The Seven-day weekend

The escalation of the demands of working life seems to have no end. Every year, thousands of people find the pressure unbearable: most people know how to work on Sunday evening, but no one yet knows how to go to the cinema on Monday afternoon. A new way to work is needed. In The Seven Day Weekend, Semler explains how the transformation of Semco that began in Maverick has turned a small family business into a highly profitable manufacturing, services and high-tech powerhouse - 40 times its original size - while going to the cinema whenever he felt like it or relaxing with his son, feeding ducks in the middle of the business day. He did it because he found the elusive 'balance' between work and personal life, for himself and his 3,000 employees. Since Maverick! was written, he has continued the process of cutting out the traditional hierarchical structure of conventional business and replaced it with a new architecture, exemplified by (most recently) hammocks where people rest during the day, Retire-a-Little Plans, the end of the head office, and the abolition of boarding school mentality. Any organization can emulate Semco. Any employee can enjoy his job just as Semler and his people do. Semler proves this with stories drawn from day-to-day operations at Semco. When Maverick! was first published, Semler's radical ideas had yet to be proven: after 20 years spent testing them, this book makes it clear that it's not only easy to find balance between work and leisure - it's the natural result of putting an end to the weekend. It's time to create a new way to work, combining business success with individual satisfaction and happiness: The Seven Day Weekend tells the fascinating and unlikely story of how this can be achieved.