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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

#391

Post by tombert »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #260
tombert wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, as someone who pulls out their laptop pretty frequently on the train, I can say I've never had anyone spill coffee or kick it, though granted I don't pull it out if the train is at-all crowded. I recently got a GPD Win 2 as well though, so I've been able to do more computerey stuff lately, even when it is crowded.

The GPD Win 2 looks interesting. Can you tell us more about it.

The GPD Win 2 is pretty sweet; I have Ubuntu installed on mine, and it makes a more-than-capable coding machine, even while standing up.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#392

Post by GordonS »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #381
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well put – 50% increase in free time. That's a very positive take on it. Depending on who you are that'll matter more or less, but to me that phrase is heart warming. 50% more time for the family, self care, catching up around the house. That sounds peaceful.

And you pay less taxes, so the pay cut is not as high as the full sticker.

Actually, I remained in the same tax bracket.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#393

Post by waddlesworth »

GordonS wrote: post #392
mixmastamyk wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you pay less taxes, so the pay cut is not as high as the full sticker.

Actually, I remained in the same tax bracket.

Even in the same tax bracket, your effective tax rate will go down (because less of your income is in that bracket.)

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#394

Post by ClikeX »

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.

4x10 would be fine by me if I'd live 10 minutes from work. But I don't think my dog would appreciate being left without a walk for 12 hours.

On 32 hours now and I can handle it financially. As long as that stays the way it is I'm not changing anything.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#395

Post by ilammy »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #370
Ididntdothis wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t forget that large companies internally are very similar to a communist planned economy. They have five year plans and central planning. Everything flows from the top. They value predictability over everything else. So it makes sense to run everything like an assembly line where every position knows what they are supposed to do and can easily be trained. Only a few elite people get to work on the big picture and…

It does work, but is not a particularly good approach for consumer (or even pro) software. You keep delivering yesterday's technology, tomorrow. It's the kind of approach that you might use for space launch software, but even that can be iterated (as SpaceX is showing).

It's funny that if you invert the sentences, they even kinda slightly make some sense.

Small companies are similar to capitalistic free market. They have no plan, but everything flows from the engineering. They value innovation over anything else. So it makes sense to run everything like a lab where nobody knows what they are supposed to do but cannot be easily replaced. Only a few elite people get to work on their own pace without turning on their brain. Personally I like it but I'll admit that it never works. As a result, they always strive to deliver tomorrow's technology yesterday.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#396

Post by st1ck »

tasuki wrote: post #156
fjp wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, the one thing I have promised myself is to never have a commute over 35 minutes. I even found a 35 minute commute to an internship in the suburbs disheartening when it was mostly spent sitting in traffic. It's insane to waste that much of your daily life shuttling to your job (if you have an option, which I hope to remain lucky enough to have).

The commute is not the problem, the car is. In Amsterdam I commuted 45 minutes by bike and it was great. I really miss it now that I work from home.

If I happened to have a job in Amsterdam, Copenhagen or similarly cyclable city, I'd totally find a place with 1 hour bike commute from the office, to both save money on rent and get free cardio exercise.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#397

Post by anthony_barker »

SenHeng wrote: post #384
kevindong wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I live in Japan and have done this last year to great effect. My work place is about an hour and a half commute and the trains are incredibly packed starting from around 7am all the way till 9.15am. What I've done was wake up and started working from home sometime between 7-8am till around 9.15am, then leave for the 9.30am train and I'll be in the office by 11. Work gets done and I don't get stressed from silly crowd…

Doing the same in Paris. 1-2 hours at home and then go in. Leave work later though 7-7:30 pm to available for US west coast people

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#398

Post by velosol »

standardUser wrote: post #192
techslave wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really? HN crowd is talking about 10 hr days as “exhausting” ? i can’t remember the last time i worked less than 5x10.

To me, the idea of consistently working more than 50 hours/week is only something I would do if I desperately needed the money and couldn't find a better way to support myself. I hope to never be in that situation. I understand working like crazy for things like starting a company/grad school/career change, but those things all last a limited time and come to an end.

I wonder if there is a disconnect for people who were brought up in butts-in-seats culture who then count presence at work for 10 hours as work despite possibly turning in 50-60% of that time producing something of value.

Then you have others who are more used to billable time or flex work or similar where they view that 5-6 hours (+ breaks and food) as an '8 hour' day and the two can't understand how the other manages.

Lucky is the person who can throw themselves at problems 10+ hours a day and look forward to going back to it the next day, I guess. I can easily and happily do that in the 6-8 range and feel proud of the previous day's work and be ready to do it again the next day.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#399

Post by danbolt »

gentleman11 wrote: post #388
danbolt wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How does the pay compare in game development? I have heard such mixed things

I'm sadly not particularly knowledgeable on US game development salaries. I can imagine it varies a lot by company and region.

I work in Vancouver, Canada, and a large portion of its industry is due to Canadians commanding lower wages. Combined with a weaker dollar, higher education availability, and single-payer healthcare, outsourcing to a Canadian studio can save a lot of money. FIFA, for example, is made in Vancouver and the franchise commands a large revenue stream. Provinces such as British Columbia and Quebec also provide tax incentives too, since it's high-skill work.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#400

Post by yosito »

Apart from occasional experiments, I can't imagine this ever catching on as the "norm". Another reason to become a freelancer though. If you're a freelancer, you could alternate between 4 day workweeks and 3 day workweeks, and take a few months off every year.
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