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World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

independent.co.uk

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Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#91

Post by BayAreaEscapee »

ambicapter wrote: post #53
sandworm101 wrote: post #7

I work in a field (military) where "overtime" isn't a thing. We can and do work 24+hour shifts without any extra pay. Even during peacetime, if we need to work 16-hour days every day for a month we can do that without any financial cost. We can also be sent home at noon every day without diminishing our wages a penny. That absolute flexibility does not reduce stress. With no standard office hours we face constant neg…

You're in the military and you can't call "Bill" in for a meeting? This is not how I picture the military. I was under the impression push comes to shove, if your superior says you have to be somewhere, you _will_ be there, regardless of what its for.

Yes, I had that impression too. If my memory is right, that's how Reagan broke the Air Traffic Controllers' strike: many of them were military reserve members, and so Reagan fired them as civilians and then recalled them to active military service where they were subject to the UMCJ.

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#92

Post by secfirstmd »

sandworm101 wrote: post #7

I work in a field (military) where "overtime" isn't a thing. We can and do work 24+hour shifts without any extra pay. Even during peacetime, if we need to work 16-hour days every day for a month we can do that without any financial cost. We can also be sent home at noon every day without diminishing our wages a penny. That absolute flexibility does not reduce stress. With no standard office hours we face constant neg…

Ironically the military is one of the worse places for usage and wastage of time.

There is tons of accountability for some stuff ("How much diesel did you put in that jeep?") but very little for people's time ("Let's have 300 infantry here an hour earlier than necessary before an event, even though it costs X per hour per person for them to be standing around doing nothing.)

It's also the same around some safety stuff ("Everyone wear a reflective belt going on a run") vs time base safety stuff ("That platoon has just been on exercise and barely slept for 72 hours and everyone is now driving home.")

Don't get me started on the overall wastage the military spends on talent management. Doing an extremely expensive and complex course that takes a year+ to complete? Cool, you might often be actually fullfilling that role for one/two years max afterwards before your moved on to next role doing something different elsewhere.

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#93

Post by barsonme »

legulere wrote: post #76
cecilpl2 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you leave early on the productive days, would you stay back longer on the days you aren't doing so well? No, I do exactly the opposite. I work longer when I'm super productive, and I cut out early when I'm not having a good day. It seems obvious that you'd try to optimize for working the hours when you are most effective. > And how do you know if you were actually very productive one day and not that the task wa…

But why? What benefit do you get from giving your best days to the company and not use them for yourself? Usually you don’t get anything in exchange for working hard.

> Usually you don’t get anything in exchange for working hard.

A nice paycheck at the end of the month?

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#94

Post by 74d-fe6-2c6 »

I'm from Germany and this (together with home office based working) sounds almost alien. There is basically no relevant discussion here about that at all. We'll be working 5x8 forever and companies will do anything to get people back to an on site office. I'm so fed up with this ... same story about speed limits on Autobahn or decriminalization of drug use ... how can we be that ignorant?

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#95

Post by drumhead »

It doesnt work for people who want to get things done, a key colleague will be away or unavailable when you need them so everything gets slowed down, sometime its like trying to solve the three body problem making sure everyone is on on the sameday to get it done.

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#96

Post by tobr »

glandium wrote: post #81
tobr wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the purpose of school is for parents to have somewhere to store their children when they’re at work, so you can’t have a four-day school week until a four-day workweek is norm.

You can't have a four-day school week until a normalized four-day workweek (everyone off on the same day).

You could maybe have a flex four-day school week and a flex four-day workweek though.

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#97

Post by legulere »

barsonme wrote: post #93
legulere wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why? What benefit do you get from giving your best days to the company and not use them for yourself? Usually you don’t get anything in exchange for working hard.

> Usually you don’t get anything in exchange for working hard. A nice paycheck at the end of the month?

But pay does not depend on how hard you actually work.

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#98

Post by QuarterReptile »

bellyfullofbac wrote: post #89
ambicapter wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're in the military and you can't call "Bill" in for a meeting? This is not how I picture the military. I was under the impression push comes to shove, if your superior says you have to be somewhere, you _will_ be there, regardless of what its for.

Yeah, odd idea.. do they also stop shooting at the enemy at 17:00:01, because "Sorry boss, I'm off the clock?"

I dont know how deeply sarcastic this is, but peacetime military does not function like in war, with the disparity being proportional to how far away a unit's peacetime routine diverges from war.

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#99

Post by sandworm101 »

ambicapter wrote: post #53
sandworm101 wrote: post #7

I work in a field (military) where "overtime" isn't a thing. We can and do work 24+hour shifts without any extra pay. Even during peacetime, if we need to work 16-hour days every day for a month we can do that without any financial cost. We can also be sent home at noon every day without diminishing our wages a penny. That absolute flexibility does not reduce stress. With no standard office hours we face constant neg…

You're in the military and you can't call "Bill" in for a meeting? This is not how I picture the military. I was under the impression push comes to shove, if your superior says you have to be somewhere, you _will_ be there, regardless of what its for.

In reality there are far fewer "orders" given in the military than in the civilian world. That ability is held in reserve. When people are stationed in places they might not want to be, often away from family, they dont want to hear direct orders on a daily basis. And remember too that everyone has multiple bosses. If everyone throws around direct orders then soon order A will conflicts with order B and the system starts to break down. They best way to keep everyone's respect is to issue as few direct orders as possible, and then only after extensive consultation with impacted parties.

Re: World’s largest ever four day week trial in Iceland ‘overwhelming success’

#100

Post by ALittleLight »

nameoda wrote: post #29
irrational wrote: post #19

> four nine hour days How many of you are salaried, yet your hours are tracked? My job is such that I roll in whenever I want, leave whenever I want. As long as I get my work done, nobody cares how long I actually work each day. A few decades ago, my first job out of college did track hours. That was pure hell.

What I have observed in software development companies is that there is no limit where one can say, "My work is done". When one task is complete, there is another one ready to pick up. So, the only way to stop working for a day is to track your hours and say, "I have worked for 8 hours today and I will pause the work until tomorrow". What field and role are you working in, where you can roll in whenever you want and…

We have tasks assigned for a two week period. If I finish roughly as many of my tasks as my coworkers finish of theirs I count it as "My work is done".
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