The 25-hour workweek and other radical ideas for better employee productivity and Does money really affect motivation?

Two friends of mine publish the J&E Alert, a fantastic newsletter highlighting thought provoking thinking on leadership, management and business. Below I share two snippets of their newsletter.

You can subscribe directly by sending an email to the editors (Mireille Jansma & Jurgen Egges)

Blog - The 25-hour workweek, and other radical ideas for better employee productivity (Rana Florida, Fastcompany, August 2013)

In this article, Rana Florida (CEO of Creative Class Group) shares her unconventional views on 'being the boss' and on how to let employees be 'their better selves'. From the article: "Please don't call me boss, don't send me approvals like I'm your boss, don't ask for approval to go on vacation", I said. "We are all colleagues. You are getting paid for your expertise. I am not going to do performance reviews or expect status reports. It's up to you to manage your own workload, to manage the clients, and to deliver a quality service."

Florida also points to Jason Fried of 37signals, who wrote a piece in the New York Times about productivity and variations in working time for employees. At 37signals they shorten the work week from May through October. Fried: "When there’s less time to work, you waste less time. When you have a compressed workweek, you tend to focus on what’s important. Constraining time encourages quality time."

Article - Does money really affect motivation? A review of the research (Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, HBR, 10 April 2013)

An old theme: the effects of financial incentives on intrinsic motivation. For whomever needs arguments to oppose - or defend? - bonuses and other target-related forms of payment.