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A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

nytimes.com

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Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#121

Post by rapind »

donatj wrote: post #11

While I could certainly get the same amount of work done in 4 stressful days I'm currently getting done in a leisurely 5, I'd rather have the latter. I'd honestly probably rather work 6 even more leisurely days, it's not like I'm not just messing around on the computer anyway.

I usually work 7 days a week, but very casually. Basically work takes a back seat to most other things (hanging out with my kids, gym, etc.). I get to hang out with my kids a solid amount every single day (not just weekends), which I love. It's totally worth giving up large blocks of non-work (weekends) for me.

It all just depends on what works for you, your employer / client(s), and even then it varies over time. Some time soon my kids may not want to hang out with me as much, and I'll tweak my schedule.

It feels sort of like being retired, but I'm still putting in close to a full work week of hours (and those are productive hours generally).

Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#124

Post by stna »

basisword wrote: post #105
kwhitefoot wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shops in the UK used to have a half day on Wednesdays.

I know some GP practices that still do this (quite astounding given the current issues in the NHS).

I actually think it's quite astounding that they haven't been forced to give this up, and I hope they never have to.

Specifically, when I go to my GP, the staff are always busy, don't appear to get much of a break at all. I doubt a half day on a Wednesday makes up for extra hours put into their job just to get through the week.

Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#125

Post by ArnoVW »

bigDinosaur wrote: post #24
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally find my weekends a bit exhausting because of my 5 year old, and get to relax at just doing my professional job on Monday when he is back to school. I fear that 3 day weekends every week (since we shouldn’t leave day care workers and teachers out of this) would be the end of me. I’m sure my perspective will change after we are out of the needy kid stage, but even before my son was born, I liked working (I…

It's funny how the most honest groups of people with respect to the purpose of schooling is parents with young kids. Basically what you want is daycare and it just so happens that school fulfills that on Monday. Not judging, I think that's a very common perspective, but amused.

Parent (boys aged 6 and 9) here. At first I figured that school at that age (kindergarten) was basic skills, not very critical, and as you say mainly a way of getting kids out of the way.

With some experience now, I think that school provided more than I thought:

* socialisation

* authority outside of bfamily

* development of personality

* habit-forming for later school

.. aside from the fact that even if you're a good parent and have already exposed your kids to letters and numbers, you will likely not have ensure a complete coverage.

Example of importantance of school choice: my first son went to a regular public kindergarten and lost some of the autonomy he had built-up with us. Going to the bathroom was done together with an aide at school, so why not at home?

My youngest ended going to a Montessori kindergarten by accident. They focus a lot on autonomy and as a result he is very much 'his own boy', even at the age of 6.

And beyond kindergarten, even just in primary, the 'skills' part of school is difficult to do 'in-house' unless you spend a lot of time on it. There's a reason we applied Taylorism to education.

Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#126

Post by onion2k »

ramblerman wrote: post #114
onion2k wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things that a good engineer should be able to do in a day gets done in a month or more. I think the fact that you put "a good engineer" in your post undermines the point you're making. People taking too long to complete simple tasks is a problem, but only where those tasks don't really require any significant ability to complete. Something simple and low risk should be completed quickly by anyone , even a terrible en…

So... not "Things that a good engineer should be able to do in a day" then.

The point is that things that there isn't anything that requires a good engineer that also can be done in a day. Either a job is something that can be done in a trivial amount of time because it's simple, or it's something that's hard enough to take some skill. It's never both. There are no jobs that can be done faster by being a better engineer.

Good engineers do better work, not faster work. Often they're actually slower because they consider the edge cases and they don't cut corners.

Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#127

Post by pnutjam »

olau wrote: post #90
jokethrowaway wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of people, me included, (males and/or high performance in particular) care more about things than people and will find extremely tiring to talk to people or take care or their kids. Coding doesn't tire me, dealing with kids does. There are people who have the opposite experience and people who feel ok with both. This idea that parents should uniquely and equally be caretaker for their kids is absolutely agains…

This is besides the point you're making, but I personally feel that being a parent is mostly a ghost job. You need to figure out how to put the children in positions where they'll find things to play with themselves, and then let them do it. For me, I just bring a package of crackers, some water, then go out in the streets with my kids, visiting nearby playgrounds or lots with trees. They'll then start playing, perha…

If you're doing it right, it's pretty boring. Kids need to play and you're just kind of hanging around the playground. Good opportunity for reading, or sometimes I listen to a podcast with one ear and keep the other one free for kids.

Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#128

Post by jackdh »

odiroot wrote: post #122

Every time this comes up, I wish we talked more about shortening the work days as opposed to having fewer of them. I don't mind working 5/7 days. I do mind long days and overtime.

I'm the opposite. I'd much rather a 4x10 work week and have 3 days off.

Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#129

Post by sergers »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #15
jen729w wrote: post #3

Some time last year I stopped working Mondays. I’m a contractor and I know my boss well, so I just said that I didn’t want to work Mondays any more. The difference is remarkable. You go from spending three quarters of your days at work to just over half. The weekend is actually relaxing. You can do chores, relax, and really unwind before the work week starts again. We use Mondays to work on our side projects. You can…

I personally find my weekends a bit exhausting because of my 5 year old, and get to relax at just doing my professional job on Monday when he is back to school. I fear that 3 day weekends every week (since we shouldn’t leave day care workers and teachers out of this) would be the end of me. I’m sure my perspective will change after we are out of the needy kid stage, but even before my son was born, I liked working (I…

Work is definately an escape for alot of people.

A few individuals at my work when COVID hit it's first of many peaks/waves of March 2020, were forced to stop coming to the office.

They shutdown the office March 14, yet these people were still coming in March 31.

The reasons varried.

Children, family, environment, , lack of wfh infrastructure, personal challenges (one employee hit hard times and didn't have internet at home or mobile device, company hooked him up with mobile hot spot and mobile), and many more.

With my own personal home life challenges, working from home 3+ years now, I have sat in my home office "working" while I catchup on binge watching on days I am actually off (I work with clients in North America, i might work a stat holiday of one country, I might not, varies per holiday if they are on diff days -- I take of both Canada and USA thanksgivings).

I have a friend at work who sounds alot like your post. The only exception is he doesn't have a family/responsibilities really. Work is his hobby/life, shows up on his days off just to chit chat with friends at work(he does have friends outside of work). We joke he would sleep there if he could.

You need a hobby, something productive to do outside of work :) something I am struggling a little myself with

Re: A six-month program in Britain will assess the effects of a shorter workweek

#130

Post by basisword »

stna wrote: post #124
basisword wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know some GP practices that still do this (quite astounding given the current issues in the NHS).

I actually think it's quite astounding that they haven't been forced to give this up, and I hope they never have to. Specifically, when I go to my GP, the staff are always busy, don't appear to get much of a break at all. I doubt a half day on a Wednesday makes up for extra hours put into their job just to get through the week.

I mean to me it makes sense that they would be less busy if they worked a full week like everyone else. When we have a shortage of GP's and it's impacting people across the country (and having a knock on effect on hospital A&E usage) disallowing 4.5 day weeks would probably help. There are obviously much bigger issues at play (e.g. recruiting GP's) but that doesn't mean we should ignore things that could impact immediately in a smaller way.
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