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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?

#81

Post by mrmincent »

I dropped down to a 4 day week so that I could look after my son one day a week. The negotiations were pretty simple, I just told my boss that due to our circumstances I needed to drop down to 4 days, and his reaction was basically I’d rather have you working for 4 days than to see you have to quit ( I never even mentioned quitting, but I guess I put it in a way that my circumstances didn’t give me much wriggle room).

And honestly it’s the best thing ever. I get a whole day each week where my son and I get to explore and play and have fun together. He’s 15 months old and he’s never going to be this young again. I’m super grateful to my work giving me the flexibility, and I enjoy work more than ever before because I get to have a better life balance.

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

#83

Post by philmcp »

garciasn wrote: post #15
akudha wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome, thank you for the link and the answer!

While I’m already very much an advocate for paying my team what why’re worth, the recent shifts with remote work has put extreme pressure on companies to meet salary expectations in much larger markets. I have an employee who needed a 33% increase due to market pressures. While we were going to already meet 15% of that at his next annual, budgets didn’t easily allow for the other 18. Instead, he got a significant rai…

Love this! From every 4 day week company I've spoke to, they all say the same thing:

Output hasn't changed

And if this ever becomes a company wide policy (e.g. 4 days for 100% or 80% salary), please let me know :)

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

#84

Post by philmcp »

ddlutz wrote: post #78
philmcp wrote: post #2

In my previous job I asked my boss if he would let me drop down to 3 days per week (60% salary). To my slight surprise, he was totally fine with it I did this after working hard for ~1 year at the company. Once you prove your worth, it's in your employers interests to keep you i.e. it would cost them way more if you left for another job with shorter working hours so don't be afraid to ask If it was doing it again tho…

Is it typical to find completely unacceptable pay on your site? Listings that have requirement for engineers which could pull home 200-300k a year wanting to pay $15 an hour. I guess this is why "nobody wants to work anymore" One listing (company name omitted to protect the witness): Requirements BS/MS in Computer Science Strong in Data Structure/Algorithms, can solve intermediate-level Leetcode questions with ease E…

Most companies originally had a 5 day week, but dropped to 4 days without effecting salaries

So typically the salaries are "market rate". Difficult to say for sure though as most companies still don't disclose this

As for the job you mentioned, I know which company this is and its for a part-time job (i.e. not a 4 day week for 100% salary)

Speaking honestly, I added the part time jobs are added to "bolster" content (given there are so few 4 day week jobs atm). I'd recommend focusing on the jobs marked as "4 day week", they are typically "higher quality"

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

#85

Post by uranium »

mrmincent wrote: post #81

I dropped down to a 4 day week so that I could look after my son one day a week. The negotiations were pretty simple, I just told my boss that due to our circumstances I needed to drop down to 4 days, and his reaction was basically I’d rather have you working for 4 days than to see you have to quit ( I never even mentioned quitting, but I guess I put it in a way that my circumstances didn’t give me much wriggle room)…

That's how and why I got down to 3 days a week. I went to 4 to get my next job, then down to 2 at my current job. If you can afford it and arrange it, it's fantastic.

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

#86

Post by champagnepapi »

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…

>Eventually a place made an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Well... it's better than sleeping with the fishes :) JK JK

Thanks for the write up!

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

#88

Post by cebert »

I don’t currently work 4 day work weeks. However, when I worked at Lockheed Martin, they had flexible work schedules. You could work the standard 40 hour work week, 9-80’s (work 9 hours with every other Friday off), or 4-10’s. Friday was a day you knew not to schedule meetings because there was a good likelihood people would be out of the office. I miss having this flexible working benefit. To me it costs employers almost nothing to support, but can make a huge impact to their employees.

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

#89

Post by soupfordummies »

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…

This is amazing, good for you!

Do you mind sharing your job, how long the process took/how many different companies you interviewed?

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

#90

Post by yellow_lead »

mrmincent wrote: post #81

I dropped down to a 4 day week so that I could look after my son one day a week. The negotiations were pretty simple, I just told my boss that due to our circumstances I needed to drop down to 4 days, and his reaction was basically I’d rather have you working for 4 days than to see you have to quit ( I never even mentioned quitting, but I guess I put it in a way that my circumstances didn’t give me much wriggle room)…

Did your boss or company drop your salary?
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