Why did Maxis CEO Morten Lundal tell all his employees to come to work dressed like they’re going to the beach?

You get an email. Your CEO tells you to come to the office not in office attire but in beach wear, and he tells you to bring your passport and a packed suitcase. What do you do?

So this happened at Maxis.

CEO Morten Lundal told all his staff to prepare for a beach holiday, which meant dressing up in beach wear, bringing a valid passport and packed suitcase, when they came to work on Thursday (Dec 17).

On the day, Morten did an unplanned town hall and randomly picked the names of 13 lucky Maxis employees. All of them won an all-expenses VIP trip for two to Bali. Right after the announcement, the winners we’re chauffeured to KLIA and were soon on their way to Bali, just like that.

It’s refreshing to see a company with such a fun and dynamic CEO like Morten. And those who got picked to go on the trip certainly got a huge morale boost. I like companies that do crazy things like this and I guess Morten subscribes to the belief that if you take care of your employees, your employees will take care of your customers. And if your customers are happy, your company should be doing ok.

Some may disagree but I think Maxis is one of the better mobile operators in Malaysia. They are not perfect but they’re doing the right things.

I hope the positive vibe that Morten is spreading to his employees carries through to the customer experience. And as a Maxis customer, I certainly wouldn’t mind getting a phone call from Morten out of the blue telling me that I got chosen to go on an all-expenses paid beach holiday. That would make me happy.

What do you guys think?