The seven-day weekend : changing the way work works

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Title:

The seven-day weekend : changing the way work works

Author:

Semler, Ricardo, 1959-

ISBN:

9781591840268

Personal Author:

Semler, Ricardo, 1959-

Edition:

1st American ed.

Publication Information:

New York : Portfolio, 2004.

Physical Description:

x, 246 p. ; 22 cm.

General Note:

Includes index.

Abstract:

"Ricardo Semler's favorite question is "Why?" Why do people routinely bring work home on the weekends but never go to the movies on a Monday afternoon? Why do we need to sit at the same desk every day? Why do we have to fill out time sheets or need an HR department to file them? Why are we interviewed by our bosses but never get to interview someone who wants to be our boss?" "For the last twenty years Semler has been doing a lot more than asking questions - he's actually been running a company by breaking every tenet in the traditional rule book. Semler encourages his employees to play hooky. He tells them not to bother with growth plans. Employees choose their own salaries, set their own hours and have no job titles." "Reflecting Ricardo Semler's passion, wry sense of humor, and hardheaded business acumen, The Seven-Day Weekend challenges all of our assumptions about how a successful business should be run."--BOOK JACKET.

Corporate Subject:

Semco (Firm) -- Management.

Subject Term:

Employee empowerment.

Industrial management -- Employee participation.

Organizational change.

Industrial equipment industry -- Brazil -- Management -- Case studies.

Copies:

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Summary

Ricardo Semler thinks that companies ought to put employee freedom and satisfaction ahead of corporate goals.

Imagine a company where employees set their own hours; where there are no offices, no job titles, no business plans; where employees get to endorse or veto any new venture; where kids are encouraged to run the halls; and where the CEO lets other people make nearly all the decisions. This companyÂSemcoÂactually exists, and despite a seeming recipe for chaos, its revenues have grown from $35 million to $160 million in the last six years. It has virtually no staff turnover, and there are no signs that its growth will stop any time soon.

How did Semco become wildly successful despite breaking many of the commonly accepted laws of business? In The Seven-Day Weekend , Ricardo Semler shows that for those willing to take a chance, there is a better way to run a workplace. He explains how the technology that was supposed to make life easierÂlaptops, cell phones, e-mail, pagersÂhas in fact stolen free time and destroyed the traditional nine-to-five workday. But this can be a good thingÂif you have the freedom to get your job done on your own terms and to blend your work life and personal life with enthusiasm and creative energy. Smart bosses will eventually realize that you might be most productive if you work on Sunday afternoon, play golf on Monday morning, go to a movie on Tuesday afternoon, and watch your child play soccer on Thursday.

This is a radical book that will challenge the business world to make the seven-day weekend a reality.