Some companies strive for work-life balance, but “balance” sets the bar too low at Million Dollar Baby.
“We don’t believe in work-life balance — we believe in work-life wellness,” Julia Yip, senior vice president of talent management, said. “Balance implies a trade-off, like you’re constantly weighing work against everything else.”
Yip said the company has put substantial effort into improving employees’ lives both at work and outside of it. Benefits like an expanded personal enrichment subsidy for hobbies and an annual $1,000 travel subsidy that encourages employees to take time away from work to recharge have moved the needle on employee engagement — and Million Dollar Baby has the stats to prove it with an improved eNPS score and consistent external company awards.
Built In spoke with Yip in detail about how the company creates wellbeing programs that make employees want to stay for the long haul.
Million Dollar Baby Co. is a children’s furnishings brand.
What’s your quotable principle for keeping a sustainable work pace — and what signal shows it works?
We say it all the time at MDB: We don’t believe in work-life balance — we believe in work-life wellness. Balance implies a trade-off, like you’re constantly weighing work against everything else. Wellness means we want people to bring their whole, authentic selves to work and still have the time and energy to be fully present in their real lives — whether that’s coaching their kid’s soccer team, training for a marathon or just having dinner with their family without checking email.
The signal that it works? We track it directly. In our most recent engagement survey, our company eNPS rose from 56 to 63, with 69 percent of employees as promoters and only six percent detractors. More specifically, the question “After work, I have energy for my leisure activities” — which had been one of our lowest-scoring items — improved from 52 to 66 in a single cycle. We also have team members who’ve been with us 15, 20, even 25 years, which in a $200-million company of 168 people says something real about whether the pace here is sustainable. And we’ve been named one of Built In LA’s Best Places to Work five years running. That kind of consistency doesn’t happen if people are burning out.
Which policy or norm makes flexible work succeed — and how do you measure impact?
Our hybrid model is straightforward: Tuesdays and Wednesdays are in-office collaboration days and the rest of the week you can work from home or come in — your choice. We also offer flexible start and end times based on business needs and personal life. No rigid 9-to-5. If you need to drop your kids off at school or handle an appointment in the morning, you adjust your schedule and get your work done. It’s built on trust, not surveillance.
What kind of flexible schedules does Million Dollar Baby offer?
“Our hybrid model is straightforward: Tuesdays and Wednesdays are in-office collaboration days and the rest of the week you can work from home or come in — your choice… No rigid 9-to-5. If you need to drop your kids off at school or handle an appointment in the morning, you adjust your schedule and get your work done. It’s built on trust, not surveillance.”
— Julia Yip, SVP of Talent Management
What makes it actually succeed is that leadership models it. Our CEO personally conducted 14 team discussion sessions after our engagement survey. When the top of the organization demonstrates that flexibility isn’t just a policy on paper but something leaders live, people believe it. We also implemented a decision-maker framework on every project to cut down on rework and wasted time — because flexibility doesn’t mean much if your workload is chaotic.
We measure impact through pulse surveys throughout the year, not just one annual engagement survey. Between our March and September surveys, 72 percent of engagement questions improved, with an average gain of 14 points.
Which wellbeing-related resource do people actually use — and what improvement have you seen on your team?
Our health, wellness and personal enrichment subsidy is probably the benefit people engage with most and the one I’m most proud of evolving. We recently expanded it from $240 to $500 annually and we broadened it beyond just gym memberships and fitness to include personal hobbies and interests: art classes, cooking lessons, language courses, music, photography — whatever helps someone feel like a more complete person outside of work. It’s a 50-50 partnership where we subsidize half the cost, which creates real skin in the game on both sides.
On top of that, we offer a travel subsidy, $1,000 annually, specifically designed to encourage people to actually disconnect. The intent isn’t just “take a vacation.” It’s “go experience something new with people you love and come back recharged.”
We also invest $3,000 per person annually in continuous learning and we bring in expert speakers through our executive training series on everything from negotiations to ethics to personal resilience — our workshops consistently average a 4.6 out of five rating.
The improvement I’ve seen is tangible.
