Open Space of Gold

Some of that must be a California thing. In an European office of one of the mentioned companies, most people almost always eat lunch with their team in a canteen and plenty people do 3-4 day long weekends to go on trips all the time (+ normal 1-2 week long vacations of course). Yes, sometimes I go online during my vacation or when travelling during the weekend to perhaps look at emails or do some simple work, but that is because I'm motivated - nobody is making me do it.

They keep their employees' minds free of any (non professional) trouble. And this is good productivity. Believe me - if you are thinking about the strange sound form the car your productivity can fall 20%. If you are going on a road trip tomorrow - productivity can plummet to 0.