why wy?

Just came across this post about a book Experiment at Work: Explosions and Experiences at the Most Frightening Company on Earth by Andy Law

It is about the practices of an advertising company in the UK called St Luke. From the blog post (edited):

- Everyone is a co-owner. This mean that a portion of the company shares are distributed equally among everyone each year, with additional shares reflecting the number of years the co-owner puts in.
- Fear, greed, and ego are outlawed, and the lack of co-operation is a firing offence. This, of course, encourages teamwork as well.
- Poor performance isn’t necessarily seen as a bad thing - people have their good times as well as bad, and the strong teamwork helps people get back on track.
- Co-owners are indeed really the most valuable asset. Of course every other company claims the same. But if a co-owner has a personal commitment which clashes with a professional one, the personal commitment is allowed to take precedence. Whoa. And of course, there are no fixed hours, and co-owners can work anywhere (at home, etc.).
- Sabbaticals (1-3 months) are given every few years, recognising the value of learning and resting and satisfying one’s curiosity.
- Sharing everything, and total transparency. There are no offices nor personal desk spaces and co-owners are discouraged from staying in one place for too long. All meetings are open and all information is available to co-owners, including salary details. This point is probably hardest to swallow, but it’s because they felt “it represented the most human form of a networked environment”.
- Only clients have fixed space, so the office is organised around the clients. Meetings happen everywhere, with people popping in and out of rooms to meet other team members or clients to cross-pollinate ideas, or at the lunch area, the reception floor, or in the garden.
- The office is an art canvas, with the colours and theme changed monthly. So the office may sometimes look like a hospital ward, a Catholic church, a beach, or look like a mass murder has just taken place.
- The Make Yourself More Interesting Fund pays for courses that co-owners attend to make themselves more interesting. Like parachuting, anthropology, Indian head massaging, and horse-whispering.
- One of the reasons why St. Luke’s is so frightening is that they don’t have any plan. As in 10-year or 5-year 2-year plan. No, they don’t believe in planning, because most plans don’t come to fruition anyway. Instead, they rely on serendipity. They survive on serendipitous events, which bring them business. Frightening to most, exhilarating to some.

Sounds fun, although I do like the idea of having my own desk or at least a place to keep my coffee mug.