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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

#161

Post by leetcrew »

sloppycee wrote: post #124
Darkphibre wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nap time adds to productivity Amen to this! I pushed for, and saw implemented, a dual nap room for our studio. It was used around the clock by people stretching, meditating, and napping. I found a huge productivity spike taking out 20 minutes a day. Then, we hired a bunch more people for the upcoming launch, and it was re-purposed into a storage room for old rack hardware (I pushed against this, but was told it was…

Most children stop napping around four years old. Maybe there's a deeper problem at your job if people need a nap room. Just get more sleep at home, you're not being paid to sleep. btw, a 'dedicated lego room' sounds like another symptom of a toxic infantilizing culture that eats confidence and breeds reliance.

I'm assuming the napping and Lego playing isn't mandatory. you could always just not do it and mind your own business.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#162

Post by mdorazio »

rverghese wrote: post #42
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…

But doesn't this rely on everyone else working 5 days? If everyone had a 4-week, it would be just like the current weekend. You can't go to the bank or dentist, because they would also be off. Perhaps you could get the same effect and quality of life by taking Sunday and Monday as your days off and working Saturday.

Exactly right. The best alternative I've seen implemented at companies is 9/80 where employees get every other Friday or Monday off, and half the employees get one week while half get the next. That way you still get an extra 2 useful days a month to get stuff done at home, but companies themselves are able to continue working 5 days a week.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#163

Post by SauciestGNU »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #47
Apocryphon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about a compromise? 4x9 hours.

I like 4x9, because a lot of work is already 5x9 if you include mandatory lunch break.

I have a huge problem with the 5x9 expectation. 9-5 means 9-5 including a lunch. I promise any employer that demanding my presence from 8-5 (or any other 9 hours) will not result in greater productivity, and furthermore will leave me disgruntled.

There's only so much development that can be done in a day before I'm in a haze from all the abstract thought, and that productivity asymptote comes well under 8 hours.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#164

Post by pg_is_a_butt »

ahoy wrote: post #23
toper-centage wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it not also the responsibility of employees to ask for that benefit? Specially developers have that leverage. We have the ability of changing the whole job landscape.

Sounds like labor organizing, and yes, its the best way to ensure you say some say in what your work-life looks like.

The BEST way to ensure what your work-life looks like is to start your own company... not whine to an existing company that has already proven willing to exploit you.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#166

Post by andrekandre »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #117
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…

I was a development manager for years, for a Japanese company. The Japanese are type A++ (at least, in Tokyo). They are masters at applying stress across the Pacific. As a manager, it was my job to insulate my team from the stress, and I often took the hit for telling my bosses that I wasn't going to push my people harder than they already were working. It seemed to work out in the end. When they finally rolled up my…

> I had a manager at a startup tell me that conventional management assumes that engineers will only stay at a company for 18 months, so they really pile on the stress

which is ironic, because isn’t that why people stay less and less longer at a company (can’t stand the slog)?

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#167

Post by david-gpu »

notjustanymike wrote: post #104

I introduced "work from home Wednesday" at our company and the reduction in stress is palpable. Hell, I sleep better on Tuesday nights knowing I've got a day of silence lined up. The naysayers quickly fell in line too, once they realized how much more they could get done that day.

Working from home is still working. Working four days a week is entirely different.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#168

Post by sib »

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.

Is there an English-language description of this law anywhere online? I couldn't find it and would love to learn more. Thanks!

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#169

Post by danbolt »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #117
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…

I was a development manager for years, for a Japanese company. The Japanese are type A++ (at least, in Tokyo). They are masters at applying stress across the Pacific. As a manager, it was my job to insulate my team from the stress, and I often took the hit for telling my bosses that I wasn't going to push my people harder than they already were working. It seemed to work out in the end. When they finally rolled up my…

Game development has a degree of notoriety for its working conditions and I’ve noticed a similar management style to yours appear subtly in certain teams here and there. The turnover is much lower, although the work tends to be less glamorized. I think it works well for the older programmers that have started families.
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