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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?

#171

Post by xivzgrev »

Apreche wrote: post #19

I 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…

Glad it worked out.

For anyone else thinking of doing this I’d recommend asking for this up front. If a company isn’t open to it, then they’re not going to be later on after you’ve both invested all that time.

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

#172

Post by te_chris »

Curzel wrote: post #163

My former employer mandated that everyone took days off every Friday of July. I happen to live ~2 hours away from the see and 10 minutes away from the lake and in a area with a lot of hiking to do, so that was cool. Still, I can’t picture myself doing it all year around… maybe because I don’t have kids… I would prefer a shorter workday Also, Friday off, but that it taken out of your own paid leave days!! I guess this…

Yeah that’s really not the vibe! That’s just stingy by your old boss.

In NZ, loads of professional firms shut down over Xmas as it’s summer. They basically make their staff take at least two weeks leave over this time because there’s no provision in employment law to force them to find work for people who don’t want to holiday then. My wife was a lawyer so she got caught up in this, used to annoy the shit out of me being forced to use so much leave at a time we did’t want to.

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

#173

Post by blablabla123 »

I used to, an internal recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn. Actually I answered quickly because the job was really interesting and the interview was the other day I think. The overall processes went over a few weeks though but eventually I asked if it's okay with the contract that I still have a freelance job on the side. HR said I could be working part-time until I'm done (or the whole time) They asked what I'll be doing the whole time and I said just going for hobby projects

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

#174

Post by xmprt »

Helmut10001 wrote: post #165
Aperocky wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an important distinction, but personally I think I prefer 4x10 over 5x8. Productivity will probably be better too.

I have 30 hours workweek and work 5x6, for the last 7 years. I also negotiated that I can leave at noon, and work the remaining hours, from where ever I am, when there is need (e.g. when I need to answer crucial things at evenings, weekends etc., which happens maybe once in a month). It is very good, I can spend more time with my son. I can go running when there is still sunlight outside. The problem is I could not g…

I'm a bit surprised more employers don't offer this. It seems like a very good way to retain talent especially as it becomes harder to find experienced software engineers for the same low salaries.

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

#175

Post by Someone »

Cockbrand wrote: post #45

German here, where part-time arrangements in tech are somewhat normal. I negotiated my 32 hour work week right at the beginning, and there was no discussion about it, and none was expected. I kind of get only an 80% salary, which seems a bit unfair as studies prove that part-time workers are more efficient [1], but the way better work-life balance is definitely worth it. [1] Researching the validity of this claim is…

> and there was no discussion about it, and none was expected.

That’s EU regulation. https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/human-resources/employ...:

“Equal employment conditions

You must offer your part‑time staff the same employment conditions as full-time workers, including pay, leave, notice periods and other rights and benefits linked to their employment.

Modifying working arrangements

Whenever possible, you should try to accommodate requests from your employees if they want to change their working schedules, such as:

- transferring from full-time to part-time

- transferring from part-time to full-time

- increasing their working hours

You cannot dismiss an employee if they refuse to transfer from part-time to full-time work or vice versa.”

(Equal pay, leave, pension, etc. are pro rata)

In the EU, about 1:5 of employees work part time, most of them to their satisfaction (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/D...)

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

#177

Post by hnick »

jen729w wrote: post #27

Yes. 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.…

Monday is also a lot of public holidays which you miss out on, as I realised when I stopped working Monday here in Aus too ;)

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

#178

Post by doix »

baobob wrote: post #72

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 woul…

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

The real difference maker is if you need to show up to the office or be reachable. I am sure there were weeks where I did 16 hours of work(i.e 2 days) at BigCo but I still showed up to the office 5 days as week. It didn't really matter to me if I was working at the office or just goofing off in the coffee room, I still couldn't go surfing or do something I enjoy.

> if you're working 4 day weeks and you're feeling behind, you may well end up working that 5th day without anyone asking.

If you're behind on a 5 day work week, do you work the weekend? I don't see how this is any different.

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

#179

Post by therealdrag0 »

bruce511 wrote: post #146
Aperocky wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an important distinction, but personally I think I prefer 4x10 over 5x8. Productivity will probably be better too.

This is anecdotal, so not data, but I'm not 100% sure i agree. But it may be an age thing. In my youth (for some definition of youth) I could work flat out for 10 hours+. I'd get in the groove and just fly. I'm a little (or lot) older now - and I can do maybe 6 hours at a time now. I now fill the rest of the time with non-code work, like docs etc. Or I just knock off early.

If I have a solo code task, I can do a 10 hour day without feeling burned out. But a day of randomizations, collaboration and firefighting, I feel done after 6 heh.

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

#180

Post by Fr3dd1 »

Apreche wrote: post #19

I 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…

Context: I do recruiting as a team lead. I am happy you found what you were looking for. But from my pov, if you want to work less than fulltime and thats a non negotiable thing for you, please be open up front with the people who interview you. Typically when a full time position is offered, the workload of a full person is needed (lets not discuss if 8h of work a day results in better or more output than less hours, thats another topic). I was several times in the position where a candidate suddenly said, that he wants to work part time (at the last stage of the hiring process). By doing this he wasted not only mine but also his own time..
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