Making Time for Fitness and Family

Sal Alvi

Sr. Account Executive, Enterprise Sales

The first thing that Sal Alvi does on Friday morning is hit the gym. But, he doesn’t go far — his gym is in his garage. Sal took advantage of some spare time he had during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to build a home gym, which he calls his “place of solitude.” And he’s proud of it. His gym, which he says is as good as any commercial one, boasts a rowing machine, treadmill, and weights, among other fitness gear.

If not for WANdisco’s four-day work week, Sal, a senior account executive responsible for enterprise sales in the U.S. Central region, may have put off his Friday workouts altogether. And, while he can hit the gym really any day of the week, Sal inks-in Friday as a workout day.

In addition to his commitment to staying healthy, Sal is also committed to his family. As luck would have it, his wife Ghaznia, who works in dentistry, also has Fridays off. The synchronicity between their work schedules makes family time more attainable. Before he joined WANdisco, Sal worked every Friday. “My wife and I always said, ‘Wouldn't it be nice if we could just go for brunch on a Friday or do things as a family?’ ”recalls Sal. Now, they can do both. When Sal and Ghaznia aren’t spending time together, they make time for their children, ages 5 and 2. Fridays are often reserved for trips to the playground, for physical activities like swimming lessons, and for educational programs such as Kumon.

Sealing the deal

Sal joined WANdisco shortly after the four-day work week went into effect. He joined the company not because of the new working model, although he admits that it’s a nice perk. In fact, Sal joined for three major reasons: the cloud-based focus of the job, WANdisco’s people, and the company’s entrepreneurial spirit.

During his job search, Sal was considering roles with some of the cloud megavendors. He was used to working at larger companies, including Salesforce and BlackBerry. But it was WANdisco’s product offerings and positioning in the marketplace that first piqued his interest.

Second was the people. During the interview process, Sal met with not only the U.S. vice president of sales, but also the vice president of European sales and WANdisco CEO David Richards. Their discussions gave him different perspectives on and more visibility into the organization. He also felt more assured and gained a better understanding of what he’d be stepping into in terms of his role and responsibilities, which include bringing in net new business with a focus on helping prospective customers see the value in WANdisco’s offerings and how they address their data modernization challenges.

The third thing that enticed Sal was WANdisco’s entrepreneurial spirit, which came through during the interviews. “It's still a smaller organization, relatively speaking,” says Sal, who was intrigued by what he calls WANdisco’s “hyperscale mode,” which provides opportunities for newcomers like Sal to help scale and grow the company. “I also enjoyed speaking with David and found it refreshing to see that the CEO was so actively involved in recruitment.”

The sale goes on, Flexi Friday or not

Sales can be a 365-day-a-year commitment. “In sales, you’re constantly thinking about your customers or prospective customers and how to bring them onboard or be available to them,” explains Sal.

Since Sal hadn’t experienced a four-day work week prior to joining WANdisco, he didn’t have anything to compare it with. So, shortly after joining, he discussed the concept with some of his colleagues to hear their perspectives on the new work model and to better understand how they manage their time. “I wanted us to be on the same page right away in terms of work priorities so that I could be respectful of their time when it came to scheduling meetings or coordinating work efforts,” he explains.

From those discussions, Sal learned how his teammates plan projects ahead of time and schedule their calendars in advance to avoid the potential for critical tasks taking place at the end of the week. He also discovered how the team openly communicated the four-day policy to customers at the start so that there were no surprises. “I appreciated how they made it clear to them [customers] that we are happy to hop on a call if necessary,” he says. “Doing so creates for the customer a sense of understanding and allows us to easily coordinate meetings and such.”

Because of the nature of his job, Sal doesn’t “clock out” at 5 p.m. every Thursday to get a jump on his three-day weekend. Instead, he thinks of Friday as more of a flex day rather than a day off. This approach allows Sal to spend some time on Friday taking care of things left over from the week and prioritizing the weeks ahead. While Sal is conscientious when it comes to planning in general, he does admit that planning too far out isn’t always achievable. “Sometimes you just get thrown a curveball,” he adds, referring to events that arise that may be out of his control.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances that could disrupt the work week, Sal is extremely mindful of his teammates when planning his week. At WANdisco, the sales people often depend on and collaborate with other teams such as products, channel partners, and solutions engineers. Because of this, Sal is considerate when it comes to blocking time on their calendars. He does his best to work within the Monday through Thursday timeframe but admits that for some colleagues, especially customers, Friday may be the only option for conducting certain business.

Such a situation, however, is easily remedied. Rather than getting frustrated, or trying to cram more meetings onto his colleagues’ calendars, or working frantically to readjust schedules, Sal uses the simple art of conversation to explain the situation and then ask relevant players if they could make an exception to be available. “This is a respectful way to go about it,” says Sal, noting that just having a quick conversation is sometimes more effective than endless emails, memos, or meetings.

The sale goes on, but not without flexibility

Sales can be a demanding job that requires one to be tenacious, self-motivated, patient, and graceful, just to name some attributes. But, it’s one of the few professions that enable a flexible work style. Combine that with the elasticity that comes from a four-day work week, and one could very well achieve a near-perfect work-life balance. It is this flexibility that has given Sal such balance, enabling him to schedule his work efforts around his lifestyle while still having time to prioritize and achieve his work objectives. “At the end of the day,” says Sal, “most people are reasonable professionals who just want to get their work done. If you give them the autonomy to schedule their work around their lifestyle, most people will make wise choices.”

Visit our careers page to see the latest in job opportunities.