Company wouldn't budge on salary (~20% lower than I was aiming for), but manager really wanted me so I proposed 4-day work week. Fair compromise imho.
Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
21–30 of 271 posts
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#22Earlier this summer, my employer switched the entire company from a 5x8 to a 4x10 schedule. We're still working 40 hours per week, but the three-day weekends and the avoided commute definitely outweigh the earlier mornings.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#23Company wouldn't budge on salary (~20% lower than I was aiming for), but manager really wanted me so I proposed 4-day work week. Fair compromise imho.
Same salary then or also 20% less?
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#24I went down from 5 days to 2 days and then up to 3 days all in the same FAANG role thanks to a doctor’s note for a chronic illness
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#25Yup, in switzerland. The work-life balance is amazing. I asked for it when negotiating the job offer, employer had to accept since there were no other candidates and I was a perfect fit.
Tired of being the most knowledgeable person in the room though, so accepted a full-time position in the US I will change to soon.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#26It’s an interesting question. I’m at a fairly senior level so aside from meetings I’d say my work is semi-continuous as I think about the problems I’m working on regardless of if I’m at my desk or not. So I don’t really think the “hours on the clock” paradigm applies in one sense. It’s not unusual for me to knock out a couple casual meetings on Friday morning then just sign off and go for a hike. But again, there’s a…
Same, mix in the 6 AM Tokyo meetings and the 8 PM Seoul and you have to take afternoons off to stay sane.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#27Yes.
I’m a contractor at a large IT integrator in Australia.
It helps that my boss was (see below) a good friend. I think it was mid-last-year, I just realised I’d be mentally healthier if I worked 4 days a week. So I said, I’m going to start working 4 days a week. And he said, okay. Because he’s great.
And it is glorious. You go from spending almost three-quarters of your life at work (71.4%) to just over half (57.1%) and I know those numbers are silly but I put them there because that’s really what it feels like.
Previously the weekend was this fleeting thing that came and went. I barely remembered it before it was over. Now … well, right now it’s Monday morning, and Monday is the day that I don’t work. Monday is the day that I spend on my side projects. Monday is the day that we go to the movies or go shopping or to a gallery.
FAQs, do I still work 40 hours? No. I did for a spell, when it was busy. I’d say my average has been 36. But now I’m on 32.
Do I get less done? Not really. There’s so much wasted time in the typical day, and I do think that this has focused me the times that I am at work. When I’m on, I’m on.
I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep this arrangement. I’m looking for a new job. The boss moved on to a different role, it’s that transition time when everyone seems to move on.
I’ve put my 4 day thing in the front section of my résumé. Which is on GitHub, so if anyone in Canberra is reading and wants to hire the guy behind Johnny.Decimal, all my details are here.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#28[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#29My company has pretty flexible PTO (though most of the work is client driven so our deadlines are pretty firm). My partner and I are expecting a baby in January, and my partner has one day off of work per week (they work 10's at a hospital). I basically just _told_ my boss that I'm dropping to 32 hours to accommodate for my family's needs, and he more or less accepted it. It helps that I'm a staff engineer and I've always gotten my work in on time, and after a couple weeks of adjustment I'm right back up to my normal productivity.
So, I guess what I have to say is: - have a good reason (and your own mental health/WLB is a good enough reason, but you need to have one for people to take you seriously) - show you're capable of getting the work done - accept that not everyone will be accommodating, and figure out how valuable this accommodation is for you.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?
#30I just recently started a 32 hour a week salaried job. Here’s my story. I was at a very good job. My ultimate goal is to just go to the beach and not work at all. I realized that’s too big of a leap, so I set a shorter term more realistic goal of working 4 days a week. My employer at the time rejected the idea, so instead of ignoring recruiters like usual, I answered them. If a job wasn’t immoral, the interview proce…
> My life is so good right now despite the world being terrible.
The world is overwhelmingly amazing, not terrible.
For the majority of people this is one of the best times to be alive in all of human history. Rivaled only by the years prior to the pandemic.