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More bosses give four-day workweek a try

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Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#81

Post by burnte »

standardUser wrote: post #60
kody wrote: post #13

I worked 4x10s when I worked for the Army and it was awesome. 3 day weekends take off so much pressure, and come Sunday night I was starting to feel the itch to get back into work rather than the dreadful feeling that I 'wasted' my weekend. The only work experience that was better than this was 100% flexibility to work remotely and/or flex hours. So there's my anecdata for you :)

10 hours really seems extreme. I am certain that the vast majority of office workers could produce the same level of output at a 4x9 schedule as they do in a 5x8 or would in a 4x10. And most would be profoundly happier people.

The vast majority of people I know who can do four 10s love it, and find the 10 hour days aren't really much different then the 8s. I'd love it if I could do four 10s, but in a company that does 24/7 healthcare, that's not an option for support staff like IT, not even at my level.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#82

Post by blobbers »

"Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is backing a parliamentary proposal to shift to a four-day week." -- with all the Russian meddling in the U.S.A., maybe they can get this pushed through!

Jokes aside, I would love this. Right now in tech asking for this sort of thing feels like a 'career limiting move', and definitely in a hiring situation could label you as 'not a hard worker' despite your emphasis on efficiency and productive hours.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#83

Post by culopatin »

burnte wrote: post #79
Ididntdothis wrote: post #8

It seems a lot of these experiments are a success. But after a while somebody gets greedy and thinks “we get good productivity at 32 hours. I wonder how much more we could get at 40 hours?” And soon you are back at the old schedule. Something similar happened at my company. For once a project was ahead of schedule. So instead of thinking that the system worked well and keep working in relaxed manner management decide…

>we get good productivity at 32 hours. I wonder how much more we could get at 40 hours? Usually 4 days a week means 4 ten hour days, not 4 eight hour days. Hence the phrase "four tens".

In the article they are discussing the 32h week though

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#84

Post by sithlord »

clSTophEjUdRanu wrote: post #49
kody wrote: post #13

I worked 4x10s when I worked for the Army and it was awesome. 3 day weekends take off so much pressure, and come Sunday night I was starting to feel the itch to get back into work rather than the dreadful feeling that I 'wasted' my weekend. The only work experience that was better than this was 100% flexibility to work remotely and/or flex hours. So there's my anecdata for you :)

I worked 9 hour days with every other Friday off and hated it.

and still on average > 80 hours every 2 weeks.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#85

Post by TuringNYC »

tombert wrote: post #37
volkk wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know not everyone is as sapped for energy as I am after work, but I leave work and sit in an hour of traffic. My energy is just sapped from me by the time I make it home. I have enough energy to feed myself and sometimes work out to maintain my health.. I know that some people just dont have the privilege of living close to their jobs, but after spending one internship getting up at 5;45am to drive with my dad to…

I live in NYC, and I have a roughly 1 hour commute each way, but I just take the train everywhere. Of course I can't speak for anyone else, but I find that taking a train to work is a lot less stressful than driving every day. At least on the train, I can read, or pull out my laptop, or just play a video game.

I’m born and raised in NYC and took subways and trains to work everyday for over a decade in NYC.

I mostly agree with you...but...I found the past several years of subway outages worse and started driving/ridesharing more and more. I’ve had times where subways constantly get rerouted, suddenly go express, skip stops, run on different lines, etc. it became so maddening.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#86

Post by brozaman »

In Spain it's somewhat common to do 9 hours Monday to Thursday and only working 4 hours on Friday. Unfortunately I only worked for a company that did this only for one year, but it is the one thing I miss of this company.

Personally, I'm reluctant to the 4x10, but doing 4x9 and 1x4 was simply awesome, plus you could get a 3 day weekend by just spending half day of vacation.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#87

Post by zhdc1 »

nagyf wrote: post #64
jacquesm wrote: post #40

It's interesting to note that in Europe that 32 hour workweek is fairly standard and nobody would even bat an eye or think this is special in any way. https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/11/working-hours.html

Source for this? I'm from Europe and I have friends working in 2-3 different countries in Europe, but 32 hour workweek is not standard anywhere. Never even heard of such a thing being standard in Europe.

Germany and Switzerland, at least. I can't speak for other countries, but at least where I'm at, most folks are on an 80% contract (four days a week) and enjoying it.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#88

Post by jt2190 »

Counter-point, from the article:

> Natalie Nagele, co-founder and CEO of Wildbit, has heard from other leaders who say it didn't work for them. She says it fails when employees aren't motivated and where managers don't trust employees.

Also it would be good to keep in mind the Hawthorne Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect#History

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#89

Post by nickbauman »

volkk wrote: post #31
mjayhn wrote: post #18

I can't begin to explain how much less stress I encounter in day to day life having just one week day to stay home. Just having a day to be able to easily knock out chores between Jira issues; drop the car off at the dealer, sell something on craigslist, complete a house project, go to the dentist, meet the handyman, go to the bank, etc is so nice. All of these things wind up on the back burner when I'm in the middle…

> I know not everyone is as sapped for energy as I am after work, but I leave work and sit in an hour of traffic. My energy is just sapped from me by the time I make it home. I have enough energy to feed myself and sometimes work out to maintain my health.. I know that some people just dont have the privilege of living close to their jobs, but after spending one internship getting up at 5;45am to drive with my dad to…

I changed my life so my work is 6 blocks from home. I will never go back. No realistic amount of money will ever be worth a commute. I consider commuting a form of incarceration.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#90

Post by domingobingo »

echelon wrote: post #58
amyjess wrote: post #27

Going down to a 32-hour workweek would be lovely, but I'm simply not interested in doing 4×10. I'd rather get home at a decent hour than have an extra day off.

To each their own. My work week is spent on work and I can't really enjoy the time before or after work. I'll never enjoy M-F. I'd rather have a 4x10 than a 5x8. If my side hustle ever graduates into a startup and I start hiring other people, we're doing 4x10 or 4x9.

What's the nature of the side hustle if you don't mind me asking?
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