I think people with 1 hour commutes would definitely prefer 4 day weeks
Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
91–100 of 312 posts
Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#92I disagree. I have 6-7 hour workdays. That's nice but no nearly as nice as another free day. I still feel like I have no time for my own life/projects. I still feel exhausted after working even 6-7-hours (because I'm not a morning person naturally yet have to go work in the morning) and the evening time (nor even an evening nap) never actually feels nice if I worked that day. I go out on Saturday, sleep until evening…
Change job dude, you are going to have a burn out
In fact I only share details about my sub-optimal perceived well-being because people tend to come up with useful suggestions of relevant supplements and practices. E.g. from my own experience I can say homemade kombucha can boost after-work evening well-being significantly (feels like some batches boost serotonin or something like that).
Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#93Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#94So I am seeing more and more of ideas like this; but I feel the need to challenge them a bit. Not the ideal; work less, have more fulfilling lives - I am all in. But all of these initiatives are focused on the wealthier office workers and sometimes factory/shift workers who are non-customer facing. But it totally ignores the service industry which is a huge part of our society (and arguably even more so if we end up…
No one says this change doesn't apply to people in those industries or in shift work. You have to remember that the idea is more to reduce work from 40 hours per week to something like 32 hours per week (30 in OP's case).
In this case, you can still have restaurants open late, it would just mean the schedule would be shorter for all staff.
> But all of these initiatives are focused on the wealthier office workers and sometimes factory/shift workers who are non-customer facing. But it totally ignores the service industry which is a huge part of our society (and arguably even more so if we end up working less!).
The service industry could make up for the lack of coverage by hiring another person. Giving jobs to more people.
I do believe that the question of having a livable wage (supplemented or not by UBI) is a separate issue that should not impede giving people their time back.
Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#95There just is so much work that I don’t get how working 4 days will workout. The work isn’t going to scale down. The deadlines I don’t think will change. At my company which is a very typical big sv company, no one is watching how long you work but the work needs to get done.
Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#96If we’re shortening the work week by 4 hours, I’d rather take that as a single afternoon off. 4x8, then Friday is a half day (vs shortening 5 days by a fraction of an hour).
If we were to go to a 32 hour week, I’d probably want to just do 4x8 and have a 3 day weekend. That allows so many options for short trips, major home projects, camping, going downtown, etc. With the current 2-day weekend, I always feel torn between doing things that are fun vs doing chores. It’s never quite enough time.
Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#97Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#98I like working long hours, but 6 hours is the absolute max for the majority of people for intense intellectual or creative work for a sustained period of time. Most super prolific creatives (painters/composers) do a routine of between 1.5 and 3 hour sessions, one or two sessions per day. Depending on the person, but very consistent once the person figures out their routine. That means 1.5 - 6 hours total. But this do…
Well, I'd love to have 6 hours or more of intellectual/creative work per day but in reality I get only 2-3, the rest is meetings and distractions.
Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#99Damn the tech bubble is bigger than I thought.
Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO
#100If you're answering emails and having meetings where everyone has to sync up during the day - I'd opt for the first one. If you're developing or coding where the time of day is irrelevant - I'd go for the second.