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Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

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Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#21

Post by mrtksn »

The thing about the 5 days a week is that at the weekends you end up doing personal stuff you neglected during the workdays.

I'm not sure that having two more hours a day will free up your weekend, I'm kind of leaning to 4 days a week because you can actually have useful time.

Personally, I wouldn't object to 3 days of non-stop working till the midnight to have 4 free days a week. Things won't pile up and instead of having just evenings, I will be able to leverage full days which will give me better freedom of movement away from where I live.

The 5 days a week schedule is my primary reason that I'm not in a full time job since a while. I was at home at 18:20 max, yet I never had time to do anything for myself.

Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#22

Post by dgb23 »

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #15
orangepurple wrote: post #7

Meanwhile in China... Excerpts below taken from the website https://996.icu/#/en_US What is "996"? 996 working, ICU waiting. A "996" work schedule refers to an unofficial work schedule (9a.m. ~ 9p.m., 6 days a week) that has been gaining in popularity. Serving a company that encourages the "996" work schedule usually means working for at least 60 hours a week. In early September 2016, it was said that 58.com (58同城, a…

This is terrible, unfair, and morally wrong, but we can understand what it comes from: this is a difference between the so-called "developed" and "developing" countries. Because why do we work? To have money so that we can live comfortably. Work is not meant to fill in 40 or more hours of our life, it's just a means to and end. If we can have enough money by working less, many people chose this way. In the meantime,…

That's the difference between suppressing/co-opting grass roots worker movements versus negotiating with them and incorporating some leverage through rights and regulations. The 40h 5d workweek was a radical demand not so long ago.

Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#23

Post by brnt »

I worked in the Netherlands. They had a 36 work week and asked me how I preferred to arrange those hours. I said: divide it by five please. Apparently I was the first person in their history (3k people work there! 100 years old institution) who asked for that! Everyone took either a day every two weeks off or worked 4x9hrs. A day every week or two is nice, of course, but I generally really like short days better! Doesn't leave me that exhausted and leaves a bit of time for things every day.

Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#26

Post by ThalesX »

jhoechtl wrote: post #8

It really depends. If you live in a condo and you free time is sports, meetings friends, etc. a six hours work day is more important. If you build your house on your own, cultivate green land etc. the four day workweek is more important as these kinds of work require a lot of preparation time. Opt in models?

> Opt in models?

Inflamatory post but this would actually mean managers would have to manage. You can't go to a seminar and cocktail party and come back with the insights to properly manage a team where people opt in to the model that works best for them.

Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#27

Post by benji-york »

I've been working 32-hour weeks for the last year. I initially thought that I'd work 4 8-hour days a week, but quickly fell into a pattern of just working however long felt right. That ended up being 7 hours a day most days. On Thursdays I tally up how many hours I have left and work the remainder on Friday to finish out the week. I suspect I'm as productive as I would be at 40-hours a week.

Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#28

Post by lbriner »

benji-york wrote: post #27

I've been working 32-hour weeks for the last year. I initially thought that I'd work 4 8-hour days a week, but quickly fell into a pattern of just working however long felt right. That ended up being 7 hours a day most days. On Thursdays I tally up how many hours I have left and work the remainder on Friday to finish out the week. I suspect I'm as productive as I would be at 40-hours a week.

That makes the most sense. With the sort of jobs I have, there's no way I could only work up to 6 hours per day without leaving something important undone.

Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#29

Post by 29athrowaway »

orangepurple wrote: post #7

Meanwhile in China... Excerpts below taken from the website https://996.icu/#/en_US What is "996"? 996 working, ICU waiting. A "996" work schedule refers to an unofficial work schedule (9a.m. ~ 9p.m., 6 days a week) that has been gaining in popularity. Serving a company that encourages the "996" work schedule usually means working for at least 60 hours a week. In early September 2016, it was said that 58.com (58同城, a…

Jack Ma said 996 was a blessing.

Then he said other things that pissed off the wrong people and has not been seen since then.

Re: Ask HN: 6-hour workdays more important than 4-day workweeks IMO

#30

Post by Closi »

Apreche wrote: post #24

Why not both? 4 days, 6 hours each. Hey employers reading this. Having a hard time finding software engineers? Offer me this and I will come running. I’ll be banging on your door with my resume. Think about it.

Are you willing to get paid 24/37 = 64% of a fulltime positions salary? If so, I think plenty of smaller employers would be happy to do this.
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