Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#31

Post by 5555624 » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 9:32 AM UTC

Based on my personal observations, I don't know that any of those "benefits" are true. For about eight months of the year, I have a 3-day weekend every other weekend. (Nine hour days with every other Friday off and eight hour days on the other Fridays.) Around September, I burn vacation days taking the opposite Fridays off, so I have at least a 3-day weekend ever weekend for the remainder of this year. I've done this for a number of years now.

I don't find myself healthier. I eat the same and I'm a little more active; but, not much. Not enough to make a real difference. Increased physical activity on one day is not better than spreading it out over a week.

I don't get more sleep. Numerous studies say to keep the same sleep schedule every day and one day is not going to make a difference,

I'm not less of a jerk. Having Friday off does not do anything to my energy levels on Monday - Thursday. I try to sleep and eat right all week.

I don't think am better at my job. While there is some less stress because I have an additional day not to think about it; I am also not around for anything that might come up on a Friday.

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#32

Post by NKosmatos » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 9:36 AM UTC

Our society is such that we typically work 8 out of 24 hours(33%), 5 out of 7 days(71%) and 11 out of 12 months(91%), with exceptions ofcourse. All those aeons of evolution so as to come out of our caves and settle for this?

IMHO we should be working less and have more free time for activities that would be good for our spirits/souls/minds.

Where are the robots, AI and all the other technological wonders that we were expecting for the 21st century?

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#33

Post by de_watcher » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 9:38 AM UTC

dasanman wrote: post #16

lolive wrote: post #9

The consequences would be terrible! We would have to wait 18 months between each iteration of Iphone instead of 12. Amazon would deliver at day+2. Uber Eats would answer: "No slave available. Sorry, you will have to cook". Simply unacceptable !!! Now go back to work 5 days a week!

Oh my god yes. Actually we should work 6 days a week, imagine how fast the new Iphone would come out!!

Is it a good thing?

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#34

Post by Nursie » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 9:38 AM UTC

imAsking9836 wrote: post #27

Nursie wrote: post #7

I agree. I'm thinking of moving to that model when my current contract comes up for renegotiation early next year. A 20% paycut is definitely liveable, and that extra day per week would make a lot of difference - either in terms of bootstrapping side projects, or just quality of life.

Other option without the paycut could be 4 10-hours a day week. Might save on gas and other thing and will still have the 3 days weekend, although day to day activities like exercise might prove more difficult to do with fewer hours every day. Tangential question: when people in the US say 9-5 work, do you take into account the lunch break or that 1 hour is still counted as workable?

My day has a two-hour commute at each end anyway, three or fours days per week (I'm remote the other days) so piling on an extra 2 is pretty much out of the question.

I'm not in the US so I can't answer that!

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#35

Post by adrianN » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 9:45 AM UTC

dasanman wrote: post #16

lolive wrote: post #9

The consequences would be terrible! We would have to wait 18 months between each iteration of Iphone instead of 12. Amazon would deliver at day+2. Uber Eats would answer: "No slave available. Sorry, you will have to cook". Simply unacceptable !!! Now go back to work 5 days a week!

Oh my god yes. Actually we should work 6 days a week, imagine how fast the new Iphone would come out!!

Have you considered what would happen if we added meth to the drinking water? People wouldn't sleep and could work twice as long!

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#36

Post by eertami » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 9:53 AM UTC

omneity wrote: post #12

Nursie wrote: post #7

I agree. I'm thinking of moving to that model when my current contract comes up for renegotiation early next year. A 20% paycut is definitely liveable, and that extra day per week would make a lot of difference - either in terms of bootstrapping side projects, or just quality of life.

I would be curious to know experiences of people who actually did it and what use they made of this time. Spent with family? Personal growth? Making money through freelancing or side projects?

I work 3 day weeks so I can ski the other 4 days/week.

My hours aren't strict so in theory it could be 7 days/week but having tried that before, it's a bit too much to try and fit work into it without any time to relax.

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#37

Post by Already__Taken » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:00 AM UTC

KineticLensman wrote: post #26

I’m in the fourth decade of my career and I switched to a three day week almost a year ago, taking a proportional pay cut. I work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get the largest contiguous block of time (Thursdays and Fridays) where the places I want to go to are family/child free. If work needs me to swap a day (e.g. to go to a Thursday meeting) I’ll often do that and occasionally I'll work longer one week and then…

> I'm slightly less aware of what’s going on in the office and wider industry but in general more relaxed.

Do you think if you weren't the only one (I assume) doing 3-4 day weeks the lines of communication would be better defined and this problem would correct itself?

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#38

Post by rimliu » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:05 AM UTC

bendmorris wrote: post #6

henryluo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As father of five: yes, please yes.

I don't get this mentality at all. The number one thing I wish I had was more of in life was quality daytime hours to spend with my family. It's why I have kids. I've been spoiled by paternity leave for our new little one, and I don't know how I'll cope with having to go back to work.

People and their needs are different is that so difficult?

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#39

Post by a-saleh » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:20 AM UTC

I did this when negotiating salary at my last job. I discussed this with my wife, and we agreed, that having +20% salary wouldn't improve our lives much. Working 20% less probably would. So far it seems that it worked out :-)

The extra day helps for us to actually get somewhere during the weekend, and I really appreciate both having more family-time with my wife and daughter, as well as posibility to get somewhere on my own without the guilt of "but I should have been with my family".

On the other hand, I sometimes feel that I am not working enough at work and it has been tricky to align some of meetings within the team I work in, i.e. we have a lot of meetings on monday or friday :-/

Re: Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)

#40

Post by KineticLensman » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:22 AM UTC

Already__Taken wrote: post #37

KineticLensman wrote: post #26

I’m in the fourth decade of my career and I switched to a three day week almost a year ago, taking a proportional pay cut. I work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get the largest contiguous block of time (Thursdays and Fridays) where the places I want to go to are family/child free. If work needs me to swap a day (e.g. to go to a Thursday meeting) I’ll often do that and occasionally I'll work longer one week and then…

> I'm slightly less aware of what’s going on in the office and wider industry but in general more relaxed. Do you think if you weren't the only one (I assume) doing 3-4 day weeks the lines of communication would be better defined and this problem would correct itself?

I suspect that if more people were more absent then we would all be less well informed (in my workplace, YMMV). I've noticed before when comparing on-prem vs. home working (which I also do sometimes) that you miss out on the 'micro-meetings' (e.g. a short chat while making coffee) where useful snippets of information are exchanged. I've never found an adequate replacement for these.