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

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

#121

I'm surprised we haven't seen more of the mixed compromise: Monday - Thursday: 10 hour days Friday - Monday: 4 day weekend Tuesday - Friday: 10 hour days Saturday - Sunday: 2 day weekend and then it repeats. Same hours worked overall. Work longer days, but get 4 day weekends every other week. The people I've known who've had this setup would generally work 6am-4pm.

My strong impression is that this is a waste of time. You can keep people in their seats for 10 hours, I guess, but you're not going to consistently get 10 hours of productivity. If we want to give people an extra day off -- and I think we should! -- then we should just do it. You can't really make up the time somewhere else.

I believe this is very person-specific. I can work 10 hours day without any problem. I'd MUCH prefer to work 10 hours a few days and take a day off, or work only in the morning and take afternoon to myself. For me, most weekdays are "lost" days since I work 9:30 to 5:30 then I work out until 7:30 or 8pm. I love cooking elaborate meals so dinner takes me until 9 to 10pm. I like sleeping 7.5 to 8 hours so I have only 2 hours to socialize/chill/read/play a game/watch youtube, which is usually not enough "cooling" time for me. I'd prefer if I worked 9 to 7 instead, then work out, then eat dinner, then sleep but take one more day off for socialization/entertainment I'd enjoy my life better, I think. I don't care that much though, I'm fairly content with my current schedule.

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

#122
post #48

What I really need is a weekly study day: Spend a whole day just studying and reading something (which may be completely unrelated to my work). Some of my most productive ideas have come from such study.

I require what I call a, "clean up" day once every few weeks. I wish I had one every week. It's a day when I can sit on my computer or around my apartment and do all those little things that pile up. Re-potting the plants? Never urgent enough to be top of mind but will become an issue later. Those 15 opened and unread tabs? Let me at em. Painting that spot on the wall? A tad too inconvenient for a normal Tuesday but…

I think life becomes less stressful when you just bang those things out on demand.

How long is it really going to take to glance through those 15 unread tabs? Chances are you'll do a legit sweep of them in 45 seconds and then maybe 1 or 2 things will be worth reading. Before you know it, you just knocked it off your list in 5-10 minutes.

The same can be said for painting that spot on the wall, 10 real minutes end to end and you're done.

Now they are out of your mind instead of piling up between those clean up days where all you think about is "I wish I had time to do all of these things!". I know personally I'm the most happy when my queue is nearly empty.

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

#123
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

not the greatest source but still informative

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150220083916.h...

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

#124

I just got a 20% raise to go with a promotion. I wished I had an opportunity to negotiate a 20% reduction in working hours instead- perhaps even along with a slight reduction in pay.

Did/have you asked? I know a handful of people who have asked and successfully accomplished this. I know a lot more people who wish they could but don't want to ask for fear of being seen as a low performer or something.

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

#125
post #93
post #48

What I really need is a weekly study day: Spend a whole day just studying and reading something (which may be completely unrelated to my work). Some of my most productive ideas have come from such study.

What I need is a weekly work day :). My workplace is so distracting that I barely ever get to do focused work. The background noise drives me crazy and then always somebody wants to have another meeting about something that has been discussed dozens of times before.

> What I need is a weekly work day :). My workplace is so distracting that I barely ever get to do focused work. The background noise drives me crazy and then always somebody wants to have another meeting about something that has been discussed dozens of times before.

Sounds like bullpen office layouts are the problem. We really need to go back to private offices.

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

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting voted down but I'm serious... it is a cultural choice to feed people by paying them for work. And so work must be procured and time occupied by what is essentially walking a treadmill until the rent pops out.

In my business, if time is just occupied by a worker, they loose a job. Their job depends on them doing something that pays for their income.

Whats your point exactly?

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

#128
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I require what I call a, "clean up" day once every few weeks. I wish I had one every week. It's a day when I can sit on my computer or around my apartment and do all those little things that pile up. Re-potting the plants? Never urgent enough to be top of mind but will become an issue later. Those 15 opened and unread tabs? Let me at em. Painting that spot on the wall? A tad too inconvenient for a normal Tuesday but…

I think life becomes less stressful when you just bang those things out on demand. How long is it really going to take to glance through those 15 unread tabs? Chances are you'll do a legit sweep of them in 45 seconds and then maybe 1 or 2 things will be worth reading. Before you know it, you just knocked it off your list in 5-10 minutes. The same can be said for painting that spot on the wall, 10 real minutes end to…

I agree with you. However life gets in the way sometimes and those little quick things get delayed until later. Enough of those build up and that's when I run into those.

The tabs are all things I've sent to my phone/home computer via pushbullet because they were articles I was interested in actually digging into and maybe doing more research on the topic later so they do takes some actual time or at least mental energy.

The wall painting and cleaning stuff is all quick time wise but there are other potential costs that accompany it. Painting brings the possibility of spilling the paint or getting it on my clothes or something. I also need to clean up the paint brush thoroughly which takes some time. Same with re-potting plants. What if I spill the soil and it goes everywhere? Big clean up. Yes unlikely but if I've only got 20 minutes on a Tuesday before I head out to do something else I don't want to risk it.

I am the most happy or at least the most focused when I finish all of these things thus the clean up day. It almost feels like there is a part of my brain that is dedicated to these tasks even if they are just sitting on my computer or around the place to be accomplished. It's great to finish them.

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

#129
post #48

What I really need is a weekly study day: Spend a whole day just studying and reading something (which may be completely unrelated to my work). Some of my most productive ideas have come from such study.

I think you need more time. If a company offered me a years full pay leave after 5 years to study full time, with fees covered I would valued that a LOT more than all of the other workplace perks available.

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

#130

I'm surprised we haven't seen more of the mixed compromise: Monday - Thursday: 10 hour days Friday - Monday: 4 day weekend Tuesday - Friday: 10 hour days Saturday - Sunday: 2 day weekend and then it repeats. Same hours worked overall. Work longer days, but get 4 day weekends every other week. The people I've known who've had this setup would generally work 6am-4pm.

The huge problem for me would be the 10 hour days followed by a 2 day weekend. Hard pass. I'll also second the 10 hours being useless. Most days I really get about 4-5 hours of 100% work in. I don't think this would be any more productive than simply doing 3 day weekends with 8 hours of work, which I would prefer between the two.

I think that most workplaces you wont get 4-5 hours of useful work done on average.
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