The Seven-Day Weekend - Ricardo Semler - Book Review

When I picked this book from a friend's collection - I thought it was material along the lines of time management. The cover specifics were not very enlightening ! :) I was surprised by the atypical model of management that I ended up reading about ! :) 
 
The main underpinning of this book is employee democracy ( democrazy ?? :) ) in all areas of company management. The ensuing chaos may seem like a recipe for disaster but it is hard to argue with numbers - the Semco company is supposed to have grown from $35 million revenue to $212 million revenue in 6 years .... with virtually no employee turnover.

The conviction the author advocates is that of relinquishing control ... and inherently trusting the employees to behave like adults and not kids requiring supervision. He believes that peer control is effective for both reporting and auditing purposes.

Consider some of the company practices -

• Company plans

The company has no vision statement, no 5 or 10 year business plans , no mission statement or corporate strategy. Plans are only made for 6 months in advance !

• HR / Organization structure / Motivation

The company has no HR and the organization structure is flat. They have no fixed CEO ( at the time of writing the book ! ) and no standard practices either.

The author believes that an employee who puts himself first will be motivated to perform !! And that it is due to a non-alignment of corporate interests vs personal interests that too many companies end up spending too much time trying to motivate its folks.

• Attending meetings are optional

Now this may not sound very unusual - but considering the amount of importance a show of hands by workers has towards - opening a new service, product, vetoing a deal, closing of a factory unit, hiring of new people for a particular function - it assumes considerable importance.

Say not one person turns up for a meeting to discuss a new type of product for the market it is a clear indication that the employees do not consider this important and perhaps this product is not required at all. Same logic extends to everything. Even the CEO is not immune to empty meetings towards any of his ideas ! :)

• Salaries

People decide their own pay packets and everyone knows what others are paid ( Ha ha ha - can you imagine the furore this would cause ??? :) ).

People can opt to work less ( phases in life - pregnancy, part time study etc ) and can move some of their work to other people interested in working and earning more. The people who work less thus choose a lower pay packet accordingly.

Individuals can take 3 yrs off for a sabbatical with some help from financial packages ( they should invest towards the same while working obviously ! :) ).

• No time constraints

People decide when they come and what they do and this extends even to assembly line workers. These groups decide amongst themselves when to come and hence are better able to monitor themselves and manage themselves ... it is no longer a management vs workers problem !

The author believes that forcing workers to work standard hours may mean losing employee potential on a daily basis. This kind of flexi-timings allows people to make family the first priority and schedule work around it.  ( And in Brazil - schedule work around the football matches ! :) )
 

• Choosing their niche

People can move around in the company to find their niche. Trainees for the first one year are not assigned to any unit - they are exposed to various groups and responsibilities. Workers follow their interests and instincts when choosing jobs or projects.

•  No information hoarding

Board meetings are open to all employees - people can sign for them in advance on a first come and first serve basis and the agenda is made available so persons can prepare themselves. Whoever attends is expected to actively participate and vote responsibly.

 The company books are opened to all employees and all unions. To ensure workers understand what exactly is happening - not only classes are provided - the budget is also presented in simplified format where relevant.


Sounds like Utopia ? :) Some of the things mentioned in the book are not new - 360 reviews, profit sharing plans but the underlying collective consensus approach is perhaps what makes the difference.

All in all - an easy and interesting read. And if executed ...... new vistas ...... :)))