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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?

#91

Post by soupfordummies »

uranium wrote: post #85
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.

Isn’t that just a (very) part time job at that point? Sounds like pseudo-retirement really, so I would assume you had quite a bit of savings by the time you went to 2-day-job.

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

#92

Post by gaws »

> Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

Yes, making the same salary as someone in the same position working 40 hours.

> Where/How did you find your job?

Knowing the right people who value my skills to trust me and understand that work isn't my life.

> If you started at 40 hours per week, how did you negotiate it to 32?

I used to work 40 hours but, since the pandemic started, realized I could do the same job with the same efficiency at 32. Best decision of my life.

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

#93

Post by gaws »

StevenWaterman wrote: post #5

Just accepted a 32hr week job. Was advertised as, and applied for it, as 40hrs. After having an offer from them, I got another offer elsewhere at a much higher salary. I knew the first was a better cultural fit, so went back and asked them to work with me. No room to negotiate on salary, so they offered 32hr weeks and I jumped at it.

I hope you got the 32-hour agreement in an iron-clad contract. I've seen companies flip the script on people a few months into the job.

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

#94

Post by creakingstairs »

I worked 4d weekday in my last job, taking every Wednesday off. I lost 20% of my salary but I loved it, the break into middle meant that Mondays were no longer dreaded things and I could do all the chores during Wednesday, freeing up my weekend to do whatever I wanted. (Also Fridays had free drinks , pre-covid)

I think the company got a good deal out of it too, as they paid 20% less for almost no productivity loss at all.

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

#95

Post by bilsbie »

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?

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

#96

Post by jcparkyn »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #51

Fairly common among contractors. You just negotiate how many days you want to work on that client. Plenty of coworkers from Italy do it to avoid paying higher taxes: they increase their hourly rate until they hit the 65k pa limit and then they just start dropping days. If they were to earn even 66k, they would start paying way more taxes and they would need to earn ~30k more to get the same salary after taxes.

It sounds like you're saying their total after-tax income would decrease if they worked more hours? I'm not sure how, because that's definitely not how income tax works (Italian or otherwise).

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

#97

Post by icedchai »

baobob wrote: post #72

I've worked formal 3 and 4 day week arrangements. Net experience: it's pointless, if you're working 4 day weeks and you're feeling behind, you may well end up working that 5th day without anyone asking. Similarly in a 5 day week arrangement, I've never felt compelled to actually work the full week especially when I'm ahead. Ignoring any formality, I think most folk work a 2-3 week if they were honest about it. I woul…

Exactly this, and especially with "remote work", you can pretty much regulate your own hours.

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

#98

Post by [deleted] »

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?

[deleted]

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

#99

Post by lumberjack24 »

thrawn0r wrote: post #31

I work 4 days at Microsoft in Germany (PM at Github) In Germany employees have the right to demand part time. for new hires it's usually 40h and then reduce after the probation period. might reduce your career growth but I still got promoted and am happy with Fridays off

open to referrals?

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

#100

Post by hahamrfunnyguy »

I worked 24 hours a week for a few years for an IT service company. Before I switched to the 24 hour weeks, I was managing the software division and was getting burned out.

I told my boss I would be putting in my resignation. He asked if there was anything he could to do keep me on. I asked to move back to a development role with 24 hour weeks of three contiguous days. My boss agreed.

The schedule was great, but I eventually quit because I started a new business and wanted to focus all my time on that.

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