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California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

cnbc.com

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Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#11

Post by jader201 »

baby-yoda wrote: post #7
jader201 wrote: post #4

Curious why this isn’t bigger news? Seems like every other day, HN has some front page article about dreams of a shorter work week. It’s finally a possibility, and seems like HN is pretty apathetic about it (e.g. this article is from 5 days ago). Is it that we’re still not optimistic it will actually take hold?

sounds like this would only apply to hourly employees, considering the mention of 1.5x pay in excess of 32h.

Possibly, but even if so, seems like it'd be a step in the right direction (at the very least).

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#12

Post by jader201 »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #9

What business is this of the California government? I am 71 and a large fraction of my work life has been 32 hour work weeks, negotiated with my employers (I usually got 80% salary and 100% vacation and benefits). It boggles my mind that this would be made a law though. Individuals and their employers should work out any deal that makes sense for both parties.

There are currently laws built around a 40-hour work week, so it seems to make sense that if this were to change, it would _have_ to change at the state/federal level.

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#13

Post by mgh2 »

jader201 wrote: post #4

Curious why this isn’t bigger news? Seems like every other day, HN has some front page article about dreams of a shorter work week. It’s finally a possibility, and seems like HN is pretty apathetic about it (e.g. this article is from 5 days ago). Is it that we’re still not optimistic it will actually take hold?

Previous: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31066647

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#14

Post by hw-guy »

Unless I'm missing something, this would have no impact on engineers and other professional employees who are "exempt" from overtime. My nominal 40-hour work week meant nothing if there was a crisis or schedule slip that required putting in many extra hours. The claim that this law would force companies to be more efficient by having fewer meetings assumes management are rational. Also, it's weird that it only applied to companies with >=500 employees; wouldn't this be a strong incentive for smaller companies to resist hiring the 500th employee?

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#15

Post by pm90 »

qzx_pierri wrote: post #2

It’s not like anyone actually does anything on Friday anyways. Fridays for me are mostly catching up on work I put off during the week and lurking reddit until it’s time to log off.

It would be good to formalize it though.

The best teams and managers I’ve worked on have had an unofficial understanding that Fridays are a slow day.

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#16

Post by baby-yoda »

jader201 wrote: post #11
baby-yoda wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds like this would only apply to hourly employees, considering the mention of 1.5x pay in excess of 32h.

Possibly, but even if so, seems like it'd be a step in the right direction (at the very least).

my initial reaction is this is gov't overreach however considering the current state of healthcare-attached-to-employment, this policy will probably be zero sum in the long run.

this allows more employees to hit "full time" status and thus be eligible for benefits. of course mega corps are simply going to re-organize their benefits package to cut out the marginal increase in healthcare and labor costs somehow. those who were scheduled 35h to stay below the cutoff will now only have work for 30h.

the "more true" solution, IMO, is decoupling healthcare and other benefits from employment rather than trying to band-aid the symptoms of this poor system with Sisyphean policy like this.

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#17

Post by annoyingnoob »

jader201 wrote: post #4

Curious why this isn’t bigger news? Seems like every other day, HN has some front page article about dreams of a shorter work week. It’s finally a possibility, and seems like HN is pretty apathetic about it (e.g. this article is from 5 days ago). Is it that we’re still not optimistic it will actually take hold?

Do we need laws to encourage union membership? I'm not sure that 'be stuck at minimum wage and 32 hours a week' or 'join the union' are the only two choices some folks should have.

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#18

Post by jader201 »

mgh2 wrote: post #13
jader201 wrote: post #4

Curious why this isn’t bigger news? Seems like every other day, HN has some front page article about dreams of a shorter work week. It’s finally a possibility, and seems like HN is pretty apathetic about it (e.g. this article is from 5 days ago). Is it that we’re still not optimistic it will actually take hold?

Previous: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31066647

Yeah, it was also late + didn't receive much attention then, too.

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#19

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #9

What business is this of the California government? I am 71 and a large fraction of my work life has been 32 hour work weeks, negotiated with my employers (I usually got 80% salary and 100% vacation and benefits). It boggles my mind that this would be made a law though. Individuals and their employers should work out any deal that makes sense for both parties.

Your skills must have been uniquely valuable, and you must have been well compensated to be able to afford living on 80% of a full time salary.

Re: California considers a shortened, 32-hour workweek for larger companies

#20

Post by notreallyserio »

jader201 wrote: post #4

Curious why this isn’t bigger news? Seems like every other day, HN has some front page article about dreams of a shorter work week. It’s finally a possibility, and seems like HN is pretty apathetic about it (e.g. this article is from 5 days ago). Is it that we’re still not optimistic it will actually take hold?

Not optimistic -- the "considers" in the title doesn't help.
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