An Hour for Reading Inside the Factory.. Books Become Part of the Workday

Amidst machinery and offices in an industrial complex in the Portuguese city of Braga, workers and managers pause for an hour each day to read or attend free classes in philosophy, painting, and theater.

The complex serves as the headquarters of the DST Group, a conglomerate operating in construction, engineering, energy, and communications, comprising around 50 companies and 4,000 employees. Yet the scene inside differs from the traditional image of factories: nearly 40,000 books and more than 1,500 works of art are scattered throughout, with literary quotes displayed on the walls.

According to European media, the project was launched by the group’s chairman, who began working as a stone breaker at the age of seven in a household that owned not a single book. His first reading experiences came through a charity that distributed books on the streets, which he found to be a means of escaping the harsh reality of his childhood.

His personal experience led him to integrate culture into the workplace environment, driven by his conviction that a more knowledgeable employee can deliver greater value, and that a company’s responsibility extends beyond paying salaries and taxes.

While the group’s model does not provide definitive scientific proof that reading boosts productivity, it raises a different question: Can a factory also be a place for human development, rather than solely for producing goods?