Stripes with Plaid

Semco doesn’t have a mission statement, its own rulebook or any written policies. It doesn’t have an organisation chart, a human resources department or even, these days, a headquarters.

Subordinates choose their managers, decide how much they are paid and when they work. Meetings are voluntary, and two seats at board meetings are open to the first employees who turn up. Salaries are made public, and so is all the company’s financial information.

Sounds like a recipe for chaos, eh? Yet Semco has surfed Brazil’s rough economic and political currents with panache, often growing at between 30 and 40 per cent a year. It turns over $160 million, up from $4m when Semler joined the family business two decades ago, and it employs 3,000. $100,000 invested in this barmy firm 20 years ago would now be worth $5m.
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Paradoxically, the reason for Semco’s sustainability is the same one that makes conventional managers reject it: no one is in control, including Semler. The original catalyst and still the major shareholder, he doesn’t have a current title. The company recently held a party to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the last time he made any decision at all.

— Workplace democracy in practice at Semco