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Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#71

Post by simonblack »

Many employers are looking for the hours to be filled, without necessarily specifying that each employee works the whole hours. That is especially the case for enterprises that work 7 days a week or (say) 12 hours a day.

In those cases, you either negotiate upfront before you start that you are only available for 3, 4 or five days a week or whatever number you want. Or you state at some point that you want to reduce your hours to whatever figure suits you, in which case there is an opening for another person to fill those now-unstaffed hours.

If the employer is only open for business 40 hours (5 x 8 hours) a week, then there is a situation which is more difficult to vary. But it's still doable to have two or more people sharing that single position: that's called "job-sharing".

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#72

Post by baobob »

I've worked formal 3 and 4 day week arrangements. Net experience: it's pointless, if you're working 4 day weeks and you're feeling behind, you may well end up working that 5th day without anyone asking.

Similarly in a 5 day week arrangement, I've never felt compelled to actually work the full week especially when I'm ahead.

Ignoring any formality, I think most folk work a 2-3 week if they were honest about it.

I wouldn't sweat having a 3/4 day arrangement as a reason to pick one company over another, especially if the offer is implicitly part of attempting to screw you on salary

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#76

Post by carabiner »

outsider7 wrote: post #57

Currently working 35 hours a week, in a unionized job with banked time starting at 36h (1:1), (2:1 at 40+ hrs), 4 weeks vacation & unlimited sick days up to a point(6 per year I hear...), meaning I can take a day off whenever I'm too tired/sick. Due to the negotiated conditions, it's also really not advantageous for the employer to force us to be on call or have us do any amount of OT. Thus the workload is really sta…

Wild guess, but is this in a smaller, suburban town, rather than a big city?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#77

Post by FFRefresh »

na85 wrote: post #48
adventured wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The world is objectively a shitty, awful place for billions of people.

...according to your subjective value system.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#78

Post by ddlutz »

philmcp wrote: post #2

In my previous job I asked my boss if he would let me drop down to 3 days per week (60% salary). To my slight surprise, he was totally fine with it I did this after working hard for ~1 year at the company. Once you prove your worth, it's in your employers interests to keep you i.e. it would cost them way more if you left for another job with shorter working hours so don't be afraid to ask If it was doing it again tho…

Is it typical to find completely unacceptable pay on your site? Listings that have requirement for engineers which could pull home 200-300k a year wanting to pay $15 an hour. I guess this is why "nobody wants to work anymore"

One listing (company name omitted to protect the witness):

Requirements BS/MS in Computer Science Strong in Data Structure/Algorithms, can solve intermediate-level Leetcode questions with ease Experience in conducting technical interviews and well-trained on how to grade candidate performance Passion for mentorship!

Nice To Have Have the flexibility to work 10-20+ hours per week when business needs warrant Have prior start-up experience Compete in Leetcode contests weekly and rank top 2000. Previous experience competing in ACM contests.

What's In it for you 100% remote work (1099 basis) Flexible work hours Opportunity to network and build connections with aspiring and established designers Compensation: $15/hr

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working 4 day week here, as an employee?

#79

Post by yodsanklai »

It's something relatively common in some European countries. I did it at the very beginning of my career. I just asked, and most companies were fine with it.

I understand the appeal (particularly for people with kids) but nowadays I'm pretty anxious about the future and I'm not sure I'll be able to earn the same salary in 2 years, let alone 10 years when ageism will hit. I'd rather save when I can.

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