Does time off make you more productive?



Vidhya Nagarajan



I read an interesting article a few days ago that suggested that software engineers are more productive in the long run if their schedules are adjusted for the seasons. Jason Fried, the CEO of 37signals has instituted some revolutionary work hours in his company and it is paying off dividends.

Work from May to October is 32 hours a week, spread over four days. He finds that better work gets done in these four days than in a traditional five day work week. Why? Because people waste less time. They focus on getting the projects completed because there is less time to spend together.

In June they give every employee a month to work on whatever they want. These independent ideas are presented in July and result in the greatest burst of creativity all year. In addition to a huge morale boost, productivity spikes.

What do you think?