Ricardo Semler - The Seven-Day Weekend

TO THOSE FEISTY PROS without whom this book would never have seen the light of day: foremost Roger Gittines, with his dry humor, his laser sharp eye, and his cryptic comments; my editors Adrian Zackheim and Stephanie Landwhere all fights were good fights and enthusiasm never slackened; and lastly but never leastly, Heather Schroder, my agent at ICM and a friend for all seasons of publishing.

At home, Fernanda, with the warmest factory-built heart Ive seen, who cheerled when the team was losing and who is in the process of redesigning my own heart. Shes the only e-mail that comes with Un-attachments.

To my four-year-old Felipe, an angel of inspiration, who picks up his toy computer and says he has to work now. The thought of him makes me break into a wide smile every time.

To Curt, a firm handshake (and a peck on the cheek) across space and time for the fifty-year anniversary of Semcoshaped (so far) half and half by two Semlers.

To my kin at Semco, a big Brazilian abrao.

NEVER MIND THE CHEESE who moved my weekend?

Im serious. Where did it go? One minute Saturday and Sunday formed an oasis for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. The next thing we know the cell phone is ringing, e-mail is piling up, and the fax machine is vomiting paper onto the floor. Paradise lost. Welcome to the seven-day workweek.

Ive got a much better idea, though, one that Ive been road testing now for many years: the seven-day weekend. If the workweek is going to slop over into the weekendand theres no hope of stopping that from happeningwhy cant the weekend, with its precious restorative moments of playtime, my time, and our time, spill over into the workweek?

It can and, I believe, must happen. In fact, the seven-day weekend is already happening at Semco, an unusual company that Ill introduce you to in the pages ahead. What you are about to read is a combination of a political manifesto, a business case history, and an anthropological study. Before you shudder, groan, and heave the book across the room, Ill hasten to add that its also a road map to personal and business success. We have to find a better way for work to work. The seven-day workweek is shaping up as a personal, societal, and business disaster. It robs people of passion and pleasure, destroys family and community stability, and sets up business organizations to ultimately fail once theyve burned out their employees and burned through ever more manipulative and oppressive strategies.

The seven-day weekend approach is an alternative that bridges the gap between the airy theories of workplace democracy and the nitty-gritty practice of running a profitable business. I warn you, its messy, inefficient, and hugely rewarding. Ive chosen the metaphor of the seven-day weekend as an anchor. Youre welcome to take the turn of phrase literally or figuratively. But dont kid yourself: Im not talking about abolishing work. A seven-day weekend, however pleasant a fantasy of endless strolls on the beach, will mix work time with personal time in new and possibly disconcerting ways. Dont worry, thoughit also doesnt imply that youll be forever tethered to your laptop. Your first reaction may be dismay at the loss of your conventional weekend; after all, we navely define weekends as free time, personal days, idleness. But that definition is outdated. The traditional weekend and workweeks ended long ago. This book faces that fact and explores ways of making work more fun, and of finding a balance between work and private passions, so both can be significantly gratifying.

To do that, we must reorganize the workplace, both physically and culturally. At Semco, weve spent twenty-five years doing just that, primarily by constantly questioning the way we do things. When we started, everyone said we wouldnt last. Now Semco employs three thousand people working in three countries in manufacturing, professional services, and high-tech software. But even now, I continue to hear that our experiments could never work anywhere else. Yet we go on proving that in redistributing the weekend across the workweek, our employees find balance and Semco makes money. In that regard alone, we are an excellent business case study. We fit neatly into any MBA examination of success.

Its very simplethe repetition, boredom, and aggravation that too many people accept as an inherent part of working can be replaced with joy, inspiration, and freedom.

Thats what I wish for everyone who reads this book.

R ICARDO S EMLER
(Lying in a hammock with a laptop and my little boy,
having fed the ducks at a nearby pond)
On a Monday in May