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Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

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Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#91

Post by Retra »

aianus wrote: post #63
works_remote_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or time off in general. Just a small sample of the cruelty inflicted on people by many companies: - Significant other or child dies -- too bad, so sad, go without pay. - Having a kid? Hope you enjoy not being paid while you have that extra medical expenses, or being marginalized. Worst case? You get fired. - Sick? Sucks to be you. (More of an aside, but I never personally understood the reason why the economy doesn't…

If I don't want children of my own because they're ridiculously expensive, why should I subsidize yours? There's no reason a private employer should pay you more because you want a kid.

Children are not personal property, they are a cultural resource, and it is perfectly acceptable to make people invest in the important parts of their culture. If you don't like it, give back all your state-printed social-agreement-enforcing cash and make your own monopoly money to hoard. You, as a participant in an economy, have social responsibilities. Caring for the next generation is a big one.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#92

Post by throwaway7767 »

oakhaven wrote: post #88
lovemetender wrote: post #39

I've found that working 8 or 9 months during the year then taking 3 or 4 months to look for the next contract or FT job helps me to re-sync and avoid burn-out (at least, I don't think I'm burned out - that's a good sign right!).

way to go! I try the same, but when I stop working and chill for a while, I start to feel guilty for not making more money despite I could. Maybe a personal year-income-threshold would be a good idea. Once that's earned, just relax. Makes more sense in countries with progressive income tax rate.

> Maybe a personal year-income-threshold would be a good idea. Once that's earned, just relax. Makes more sense in countries with progressive income tax rate.

Isn't a progressive income tax usually applied monthly? In that case, not working for some calendar months is hurting your income.

At least where I am, we have progressive income tax, and if I did this I would end up paying more in taxes for the same amount of work, as for 3 months I would not use any of my lower-tier income tax, and the rest of the year I would be paying more to the higher tiers than if I balanced things evenly over the year.

I guess you could make a deal with your employer to split your payments across the inactive months, not sure if there are some legal issues with that.

One of the many ways tax systems can create weird incentives, as this actually sounds like a pretty nice arrangement.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#93

Post by maxerickson »

throwaway7767 wrote: post #92
oakhaven wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

way to go! I try the same, but when I stop working and chill for a while, I start to feel guilty for not making more money despite I could. Maybe a personal year-income-threshold would be a good idea. Once that's earned, just relax. Makes more sense in countries with progressive income tax rate.

> Maybe a personal year-income-threshold would be a good idea. Once that's earned, just relax. Makes more sense in countries with progressive income tax rate. Isn't a progressive income tax usually applied monthly? In that case, not working for some calendar months is hurting your income. At least where I am, we have progressive income tax, and if I did this I would end up paying more in taxes for the same amount of…

The US withholds taxes based on the amounts in the paycheck, but the actual tax is figured on annual income, so you either get the money back or given a predictable annual income, adjust the withholding (there is some risk of getting penalized for owing too much, so the predictable part matters).

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#94

Post by xlm1717 »

Skinney wrote: post #37
xlm1717 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American, I'm interested in knowing why it would require Sweden to raise taxes. Since you mentioned a huge public sector, is it a case of needing extra workers to work shifts so that pubic services are run at the usual hours? I imagine private companies would be able to get away with it, as long as all their competitors also switch to six-hour workdays.

I'm Norwegian, and here we have two parties who advocate a six-hour workday. One of the parties wants a six-hour workday with pay compensation, meaning we still pay them for eight-hour days even if they only work six-hours. I'm not sure this is the case in Sweden. Even if it isn't, a six-hour day means people work less, meaning you probably need to hire more people (increased productivity doesn't help in the healthca…

Yes, this makes sense. For the public sector it would necessarily incur extra salary costs.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#95

Post by monstruoso »

anon4 wrote: post #84

The majority of people have children. Sucks for you, but I'd rather it suck for you and the rest of the few asshole asocial hermits, than suck for all of us. Though if you like money so much, maybe we could pass in a law that you can trade in your fertility for a tax cut.

I second the other comment. Fuck you, just, fuck you.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#96

Post by lovemetender »

maxerickson wrote: post #93
throwaway7767 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe a personal year-income-threshold would be a good idea. Once that's earned, just relax. Makes more sense in countries with progressive income tax rate. Isn't a progressive income tax usually applied monthly? In that case, not working for some calendar months is hurting your income. At least where I am, we have progressive income tax, and if I did this I would end up paying more in taxes for the same amount of…

The US withholds taxes based on the amounts in the paycheck, but the actual tax is figured on annual income, so you either get the money back or given a predictable annual income, adjust the withholding (there is some risk of getting penalized for owing too much, so the predictable part matters).

Correct, this is in the US and in fact to the parent, we found we end up not with much less in our account making 80K instead of 120K. I suppose maybe if you go above 150K it might be better, not sure about that though.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#97

Post by skwirl »

nickff wrote: post #38
skwirl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kind of Ok with letting other countries try this one out first. I'm receptive to the idea of basic income, but the potential unintended consequences seem terrifying.

If anyone is to try this, the states are ideal candidates. People can (and do) vote with their feet when states implement negative policies, which is one reason they are "laboratories of democracy". In addition, it is clear that they have the consitutional authority to do this (while the federal government does not).

It feels like something that would fail if only one state did it. A lot of low income people would move to that state for basic income and the high income people seeing massive tax increases would leave. Then the system would collapse.

At a country level it is much more difficult for people to come and go and countries have some control over who does come and go. It would be better tried by some European country.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#98

Post by skwirl »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #47
skwirl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kind of Ok with letting other countries try this one out first. I'm receptive to the idea of basic income, but the potential unintended consequences seem terrifying.

More terrifying than the status quo, or the consequences of not implementing income supports for the working class under present and coming economic conditions? Really?

Yes.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#99

Post by dang »

anon4 wrote: post #84

The majority of people have children. Sucks for you, but I'd rather it suck for you and the rest of the few asshole asocial hermits, than suck for all of us. Though if you like money so much, maybe we could pass in a law that you can trade in your fertility for a tax cut.

> you and the rest of the few asshole asocial hermits

Personal attacks are not welcome on Hacker News. Please don't do this again.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10309144 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Some companies in Sweden are testing a six-hour work day

#100

Post by dang »

monstruoso wrote: post #95
anon4 wrote: post #84

The majority of people have children. Sucks for you, but I'd rather it suck for you and the rest of the few asshole asocial hermits, than suck for all of us. Though if you like money so much, maybe we could pass in a law that you can trade in your fertility for a tax cut.

I second the other comment. Fuck you, just, fuck you.

Please follow the HN guidelines and remain civil, even when the other person has not.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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