05
MAR
2008
TOPICS How To Not Suck, Internet, Style, Money, Technology
37Signals, an internet-based technology company (known for their flagship product Basecamp), has been doing a little experimenting in the workplace.
Some of the things they have implemented:
- 4 day work-week Fri-Sun is the new weekend. 37signals believes this will make people happier and that the same amount of work or more will get done.
- Pay for your hobbies 37Signals will pay for your hobbies. e.g. they are helping pay for one of their employee’s flight lessons. Maybe they’ll pay for your World of Warcraft subscription.
- Give you a credit card They will pay for your work-related learning or networking expenses. Conferences, books, and whatever else comes up.
If you want to follow the progress of these experiments or learn more, check out this article from their blog.
These are some interesting ideas that have been toyed with before. I’ve heard of the 30 hour work weeks in France with the 2 months of vacation per year. All in the belief that if people are happier they will work harder and better.
Best of luck to the crew at 37Signals!
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March 6th, 2008 at 6:33 am
I worked in France for 18 months and the working hours thing is a legal requirement.
Usually you get extra vacation days to make up for the fact that most companies ask you to work more than 30 hours per week. I’ve never heard of a case where you would get two months vacation AND a 30 hour week.
Carson Systems in the UK also work a 4 day week, and give each employee a macbook, iPhone and 23″ desktop monitor. Not bad