Work Rules!

A groundbreaking inquiry into the philosophy of work, and a blueprint for attracting the most spectacular talent to your business and ensuring that they succeed, from the visionary head of Google's innovative People Operations. "A true masterpiece." --Forbes.com

"We spend more time working than doing anything else in life. It's not right that the experience of work should be so demotivating and dehumanizing." So says Laszlo Bock, former head of People Operations at the company that transformed how the world interacts with knowledge.

This insight is the heart of Work Rules!, a compelling and surprisingly playful manifesto that offers lessons including:

Take away managers' power over employees
Learn from your best employees--and your worst
Hire only people who are smarter than you are, no matter how long it takes to find them
Pay unfairly (it's more fair!)
Don't trust your gut: Use data to predict and shape the future
Be transparent and welcome feedback

If you're comfortable with the amount of freedom you've given your employees, you haven't gone far enough. Drawing on the latest research in behavioral economics and a profound grasp of human psychology, Work Rules! also provides teaching examples from a range of industries, including lauded companies that happen to be hideous places to work and little-known companies that achieve spectacular results by valuing and listening to their employees. Work Rules! shows how to strike a balance between creativity and structure, leading to success you can measure in quality of life as well as market share. Read it to build a better company from within rather than from above; read it to reawaken your joy in what you do.