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Ask HN: Would you rather work 4 days per week for 80% salary?

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Re: Ask HN: Would you rather work 4 days per week for 80% salary?

#41

Post by Sn0wCoder »

taurath wrote: post #9

In software, there's quite a few other questions to answer first. Will you be on call? Whats the culture around "off-hours" contact? How often if ever does crunch happen? Will the company pay more after 32 hours? What percent of my time is expected to be in meetings vs getting things done, and how much do you expect to be done? I have worked at places with all fridays off during the summer. We did all our releases on…

I agree with your assessment. I am on call for a week once every few months. Sometime it’s light and still get work done other time all we do is field calls and put out fires. Normally we work 40 hours, sometimes more sometimes less. Saying I was only going to work 32 hours and not be available 1 day a week would not work very well. I suspect the employer would win by paying you less but the employee would end up working the same, sometimes more sometimes less. At the end of the day the work needs to be done no matter how long it takes. But I also work 2 jobs full time analyst / programmer and TA CS courses so I might just be an outlier. I make enough to only work 1 job, but I like helping students. The extra money does help and I would not do it for free. So short answer is NO I would not work 4 days a week for 80% pay.

Re: Ask HN: Would you rather work 4 days per week for 80% salary?

#44

Post by godot »

A few years ago (before I switched to full remote in 2018), I wondered something similar and I even went as far as wanting half time/pay: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14808178

Ever since I went full remote, and this was in 2018 well before the pandemic, I no longer feel like working full time is a hindrance to my life in general (outside of work) and I can still do most things I want to do. In the age of pandemic and working remote being the norm, I imagine the interest for reducing work days is less intense than before for other folks too.

Having said that, I really like what you're doing, pushing for a new way to work; even if that doesn't become a standard, it would be nice to see it become an option.

The common responses you get really make me sad as well. The first two at least made an attempt to give you a reason for rejection, the last one is just so infuriating. "We are only looking for full-time employees" as a response basically just says "Go away, don't waste my time".

I'll say though, from the perspective of the company, almost no company is ever going to receive a cold call/email from you and say, hey, this suggestion sounds good, let's change our entire company culture based on this one random person's opinion. If this movement indeed gets traction, it'll take companies lots of time to change. It's similar to remote work (before the pandemic). Remote has been viable for a long time, but it took companies consciously making a huge effort to do so (barring a pandemic that forces them to).

Re: Ask HN: Would you rather work 4 days per week for 80% salary?

#45

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

santoshalper wrote: post #31
lotsofpulp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does this have to do with the topic at hand? Being expected to be available for work 4 days per week vs 5 days per week has nothing to do with how many hours you actually work.

I believe he is saying that most jobs say one thing about hours and then often do another thing entirely. So in that world, taking a lower paying job for a theoretically better work life balance probably isn't going to pan out.

Yeah, I think going around telling employers that you want to get paid 80% salary to work at 80% capacity is a huge mistake. You’re giving up your negotiating position and won’t get offered good jobs. You will probably end up getting paid less than half as much as you could have if you didn’t mention to your employer that you aren’t that into working. On the other hand, you can find jobs that pay really well but have a chill work-life balance.

Re: Ask HN: Would you rather work 4 days per week for 80% salary?

#49

Post by dave_sullivan »

I work on hourly or daily rates, so yes, when I only work 2.5 days per week I get half of what I might if I worked 5. But I shoot for a relatively high hourly so it works out fine.

What's the point of money if you can't spend it because you're working all the time?

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