I’m a tech CEO. Here’s why my employees are required to work a restaurant shift

When I tell fellow tech executives that every employee at sunday, from our engineers to our finance team, must complete a restaurant shift before they can fully onboard, I usually get confused looks. “You mean like, shadow someone?” they ask. No. I mean they tie on an apron, take orders, run food, and yes, deal with the 15-minute wait for the check that our product was literally built to eliminate.

It sounds extreme. It is extreme. And it’s also one of the smartest business decisions we’ve made.