to nine and vowed to take a more relaxed approach to management.

“I hated showing up as the boss everyone hated,” she said.

So, she decided to shake things up, and it’s paid off.

“I used to be so obsessed with how many hours people worked and people hated it. No one wants to work like that,” she said.

Now, she manages a team of nine by letting them figure stuff out and not counting the hours but, instead, focusing on the outcome.

She’s friendly with her staff, doesn’t micromanage, builds personal relationships and lives by the mantra that nothing is set in stone.

“I had a staff member who was recently miserable and I asked what was going on. They explained the new project I’d put them on was giving them bad anxiety. So, I said, okay, you don’t have to do it anymore, and I’ll put someone else on it, and you can work on something else,” she said.

She lets her staff pick when they work. Picture: Supplied

Ms Birdcage said she didn’t see the point of keeping someone on a project that was stressing them out.

She always makes it clear to her staff that “nothing is fixed” and that if they are unhappy, a change can always be made to help them.

The boss explained that her approach to staff is she’ll move “heaven on earth” if they are a valued team member.

“I had a junior explain that she didn’t want to work full-time anymore, so I said okay, now she works three longer days instead,” she said.

Similarly, she has a staff member who works around daycare hours and she has a mum who used to work nights because that fit in with her family’s needs for a while.

She said that most of her senior team work school hours so they can pick up their kids.

Maddy is all about finding solutions for staff. Picture: Supplied

Maddy just wants her staff to be happy. Picture: Supplied

Ms Birdcage said it works because she sets individual and agreed-upon expectations with each staff member and, for the most part, it is the perfect recipe for success.

“If it isn’t working we just talk about it and fix it,” she said.

The Millennial boss said she’s flexible with anyone who brings value into the workplace and encourages employees to benefit from their excellent work.

“As an employee, you need to make yourself valuable and leverage it,” she said.

Ms Birdcage said that her staff typically don’t have to build a case if they want a specific need because she’s tapped into their performance and is keen to tailor their jobs to what they want, which could be anything from flexibility to not getting stuck on a project.

She wants to reward people so they stick around, so if someone wants to relocate and work remotely, she’s down.

Ms Birdcage said that her hands-off approach can be quite confronting for new starters and said it can be like a “baptism by fire” because new people are used to micromanaging, and when they start, it can feel like they are “freefalling”.

“I stand back and watch them figure it out. If it gets really bad, I’ll step in, but in the meantime, they’ve built confidence and independence,” she said.

Originally published as Millennial boss reveals why she lets her staff do whatever they want