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Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

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Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#21

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

bwb wrote: post #5
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #4

I would switch to a 2.5 day work week or possible even less, with proportional cut in pay, if I could.

Gotcha, what is preventing you? Have you tried talking to your current company? Asking out of curiosity :)

It's a non-starter pretty much everywhere. No one wants to pay a half-time employee even half as much as a full time one. It's difficult to blame them, half my job is reacting to problems as the arise anyway.

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#22

Post by acheron »

I did something like that for awhile when my first child was born. Went to 30 hours a week, done in three 10-hour days, spending Monday and Friday home with my kid. 75% salary/vacation time, same medical/everything else. I did that for a few years and it was really great. Had to go back to full time eventually because the extra 25% salary ended up being needed, but yeah it was great while it lasted.

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#23

Post by bwb »

ggregoire wrote: post #20

In your scenario 1, refusing is basically accepting to work an additional day for the same comp? Why would someone accept that?

Sorry for the confusion, I am asking from the employee perspective, i.e., would you want to work 4 days a week or do you like 5 days?

I've talked to some people who are in a period of their life where they wouldn't want to know what to fill it with and like being at work 5 days a week.

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#24

Post by nerpderp82 »

B_Throwaway wrote: post #13

By law, in the Netherlands, employees are allowed to reduce their work hours. Allegedly, unless there is a clear, critical business need for you to work the entire week, the company is not allowed to deny your request. I would love to work fewer days per week, and use the extra time to focus more on my personal development & side projects. However, at my current level of discipline, I'd be fooling myself if I said I…

I'd like to merge Netherland law into Washington state law, this sounds like an excellent idea.

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#25

Post by ggregoire »

bwb wrote: post #23
ggregoire wrote: post #20

In your scenario 1, refusing is basically accepting to work an additional day for the same comp? Why would someone accept that?

Sorry for the confusion, I am asking from the employee perspective, i.e., would you want to work 4 days a week or do you like 5 days? I've talked to some people who are in a period of their life where they wouldn't want to know what to fill it with and like being at work 5 days a week.

I was actually thinking from the employee perspective. If your employer allows you to work 4 days for the same comp, refusing is choosing to work an additional day for free.

It's strange to me that some people don't know how to fill their day when they are not at work. My personal todo list is always full!

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#27

Post by tbyehl »

1: Yes. I would like to not work on Wednesdays. Having a split work week sounds way better to me than 3-day weekends and two vacation days still buys me 5 days off.

2: Maybe. Have my hours been reduced by 20%? My workload? Will we have 25% more staff?

Any place I've worked that contemplated allowing people to go on a 4-day schedule expected 10-hour days, which ends up being appealing to very few.

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#28

Post by bwb »

ggregoire wrote: post #25
bwb wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the confusion, I am asking from the employee perspective, i.e., would you want to work 4 days a week or do you like 5 days? I've talked to some people who are in a period of their life where they wouldn't want to know what to fill it with and like being at work 5 days a week.

I was actually thinking from the employee perspective. If your employer allows you to work 4 days for the same comp, refusing is choosing to work an additional day for free. It's strange to me that some people don't know how to fill their day when they are not at work. My personal todo list is always full!

Gotcha, yep I agree :)

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#29

Post by toomuchtodo »

nerpderp82 wrote: post #24
B_Throwaway wrote: post #13

By law, in the Netherlands, employees are allowed to reduce their work hours. Allegedly, unless there is a clear, critical business need for you to work the entire week, the company is not allowed to deny your request. I would love to work fewer days per week, and use the extra time to focus more on my personal development & side projects. However, at my current level of discipline, I'd be fooling myself if I said I…

I'd like to merge Netherland law into Washington state law, this sounds like an excellent idea.

Have you considered running for Washington state office?

Re: Ask HN: Would you switch to a 4-day-a-week schedule if you could?

#30

Post by be_kul »

Just one thing: In the 50s and 60s working weeks were 6 days in Germany (east and west). In the 70s this was reduced to 5 days (40 hours), and later, in the early 80s, in West Germany even to 35 hours/week. All this was possible without reduction of wages because working productivity had grown fast enough to compensate companies for the "lost" working time. Can anyone really imagine that working productivity grew significantly LESS than it had between c. 1945 and 1980 during the last 40 years? So, where did all the extra gain go in the mean time? Higher wages? Nope. Higher pensions? Nope. longer holidays? Nope. Lower prices? Nope. They all developed over the last 40 years in a speed that kept them more or less on the same relative level than in the 1970s/80s. The only thing that grew MUCH faster was the income of the rich… So, we should not ask, IF we wanted to work 1 day less per week, but WHY we are not doing so already? Would the rich be or at least feel much poorer than now? Does anyone of these people really know the difference between 100000000000 and 10000000000 (given, they could even pronounce these numbers correctly ;-))?
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