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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

#91

Post by tialaramex »

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.

Yup. Being on a train is only a location not an activity. Like any other location it can be made more or less comfortable, I've been on a train where the heating failed; and one that was so crowded you could hardly breathe (last train home for the night so nobody was willing to miss out) but I've also been comfortably asleep in bed; eaten a decent (not award winning, but certainly reasonable even for a restaurant that wasn't hurtling though the countryside at a hundred miles per hour) meal; and watched some good movies on Netflix.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#92

Post by gist »

'More bosses give 4 day workweek a try'. How weak is that? What does 'more' mean anyway? .001 more? 40% more. Of course there is no answer to that. What about 'more bosses think wearing blue shirts in the office is fine' (Everyone would laugh at that right on the surface right and say 'how many exactly percentage wise'?

Unclear why people seem to think there needs to be some kind of 'one size fits all' approach. If a job is such that 32 hours works fine. If it's not fine. And the media saying things like 'a move toward' and 'more companies are' when clearly there is no significant push in this area appears to be just some kind of evergreen story to sell advertising. Media does this frequently. Keys are statements not backed up by anything but anecdotes such as 'and questions are being raised' and so on. That one 'questions are being asked' is literally a nightly occurrence on network news broadcasts (says me using the same technique but it is happening).

Guess what? Some people don't mind working 5 days. Some people like working 7 days. Some people would rather sit and not work at all. Everyone is different.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#94

Post by wpasc »

TuringNYC wrote: post #85
tombert wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not sure what GP meant but in NYC I find NJ Transit, Metro North, LIRR style to be much more relaxing and reliable. Subway is just a different beast

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#95

Post by kody »

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.

Oh for sure. I'd bet that people working 4x9s or even 4x8s are equally/more productive as 4x10s and 5x8s and are happier. But if I'm choosing between 4x10 and 5x8 I'd take 4x10 any day.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#96

Post by k__ »

fogetti wrote: post #50
k__ wrote: post #36

I'm from Germany and none of my friends works 40h anymore. They're all down to 50-80% This is even regulated by the law, your employer has to allow you to reduce your work time, only in some extreme cases they can deny it. Works like a charm.

I am curious. Where do they work? What do they do?

Accountant, marketeer, developer, nurse, optometrist, barkeeper

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#97

Post by kbenson »

Swizec wrote: post #72
kbenson wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are ways to work around the system around metro hubs that tries to push you towards the standard of commuting 2 hours or more each day to get to a higher paying job, but you have to search for them and be flexible yourself in your search for a job that's flexible. These days, it's likely semi-remote work, where you commute 1-3 days a week or in off hours (part of day at home, part at work). For me, I've been lu…

> push you towards the standard of commuting 2 hours or more each day to get to a higher paying job Crazy question but why not invest some of that higher salary into quality of life improvements like moving closer to work?

I think you misread some of my comment.

But as for why people don't do that, I think it's often because "quality of life" means different things to different people at different times in their lives.

For a single 20-something, moving closer to work, and the much higher cost of living that usually entails can be worthwhile.

For a 30-something or 40-something with a family, what kind of worth the spouse does (and whether it benefits from that move monetarily or in quality of live) and what it entails for the children can be much more important.

For a single (or mostly single) income household, shaving 2 hours off your commute in exchange for double the cost of living is very hard to justify. There's often a reason they live far enough away to need to commute.

For me, as I said, I've never had that commute. I've been very happy working in the tech industry an hour or so away from SF and its surrounding area. What I advocated is not moving closer to work, but working closer to where you moved. If you move to a suburb of SF, if you start looking for work in that area instead of focusing on SF, you might be surprised what's there. It won't pay as much, but theoretically cost of living is already drastically reduced by moving to the suburb, so maybe re-examining what's a good job to look is called for if that commute isn't to your liking.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#98

Post by gowld »

Swizec wrote: post #72
kbenson wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are ways to work around the system around metro hubs that tries to push you towards the standard of commuting 2 hours or more each day to get to a higher paying job, but you have to search for them and be flexible yourself in your search for a job that's flexible. These days, it's likely semi-remote work, where you commute 1-3 days a week or in off hours (part of day at home, part at work). For me, I've been lu…

> push you towards the standard of commuting 2 hours or more each day to get to a higher paying job Crazy question but why not invest some of that higher salary into quality of life improvements like moving closer to work?

Because homes are often miserable in the city. You can't renovate your apartment building or clean up all the litter on your block or get rid of the cars driving by.

Driving is the price you pay for a nice home.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#99

Post by kody »

burnte wrote: post #81
standardUser wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, in my experience the difference between 8 and 10 hour workdays were negligible (except certain times of year where I'd get to my desk before sunrise and leave well after sunset). Anything I'd do with my "extra" 2 hours per day I'd happily batch into my free Friday.
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