The Seven-Day Weekend

Ricardo Semler makes the case that companies should rank employee freedom and satisfaction above corporate goals, using his family-owned business, Semco, as the case study. At Semco, employees set their own hours, choose their own salaries and work without job titles, offices or business plans, and they can endorse or veto new ventures. Semler argues that laptops, cell phones and email have already erased the nine-to-five day, and that this can work in employees' favor if they are free to mix work and personal life on their own terms. Reviewer Rocco Forte judged the ideas unworkable for most businesses. First published in 2003, it follows Maverick, and editors changed its original title, The End of the Weekend.

Buffer co-founder Joel Gascoigne put it on his list of 50 books that transformed his business and his life, highlighting Semco practices like the absence of official working hours and staff choosing their own salaries.