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Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#151

Post by Joeri »

bilsbie wrote: post #95
Apreche wrote: post #19

I just recently started a 32 hour a week salaried job. Here’s my story. I was at a very good job. My ultimate goal is to just go to the beach and not work at all. I realized that’s too big of a leap, so I set a shorter term more realistic goal of working 4 days a week. My employer at the time rejected the idea, so instead of ignoring recruiters like usual, I answered them. If a job wasn’t immoral, the interview proce…

You wouldn’t get tired of the beach if you went every day?

This july I tried one month of living close to the beach, in a rental apartment. I took half of the time off, and the rest of the time I worked from “home”. I went to the beach every day, and plenty of days I went all day.

By the end of the month I got tired of sitting on the beach.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#152

Post by jcadam »

Apreche wrote: post #106
soupfordummies wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is amazing, good for you! Do you mind sharing your job, how long the process took/how many different companies you interviewed?

I'm a software engineer. I'm working at a startup now after basically refusing to work at start-ups, or any kind of tech company, my entire career prior. I always worked at normal stable trustworthy non-tech companies that happened to need software engineers. I would still prefer to go back to the non-tech non-startup industry, but the offer was too good. The process took less than a year. I entertained pitches from…

LOL, it generally takes me going through at least a dozen interview processes to both:

1) get to the offer phase

2) get an offer that isn't a lowball

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#153

Post by schainks »

bilsbie wrote: post #95
Apreche wrote: post #19

I just recently started a 32 hour a week salaried job. Here’s my story. I was at a very good job. My ultimate goal is to just go to the beach and not work at all. I realized that’s too big of a leap, so I set a shorter term more realistic goal of working 4 days a week. My employer at the time rejected the idea, so instead of ignoring recruiters like usual, I answered them. If a job wasn’t immoral, the interview proce…

You wouldn’t get tired of the beach if you went every day?

My MiL’s place is a few minutes from the beach. When we visit, I mostly use it for nighttime walks. I would go crazy spending every day on the beach.

But boy is it great for a stroll with ice cream on a hot summer night.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#154

Post by jcadam »

vxNsr wrote: post #133
gitgud wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of them I rejected immediately because the jobs were beneath my high moral standard. Earlier you mentioned > Eventually a place made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Did you need to sacrifice morals for this offer? Or is there some other reason you took the offer?

It sounds like he only applied and went through the interview process for jobs that already passed his “high moral standard”

Such standards necessarily may become more flexible as we head into a recession...

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#155

Post by mostertoaster »

Apreche wrote: post #105
bilsbie wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn’t get tired of the beach if you went every day?

Absolutely not. I would live in a beach house, and I would indeed spend many hours laying in the sand, swimming in the ocean, etc. But I wouldn't literally spend the entire rest of my life doing nothing else at all. There would be socializing with friends and family, traveling, and taking care of my affairs. I would also spend plenty of time on hobbies of all sorts. The key is that I would be living a life of complet…

So this life of total leisure is the thing we all want, and it is for that reason the capitalist system seems to work. Someone has to provide the labor that allows you to continue in a life of leisure.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#156

Post by quickthrower2 »

I am working 19 hours at the moment due to sickness. However, some people have negotiated 32 without being sick, both before joining and during employment. This is outside the US.

Think carefully about WHO you ask. Some people just like to say no. You might want to think about whether it is HR, your immediate boss or another boss to ask first. I have worked at places where the "NO" person can be bypassed and might give you the wrong impression that something is impossible. As kids know "NO" can often be a short-circuit response to avoid a commitment, and avoid time thinking about the thing.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#157

Post by physicles »

Yes, went from 40 to 32 about a year ago. One of the best decisions I've ever made.

I'm about 15 years into my career, with about 5 years as senior tech guy at my current company. I have a great relationship with leadership. Another tech guy was already working 4 days (I think it was part of his initial negotiation), so I asked if I could too. I got the OK and took the pay cut.

At 5 days a week, I felt close to burnout for years (the work is interesting and challenging, and therefore tiring). Now work feels sustainable, life is so much better, and I have energy for personal projects. It also helps that the company is already fully remote so I can work from anywhere.

I wouldn't want to do 3 days a week -- projects would drag on 30% longer and I think I'd really feel that hit to my velocity. 4 is the sweet spot for me.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#158

Post by jononomo »

schrodinger wrote: post #67

I'm not, but I manage an engineer who recently asked. He's fantastic, why would I care? I just filled out a form with HR and he's now at 80% pay 4 days a week. I treat him with respect and he treats me with respect. If it ends up turning into a really difficult situation for the team, we might have a discussion about how to improve. But honestly knowing he's out every Friday will probably be a good forcing function f…

It seems like people are 95% as effective working 4 days as they are working 5, and quality of life for everyone goes up massively -- shouldn't this just become the norm.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#159

Post by brundolf »

Apreche wrote: post #19

I just recently started a 32 hour a week salaried job. Here’s my story. I was at a very good job. My ultimate goal is to just go to the beach and not work at all. I realized that’s too big of a leap, so I set a shorter term more realistic goal of working 4 days a week. My employer at the time rejected the idea, so instead of ignoring recruiters like usual, I answered them. If a job wasn’t immoral, the interview proce…

I think this generalizes:

Engineers right now are negotiating from a place of power when it comes to employment. It's just that for whatever reason, our current employer at any given time usually struggles to see that. So we can ask for things and very well might get them (whether that's compensation, work-schedule, or something else), but we're going to have much better luck doing that at the time of getting a new offer (while still employed). That's where our negotiating power comes into focus for the other party.

For you it was a four-day work week, for me it was getting them to drop the overbearing inventions-ownership clause in my contract. But I think that, if there's anything important missing on a person's work-life wishlist, this is the way to go about getting it.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#160

Post by smsm42 »

bilsbie wrote: post #95
Apreche wrote: post #19

I just recently started a 32 hour a week salaried job. Here’s my story. I was at a very good job. My ultimate goal is to just go to the beach and not work at all. I realized that’s too big of a leap, so I set a shorter term more realistic goal of working 4 days a week. My employer at the time rejected the idea, so instead of ignoring recruiters like usual, I answered them. If a job wasn’t immoral, the interview proce…

You wouldn’t get tired of the beach if you went every day?

I would. Also my skin burns in like 15 minutes, so I'd have to wear a burqa or something. But I imagine OP doesn't mean literally being on the beach all the time. Just have leisure time that you can structure as you like. I could probably last a year or two like that if I didn't have to work. Or maybe I'd find a project or several to work on anyway, just not as employment.
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