321–330 of 364 posts
I've been working 4 days a week, 32 hours, for 4 years and I will never go back. It has made me hesitant to look for other work, I'm not sure if get the same deal, but so far I'm happy where I am. As others have said the ratios are awesome. I have 15 days off every 20 days instead of 8. For a 20% pay cut, while getting full benefits.
Wait, what? How does working one day less a week get you to 15 days off?
I'm currently working for a company that forces office staff to work a half day on christmas eve with the additional stipulation, of course, that you must burn a full day of vacation to skip it. This despite the fact that no one in the company can ever remember a customer calling on christmas eve. So I'm very skeptical that this trend will grow. It took the IWW to get us the concepts of The Weekend and Sick Days, and…
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the company I work for shuts our offices down from the 24th to the 2nd. Engineers submit availability for on-call schedules, and get a gift card for each on-call day they're responsible for. I feel very spoiled, but I think this is generally a trend amongst west-coast tech companies? I've had a similar experience at previous places, and it seemed like the rationale for the holiday…
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I'm not surprised you made a throwaway to hide behind, because not only are you a coward, but this is the worst take I've ever seen on a website full of terrible takes. I can't imagine working for someone with this point of view, and I'll happily say that, on the record, without a throwaway account. As an engineering manager- an actual one- I'm not paying for hours, I'm paying for output. I couldn't care less if my e…
This is why I choose to be a contractor and an engineer. If I work, I bill. I never understood how anyone in good conscience can work 15hrs while the others at the company work 40hrs and still collect full-time benefits. As an engineer I have never had that luxury though, somehow we are always busy and I have to make an effort to reduce my billable hours without needing to pad them. I am probably also culturally bias…
If they are working 15h/week and delivering what is expected from them, who are you to guilt those into working the schedule you judge as "right"? My employer pays me to deliver them value, if I deliver the expected value for my salary in 10h instead of 40h am I in the wrong? Should I be forcing myself to work harder just because? Nah.
> I am probably also culturally biased from working class roots that overpraises hours worked and that mindset is admittedly self-defeating.
Yes, you are. I came from the same roots, had the same twisted view about "hard work" and judging others when I worked my ass off and saw some other people relaxing. After 17 years of career, this is all bullshit. I'm being paid for my expertise and my results, if my employer is happy with my results why the fuck should I bust my ass longer than needed? I have a life outside of work that I care much more about.
I do have a work ethic, I do my work with a lot of care, craft and thought, I deliver value and improve products and processes. I don't fucking care if I do that in 10 or 40 hours a week, it's a motivation for me to allow my laziness to be a driver for being more and more efficient and effective, so I can work less hours while delivering more value, being paid more per hour in the process.
> Preparing/eating a meal during a meeting is admittedly perk but it doesn't affect my focus or participation.
It's also a perk to have enough time (1h-1h30m) in the middle of the day to go enjoy your meal fully, to prepare it with care, without multitasking in some bullshit meeting just because you feel you need to be hyper-efficient.
The best perk I have of being a software engineer is that, comparatively to many other fields, our careers allow us to take back a lot of control of our own schedule and time.
FWH has exposed how many white-collar jobs were only full-time in the ass-in-seat sense and how many employees should have Professional Meeting Attender as their job title. I used to be the guy who would champion efficient meeting practices. Now it's the last thing I want given that I can now work-out, make breakfast, do manual labor, etc., while listening to meeting. 4 day work week in grasp you ask ? For many I'd b…
an excellent point. speaking from a more blue-collar perspective, i would argue most "real" (non meeting attender) jobs have been 3-4 day for a long time now thanks to automation and a perverse incentive to avoid paying benefits. bartenders, repair staff, custodial, fast food and construction have never offered a solid 40 hour week. many of these roles are highly automated and simply do not need a full 40 woman or ma…
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This is an interesting idea, but it seems really impractical to me. As you point out, people enjoy some benefits from certainty in compensation. Outlawing a compensation arrangement far in excess of minimum wage seems questionable. And how far does this extend? Can I not pay a contractor a fixed rate for a project? Or a fixed rate to handle _____ for me for a week? It would seem to encourage arm's-length contracting…
Is it far in excess of minimum wage? A manager can be asked to be on call 24/7. But per hour, that is not much. I don’t see what it would have to do with contractors. Minimum wage laws apply to employer employer relationships. Independent contractors can charge whatever they want.
So you want to pay someone for every hour they might get called, too? Even if that is a very rare responsibility?
> I don’t see what it would have to do with contractors.
It would further encourage contractor relationships, as I said. I don't see this as a good thing.
Please people, step out of your USA bubble. I (Dutch guy) haven't had a more than 4 day workweek in the last 20 years. It is _your_ choice to "work" 5 days. The 40 hour workweek wasn't created for the worker's benefit, it was created because the owner of the factory saw that that was the most efficient. Paying people to work longer didn't give him benefit.
Most of Europe works 5 days, 40 hr weeks. Sounds like you're in a bubble.
In Germany on the other hand lunch breaks typically aren't paid, and a 40 hr week means 40 actually worked hours, plus however long your lunch breaks are (half an hours is the legal minimum for an eight hour workday).
Also, money.
My main worry about doing this personally is that it would be a form of "golden handcuffs". I'm pretty sure I could persuade my current employer to let me do a 4-day week (for a pay cut), but I'm also sure making that a negotiating point for future jobs would be problematic (at least while a 4-day week isn't standard or widespread). Also, money.
I've been working 4 days a week, 32 hours, for 4 years and I will never go back. It has made me hesitant to look for other work, I'm not sure if get the same deal, but so far I'm happy where I am. As others have said the ratios are awesome. I have 15 days off every 20 days instead of 8. For a 20% pay cut, while getting full benefits.
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where can one find such 4-day work week jobs? Jobs listed on most portals are either full-time or part-time (contract basis)
A lot of smaller companies are open to it once you've worked there and proven yourself. My current and prior jobs have people in 3-4 day a week roles. But the people in those roles are senior contributors whose value to the company is as much knowledge as it is contributions.