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It sounds nice in theory, but I know that in practice I'd resent it. I hate being told when it's "break time", doubly so if I know that people are going to fre

by wheels 18y ago

It sounds nice in theory, but I know that in practice I'd resent it. I hate being told when it's "break time", doubly so if I know that people are going to freak out two days later because some project isn't done yet. At the last company I worked for, they had a nice system: about every two weeks they'd find some excuse for the company to pick up the bar tab after work. A big percentage of people would go, but you didn't have to. Some people would be there right at the start, others would show up later and you could leave whenever you wanted to. Coffee areas with couches also payed big dividends -- again, the idea was that you'd yack with your coworkers, but only when it fit in with your work schedule.

SwellJoe 18y ago
I didn't get the impression from the article that Friday was "break time". I got the feeling that it was "meeting time" and "argument time", which is a different thing altogether...it's formalizing the constant interruptions that most work environments have throughout the day into one half day at the end of each week. So, you save up your discussions for Friday. It just happens that having meetings and discussions with people you like OK is a pretty low stress way to spend an afternoon, so it makes the last day of the week an easy-going sort of thing. But, I agree that a lot of corporate environments could not pull this off. There is a point in every companies life where the culture becomes too divided. Not everyone likes fantasy football, Mario Kart, Rock Band, Medieval themed restaurants, or volleyball, and any formal attempt to get everyone involved in any one of those things is destined to failure and poor morale. A pretty large percentage of people, below a certain age, can agree on free beer, so the "picking up the tab" policy is a somewhat safer choice, but probably a less productive one. Do you really want people discussing business strategery after four or five cocktails over the sounds of the football game on one side and the jukebox kicking out Justin Timberlake on the other?
- ccampbell 18y ago
  You've summed it up pretty well, Joe, and I agree this would need an overhaul to be scaled. The only correction I have is that enjoying Medieval themed restaurants is a prerequisite to working with us. As far as "break time" goes, we really don't care exactly how or when you accomplish 4 days of work, but we do want 4 days of solid work to be accomplished. Some of us are night owl's and others rise at first light. Nobody's going to freak out at you unless you're really slacking.

by wheels 18y ago

SwellJoe 18y ago

I didn't get the impression from the article that Friday was "break time". I got the feeling that it was "meeting time" and "argument time", which is a different thing altogether...it's formalizing the constant interruptions that most work environments have throughout the day into one half day at the end of each week. So, you save up your discussions for Friday. It just happens that having meetings and discussions with people you like OK is a pretty low stress way to spend an afternoon, so it makes the last day of the week an easy-going sort of thing. But, I agree that a lot of corporate environments could not pull this off. There is a point in every companies life where the culture becomes too divided. Not everyone likes fantasy football, Mario Kart, Rock Band, Medieval themed restaurants, or volleyball, and any formal attempt to get everyone involved in any one of those things is destined to failure and poor morale. A pretty large percentage of people, below a certain age, can agree on free beer, so the "picking up the tab" policy is a somewhat safer choice, but probably a less productive one. Do you really want people discussing business strategery after four or five cocktails over the sounds of the football game on one side and the jukebox kicking out Justin Timberlake on the other?

ccampbell 18y ago
You've summed it up pretty well, Joe, and I agree this would need an overhaul to be scaled. The only correction I have is that enjoying Medieval themed restaurants is a prerequisite to working with us. As far as "break time" goes, we really don't care exactly how or when you accomplish 4 days of work, but we do want 4 days of solid work to be accomplished. Some of us are night owl's and others rise at first light. Nobody's going to freak out at you unless you're really slacking.