32-Hour Work Week: CEO Of Start-Up Implements Less Rigid Schedule Yielding More Production

A 32-hour work week is what a new start-up company is offering its employees and work production has increased as a result. The Portland, Oregon tech company has established a 32-hour work schedule each week so that employees can have an “epiphany moment.”

According to a USA Today report, the concept is about living a more balanced life.

Treehouse has transformed its 40-hour week work schedule into one that is eight hours less. While hours were cut, their pay and benefits remained the same.

Treehouse CEO, Ryan Carson, tells TODAY that the change actually improved productivity in spite of everything being accomplished in a shorter amount of time. Carson feels his employees are more efficient because they know they have to get the job done with less hours.

The CEO raves about the 32-hour work week, explaining that what he’s seeing is proof that it works.

“We’ve proven that you can take it from an experiment into something that’s doable for real companies and real people in highly competitive markets.”

He believes in valuable family time and realizes time spent with children can be bought back.

“With kids you realize you’ll have this 18-year window and then you’re done. So every moment I have with my kids I realize it’s something I can never buy back. No matter how much money I make or how powerful I get, I can’t buy time.”

Treehouse CFO, Michael Watson, has arrived to the conclusion that when people suffer from work burnout, they don’t have the same enthusiasm for what they do.

“I think that when people aren’t overworked, the chance for that light bulb or epiphany moment or whatever you want to call it is increased.”

The company says the overall goal is about living a “more balanced life.” It’s also another way of holding onto good, talented people, Carson says.

Treehouse is an online school that students attend for training in high-tech jobs that involve computer coding. Instructors at the company lead courses on video. Treehouse has 85 employees and has 135,000 students enrolled in their program.

What’s your opinion of the 32-hour work week that Carson has implemented? Is it a concept a lot of big and small business might be overlooking? Debates have raged on for some time over this topic.

Treehouse was one of the businesses recognized by the White House earlier this year as being one of the 20 top companies in the nation that train regular people for high-tech jobs.

[Photo Credit: NBC’s TODAY screenshshot]