I remember the day when Stefano (ex-fomer and always a big guy in body, soul, and heart) and I came up with the concept of the Day of Nothing.

_ Dude, what if the concept was… nothing? Like, really nothing. Seriously.

Not out of laziness, of course, but because that was exactly what the work called for.

What we started calling DDN is “nothing more, nothing less” than the 4×3 week: four days to work, three to rest. One extra day to enjoy the weekend and do whatever you want without fear of being hit by the Sunday afternoon depression.

Or better yet, one extra day to do absolutely nothing. That was the challenge. After all, like an obsession with performance even during leisure time, we always keep ourselves too busy.

_ Putz, I think it’s so cooooool _ was what Sté said with his half-Carioca, half-Potiguar accent. We laughed a lot that day imagining the most absurd way to symbolize this “non-effort.”

We chose the most random “swimmable” thing to wrap up the job: a rubber duck. The crew here loved it. And so it stayed.

This work model, which is already a global trend, would soon change our lives for the better here at Fome.

***

Despite the good humor, the concept and the proposal are very serious. We’re talking about breaking labor paradigms that have existed since the mid-1930s, according to research by Matheus Dias, the team’s art director and the grumpy guy we love most.

According to him, it’s as if the whole market worked like it did in our grandparents’ time. His grumpiness was (as almost always) right.

Establishing a work model with 3 days off was a long-awaited need (no pun intended) in the face of routines that are often stressful and meaningless, leading many people to symptoms of mental exhaustion, burnout, and depression. Why for, right? Let’s change it.

Everyone here strongly embraced the cause, organized their daily tasks properly, and made it happen (or rather, made nothing happen) every Friday and Monday, rotating between teams, since March of this year.
And if you think there was a salary cut or a tighter schedule on the other four days, believe me: nothing like that. The paycheck kept coming in just the same. And the logoff? Oh, it came with joy and smoothness, with very few exceptions.

During this extra day off, without overtime work, the “naddists” could lie on the couch, stare at the ceiling, and lounge after the beans or pasta, or use the time to solve various B.O.s: wash the accumulated dishes of the week that had already formed a monument to procrastination, finally fold and put away the clothes that had been on the clothesline for decades, do post-renovation cleaning at home, study for university exams…

And of course, there was still time to actually rest and enjoy family, longer quick trips, hobbies, hangouts, and even finish that book left on the nightstand.

When back at work, no one returned with a sour face. In fact, they came back full of energy, flying on basecamp. No tasks piled up on our kanbans. In fact, our clients didn’t notice any negative impact. Everything kept flowing naturally and even more organized.

Not to mention that thanks to the team’s excitement and engagement, our work turned out even more creative, assertive, well-thought-out, and well-executed. You’ll definitely see many of them here, in our newsletter and on our social media.

If you work in a company or agency with the same work scheme and want to share experiences, or if you want to ride this wave and learn from our “nadistas,” you can send an email to tenho@agenciafome.com. It’ll be a pleasure to chat! See you!