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Work-Life Balance at Basecamp

About: Basecamp is a remote software company providing project management and internal communication tools to teams worldwide.

Company size: Basecamp has 50 employees spread out across 32 different cities around the world. Their headquarters are located in Chicago, but people are free to choose to live and work wherever they want.

Mission statement: Have fun, do exceptional work, build the best product in the business, experiment, pay attention to the details, treat people right, tell the truth, have a positive impact on the world around us, give back, and keep learning.

Eight hours a day is plenty of time to get great work done if you have 8 hours a day to do that work. The problem is when you have an 8-hour day but you only have 2 hours to yourself. And those 2 hours are made up of eight 15-minute chunks. It doesn’t work. There’s not enough time.

Jason Fried // Co-Founder & CEO of basecamp

Work-life balance benefits at Basecamp

  • Top 10% salaries – Basecamp monitors industry salaries and routinely pays in the top 10% based on the San Francisco job market.
  • Remote team – You can work from anywhere in the world. There is also an allowance for co-working spaces.
  • 40 hour work week – Basecamp founders are adamant about employees sticking to 40 hours a week.
  • 32 hour (4-day) Summer work week – May 1 through August 31, Basecamp employees work 4 days a week, for a total of 32-hour weeks.

Careers at Basecamp

Current opportunities available: basecamp.com/about/jobs

Additional reading

It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work with Jason Fried | The Chase Jarvis Live Show
I'm David Heinemeier Hansson, Basecamp CTO, And This Is How I Work
Inside Basecamp’s Calm Work-Life Balance Culture

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