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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

#131

Post by lastres0rt »

anonsivalley652 wrote: post #113
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…

Exactly. Work someplace else cheaper/less dense, remotely or get the tiniest, rathole, walkup closet where there's only a refrigerator and a tub, and you can't open the frig to open the door (but at least you can drink OJ from the carton while in the tub;). The people who commute by plane, 1-2 hours each way, or 100-200 miles daily are phreak'n outside of their skulls looking in.

Hey, I commute by train to work (about an hour each way once you factor in trotting to the station, waiting for commuter shuttles, etc.), and I'm happy as a clam because I can draw on my iPad or play on my Switch for much of that time.

Now, if you're DRIVING that same hour, then yeah, you're nuts.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#132

Post by gpanders »

sithlord wrote: post #84
clSTophEjUdRanu wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

and still on average > 80 hours every 2 weeks.

This type of schedule is called a 9/80 and you work 80 hours every 2 work weeks.

Your Fridays "on" you work 8 hours instead of 9. And you get every other Friday off.

At my company, we have the option between the standard 5x8, the 9/80, and the 4x10 schedules. Surprisingly (at least to me), the 9/80 is by far the most popular (the 4x10 being the 2nd most popular and the standard schedule being the rarest option).

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#133

Post by lwb »

Something felt fishy about their claim that number of hours worked has been climbing in the United States so I checked their source. It turns out that "average annual hours worked" has changed from 1,780 in 2011 to 1,786 last year. This seems like barely a rounding error...

On the other hand, if you look at the FRED website it shows that average annual hours worked has massively decreased in the last 50 years: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AVHWPEUSA065NRUG

1951, for example, shows 2,030 hours worked on average. That's the equivalent of more than six additional weeks of full time work.

I would say that Keynes's prediction that economic growth could get to the point where we would only need to work 15 hours a week (750 hours per year, assuming 2 weeks vacation) is ... trending towards becoming true? At current trends, it will take another ~280 years.

(Obviously this is a silly prediction but, an interesting thought experiment.)

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#134

Post by gpanders »

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.

I work from 7-5 each day, so even when I go to the gym or run a quick errand after work I can be home by 6, which strikes me as a "decent hour", although I suppose that's subjective.

Waking up at 6am takes getting used to but isn't unreasonable in my opinion.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#135

Post by mcny »

twox2 wrote: post #121
TuringNYC wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

All it takes is one time being stuck in the tunnel for 1.5 hrs in crowded train car and you have pretty much permanent PTSD. I have a panic attack every time the train comes to a premature stop even for a minute.

> All it takes is one time being stuck in the tunnel for 1.5 hrs in crowded train car and you have pretty much permanent PTSD. I have a panic attack every time the train comes to a premature stop even for a minute.

I used to take the Path trail from Jersey City and then transfer to the F trail to Queens. I let my boss think I love my job so much that I arrive at work pretty early on most days when in fact, I was just trying to account for the inevitable delays on some days.

I understand worker safety is important. Even if we didn't care about the workers, accidents can get very expensive and budget is tight. However, there has to be a better way than slowing ALL tracks to a crawl every time there is track work on ANY of the tracks.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#136

Post by chadlavi »

lwb wrote: post #133

Something felt fishy about their claim that number of hours worked has been climbing in the United States so I checked their source. It turns out that "average annual hours worked" has changed from 1,780 in 2011 to 1,786 last year. This seems like barely a rounding error... On the other hand, if you look at the FRED website it shows that average annual hours worked has massively decreased in the last 50 years: https:…

these numbers are across all industries, right? a 40 hour union job has certain parameters such that the work hours aren't going to shift much without larger political shifts within those orgs.

But I suspect the number of hours a non-union knowledge worker works per year has gone up in the same time frame.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#137

Post by hinkley »

hawaiianbrah wrote: post #125
wolco wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mature places have this with a global workforce. Not so mature places put 9-5ers on call with a tiny bump in pay.

And the least mature do it without a bump at all!

Guilt is a hell of a drug.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#138

Post by SimianLogic2 »

My current job is a 4-day workweek (not the whole company, just me), but it's also not the most interesting job. I've seen other jobs posted that look more interesting in the last year or two (and would likely be for higher pay), but after doing this for almost 2 years I decided that the chill work-life balance is more important than total comp or having "interesting" work.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#139

Post by kody »

davidjtighe wrote: post #116
kody wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I completely see where you're coming from, but having kids changes the calculus completely.

Great point. I hadn’t considered that at all.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#140

Post by burnte »

davidjtighe wrote: post #116
kody wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I completely see where you're coming from, but having kids changes the calculus completely.

Not necessarily. Most folks have kids, most folks I know that prefer four 10s have kids, and like having that fifth day off.
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