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Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

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191–200 of 238 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How else are you supposed to intelligently judge whether a sweeping change like this will work?

work for who? because I can tell you how it will work for me and OP. again, the metrics used are only ones that measure business ends, not human ends. human wellbeing is only a means to an end (production/productivity) in capitalism.

I'm not entirely sure what's wrong with that - as humans we are generally hardwired to productivity, especially in conservative environments that I grew up in.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#192
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Choosing life over work isn't slacking.

In our short lives, work will probably be the most fulfilling endeavor we undertake, and we should be grateful that there are so many great companies willing to offer jobs to workers like us.

I really can't tell if this a satirical or parodical comment. Bumping right up against: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#194
post #40

What I want to know is how 'salaried' turned into ">=40 hours a week"

It was the other way around. Works weeks were 48 hours or more until Henry Ford enacted a five-day 40-hour week in his factory in 1926[0]. Later, in 1939, laws were passed that officially established the new only-40-hour week as the norm, with 32 hours as the official mark of full- vs part-time, and anything over 40 being deemed "overtime." At least in the United States, that's the trend. 0. https://www.truthorfictio…

But salaries were for professionals and ownership, not labor- and while that meant if you needed to work 60 hours for a week you worked 60 hours, it also meant that if you only needed to work a thirty hour week, you worked thirty.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#195

On a side note, has anyone ever negotiated an effective raise by asking for 100% salary for an 80% employment? - "We're sorry but your salary range is above what we are willing to offer." - "I am prepared to accept your upper range salary for 80% employment." - "Deal!"

In my experience, hiring managers and recruiters are given specific knobs they can turn. Salary, of course, and a few knobs around equity. Things that aren't presented to the hiring managers are next to impossible to change: vacation time is a big one, but also working hours, because that's all in company policies that are written to apply to all.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#196
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> has a LOT of downtime the way I look at it, I'm being paid for being available during those work hours, not necessarily doing work during all those work hours.

Ok, but not every job is like this. A lot of my communication is done asynchronously already. I'm paid 95% for productivity and 5% for availability.

Say you're hyper productive and can accomplish your job in only one hour per week, do you think you should still be entitled to your full salary?

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#197
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but not every job is like this. A lot of my communication is done asynchronously already. I'm paid 95% for productivity and 5% for availability.

Say you're hyper productive and can accomplish your job in only one hour per week, do you think you should still be entitled to your full salary?

Yes. That's how it's worked for the ~7 years I worked for myself. I'm currently working a full time remote job in addition to managing my own company, and there it's more like 75/25 productivity/availability. Unless I'm on call, then its flipped.

If I was working retail, I suppose it'd be more like 5/95 productivity/availability.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In our short lives, work will probably be the most fulfilling endeavor we undertake, and we should be grateful that there are so many great companies willing to offer jobs to workers like us.

I really can't tell if this a satirical or parodical comment. Bumping right up against: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

I sure hope this was intended to be sarcastic. I have always found my job interesting and rewarding, but I think most people (myself included) would attribute personal relationships to be a lot more fulfilling.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the USA doesn’t have universal healthcare so that it can be used to blackmail employees?

Healthcare is a benefit and the lack of universal healthcare has resulted in a competitive market where customers are free to choose the level of care for their need and budget. Universal healthcare is the worst of all worlds, comparatively.

I’m sure all the people who have gone bankrupt from medical bills appreciate that sentiment.

My brother in laws sister was recently diagnosed with cancer. Before she was diagnosed, she quit her job with benefits to stay home and take care of her father with advanced Parkinson’s. Her cancer is treatable, but she doesn’t have and can’t get insurance and doesn’t qualify for government help. Her choice is death or go into such incredible debt that she will never have hope to pay it off. She is 29. She has chosen death.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't we have 3 day weekends yet?

#200
post #166

How did you arrive at 3 days? Why not 2? Why not 1? Why work at all when we can just print ourselves money until it all collapses? Do you own a business where you've allowed your employees to work different sized workweeks and were able to evaluate the changes in productivity? What data do you have to back up any of your viewpoints that's more substantive than just believing whatever people on reddit or elsewhere on…

the fact that you have to have owned a business to be allowed to have an opinion about working productivity to so fucking telling about capitalist ideology

yeah, i'm really disappointed in the overall level of responses tbh. there is definitely strong biases. from those who work a lot or those who own business or just a have a dogmatic capitalist view.

its hard to find a middle ground, as people in power are unwilling to shift their expectations.

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