Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

More bosses give four-day workweek a try

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 404 posts

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#291

Post by turk73 »

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'd say most of us probably are. I am suffering from chronic overwork at this point. I'm thinking of just quitting and taking 6 mos. off and maybe never going back to tech at all. Dow 30 company, total fucking mess.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#292

Post by turk73 »

kevindong wrote: post #266
kempbellt wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same experience when I lived in NYC. A 45 minute commute on the subway was a lot less stressful than the 45 minute bumper-to-bumper driving commute I do now (in Seattle). I would usually play mindless puzzle games and listen to music on my commute. Other people mention the train delays being stressful, but my company had a standing "subway delays ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" attitude about showing up late. People would show…

An interesting lifehack I hypothesized earlier this week and confirmed today is to work from home for the first hour or so of the day and then head into work after the morning rush has substantially subsided. Until today, I've typically gotten on the subway between 9:45am and 10am for my 30 minute commute to work (that's bed to desk travel time). The train usually wasn't packed, but I was certainly squeezed up agains…

Don't worry, management will bring your lifehack to a screeching halt soon enough. Better not get used to it.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#293

Post by theatraine »

I never understand these studies. I'm bootstrapping a startup and my work output scales linearly with hours until about 60 hours per week. 60 hours per week is comfortable with 4x12 hour days and then 12 hours over two shorter days. To accomplish errands and the like I just do things before 2pm which is plenty of time.

For me personally more time working = more output. What am I missing?

I should note that I have no family, no commute, and my gym is in my home so I'm able to save some hours on those things. I could see how in those cases one would have less time for work.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#294

Post by polyphonicist »

I have a regular five-day workweek but to be honest, I work productively only 4 days a week. I find it hard to work productively all 5 days. On the day's I am not working productively, I just pretend to look busy to my manager. It would be nice to formalize this working pattern as a four-day workweek.

Where can I find such four-day workweek jobs?

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#296

Post by quietthrow »

theatraine wrote: post #293

I never understand these studies. I'm bootstrapping a startup and my work output scales linearly with hours until about 60 hours per week. 60 hours per week is comfortable with 4x12 hour days and then 12 hours over two shorter days. To accomplish errands and the like I just do things before 2pm which is plenty of time. For me personally more time working = more output. What am I missing? I should note that I have no…

You are part of the hyperactive onsite mainstream HN crowd.single or married but no other responsibilities (children, aging parents and other such commitments). When you live the other life you will see how work just fills up and an extra day feels like a miracle.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#297

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

manyxcxi wrote: post #284
kempbellt wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same experience when I lived in NYC. A 45 minute commute on the subway was a lot less stressful than the 45 minute bumper-to-bumper driving commute I do now (in Seattle). I would usually play mindless puzzle games and listen to music on my commute. Other people mention the train delays being stressful, but my company had a standing "subway delays ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" attitude about showing up late. People would show…

I used to live in Renton (by Boeing) and commute into downtown Seattle (5th and Union) and found the light rail in was a good way to deal with it. Over time I found myself using my motorcycle more because I could use the HOV lanes and adjusting my work schedule to get in around 6 and leave by 3:30 (in theory) which went from a guaranteed hour each way to as little as 25min in the morning and about 40 in the afternoon…

I always think about the distance from my house to my work place in terms of kilometres. It only now occurs to me it’s pretty much exactly 1 mile, and only one set of traffic lights.

Living in a city with approximately 100,000 people has its advantages!

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#298

Post by BigJono »

EpicEng wrote: post #286
glenneroo wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit to being blissfully ignorant regarding financial matters but isn't 50% less work while earning 33% less (as opposed to 50%) a good thing?

Sorry, was only talking about the tax situation. In a progressive system each dollar is taxed at the rate of its bracket. For example (hypothetical), dollars 1-25,000 are taxed at 5%, 25,001-50,000 at 6%, 50,001-75,000 at 7%, etc. You can never gain by making less. If you actually paid less in taxes on _every_ dollar by dropping a bracket, then you'd have been making more all along in a progressive system. Are you ce…

You're misunderstanding what he's saying. He got a 50% cut in salary, but because all of that comes from the higher brackets, his take home is only 35% less.

I do the same thing (Australia). Worked 9 months last year and made about ~82-85% of what I would have working the full year, rather than 75%.

Incidentally this is why progressive tax is so important for a good startup culture (and thus overall tech scene). It's a negative tax on risk. The steeper your progressive ramp, the less of your geniuses are working in shit jobs creating UI form widgets with 40 managers telling them to redo it every other day.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#299

Post by genocidicbunny »

quietthrow wrote: post #296
theatraine wrote: post #293

I never understand these studies. I'm bootstrapping a startup and my work output scales linearly with hours until about 60 hours per week. 60 hours per week is comfortable with 4x12 hour days and then 12 hours over two shorter days. To accomplish errands and the like I just do things before 2pm which is plenty of time. For me personally more time working = more output. What am I missing? I should note that I have no…

You are part of the hyperactive onsite mainstream HN crowd.single or married but no other responsibilities (children, aging parents and other such commitments). When you live the other life you will see how work just fills up and an extra day feels like a miracle.

Exactly this. Once you have other responsibilities or hobbies outside of work, a 12-hour workday will leave you with absolutely no free time. Add in your typical bay area commute time, and you'd hardly have time to sleep.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#300

Post by EpicEng »

BigJono wrote: post #298
EpicEng wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, was only talking about the tax situation. In a progressive system each dollar is taxed at the rate of its bracket. For example (hypothetical), dollars 1-25,000 are taxed at 5%, 25,001-50,000 at 6%, 50,001-75,000 at 7%, etc. You can never gain by making less. If you actually paid less in taxes on _every_ dollar by dropping a bracket, then you'd have been making more all along in a progressive system. Are you ce…

You're misunderstanding what he's saying. He got a 50% cut in salary, but because all of that comes from the higher brackets, his take home is only 35% less. I do the same thing (Australia). Worked 9 months last year and made about ~82-85% of what I would have working the full year, rather than 75%. Incidentally this is why progressive tax is so important for a good startup culture (and thus overall tech scene). It's…

Yes... I believe I did :)
Post reply on HN