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World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

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Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s probably easier to effect change within a small region using the existing days than persuade the entire world to change their calendar simultaneously.

Take a look at this https://calendars.fandom.com/wiki/6-Day_Week_Solar_Calendar_... Would be one of the biggest innovations in time keeping we could unleash on the world. And to the person who downvoted my post: get over yourself mate.

From your link:

> Another minor disadvantage can be the time needed to adapt which is valid for any reform. But as it was also already mentioned, the availability of modern day software can diminish these difficulties.

Lol. I think the inertia of all our software running on the Gregorian calendar is probably the single biggest reason we'll never bother changing it.

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#92

Good, you all work 4 days and I’ll work my standard 6x10 6 days, 10hrs a day. When people get fired presumably I’ll still be standing. When promotion time comes around, the person who does the most will get the promotion. When bonus time comes, I’ll have the most done. You can try to regulate day(s), but if there’s people willing to work more they’ll set the standard.

Oh boy, you're in for a surprise.

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#93
post #16

I don't like the Four Day Work Week because most of the people who are allowed to experiment with it are working on bullshit. I'm not a big Graeber fan, but I emphatically agree with his idea that the majority of actual hours worked inside the continental US are largely useless make-work in order to justify the existence of a monied consumer class. Such a huge amount of the actual work that needs to be done so that w…

That is whataboutism. Yes, al that stuff is really bad and should be fixed on a global level - but meanwhile pushing for less work hours where possible does not take away from improving, on the contrary, it paves the way.

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#94

When was a mathematician, I worked as hard as I could until I was mentally exhausted. I actually calculated how much I worked per week over a period of two years. On actual "hard thinking", like working through logic, I spent about 7 hours. There was another 7 hours writing and clarifying topics, and another 6 hours or so on classes, seminars (sort of like meetings, but productive). That gives a total of 20 hours per…

thanks for you input, i'd just want to add a pinch of chaos and averages into the mix.. a 9-5 is also an escape from problems elsewhere, or a somehow balanced dance/wave (morning, commute, work, come back), it's not just late stage capitalism imo

thanks again

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#95

Good, you all work 4 days and I’ll work my standard 6x10 6 days, 10hrs a day. When people get fired presumably I’ll still be standing. When promotion time comes around, the person who does the most will get the promotion. When bonus time comes, I’ll have the most done. You can try to regulate day(s), but if there’s people willing to work more they’ll set the standard.

When you're in your final years and you look back at your life, does anyone seriously think "I wish I had spent more hours at work"? I personally don't know a single case. However, "I wish I had had more time for..." is probably the norm.

Life is so much more than work.

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#96

When was a mathematician, I worked as hard as I could until I was mentally exhausted. I actually calculated how much I worked per week over a period of two years. On actual "hard thinking", like working through logic, I spent about 7 hours. There was another 7 hours writing and clarifying topics, and another 6 hours or so on classes, seminars (sort of like meetings, but productive). That gives a total of 20 hours per…

> if you are truly just doing productive, meaningful technical work, beyond 3 full days most people can't do it.

Ok but an important detail is the distribution of those hours. You probably didn't do 7 consecutive hours of exhausting hard thinking work in one day, nor probably 3.5 hours across 2 days... you'll be able to confirm, but sounds to me like an important key part of most meaningful, intensively intellectual (or physical) work lots of people do is that those hours are more-or-less spread across the whole work week, so in your example, kind of 1h30m per day on a 5-day week or closer to 2h/day on a 4-day week.

I would fully agree with the latter part of your comment. Even if you argue that you'd not get more than 3 days of actual work done during a week, it doesn't necessarily follow that your work week should have been 3 days long; more like your daily timetable should probably be shorter and you should not have to wait in your office, mentally tired and not being productive, until the clock says it's 5pm and so you can now go home.

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no doubt that most companies (and the government) could cut 20% with no effect on their productivity. It's just no practical to ride the razors edge of leanness and it also would probably harm morale. Twitter cut 80% of it's workforce and is becoming MORE productive.

They cut the group responsible for responding to pictures of children being abused. I don't want to work at a place that considers this "more productive". https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-20/australian-twitter-st...

Not commenting on whether or not the situation is better or worse.

But your comment is meaningless without also providing data showing the amount of CSAM on twitter over time.

An article saying the team was axed doesn't tell us anything about the effect on the outcomes that team was responsible for.

If you axed the team and the amount of CSAM increased, that tells one story.

If you axed the team and the amount of CSAM stayed the same, that tells a different story.

If you axed the team and the amount of CSAM dropped, that tells a different story.

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#98

Good, you all work 4 days and I’ll work my standard 6x10 6 days, 10hrs a day. When people get fired presumably I’ll still be standing. When promotion time comes around, the person who does the most will get the promotion. When bonus time comes, I’ll have the most done. You can try to regulate day(s), but if there’s people willing to work more they’ll set the standard.

[deleted]

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#99

When was a mathematician, I worked as hard as I could until I was mentally exhausted. I actually calculated how much I worked per week over a period of two years. On actual "hard thinking", like working through logic, I spent about 7 hours. There was another 7 hours writing and clarifying topics, and another 6 hours or so on classes, seminars (sort of like meetings, but productive). That gives a total of 20 hours per…

I'm a PM and I work from home - far and away the biggest advantage IMHO isn't the lack of commute (though that's great), but rather the flexibility in schedule. My most productive hours are 6-9am - I can crank through what would take me most of 9am-5pm in that time period. That's wasted when I have to get ready and commute during that time period. When optimizing for most efficient working times, 40 hours a week is r…

The one thing I would go to the office for are sprint ceremonies. On my best functioning teams, we would plan and make sure everyone knew what was needed and solutions brainstormed until we had an agreed approach.

Then you stay at home and just execute. And you can used your best hours to smash stuff out and then enjoy the rest of the day.

Re: World’s largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back

#100
post #79
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have the advantage of calling something bullshit after the fact. Track your BS Meyer before the initiatives take place. Before you can see the outcomes whether something was impactful or not. Feel free to unleash your predictive capacity on the world.

Okay, here's one: every single fast-food restaurant that uses unhealthy derivatives to create its "food", and all the work that goes into it, is bullshit, and if the entire industry was wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow society would immediately, measurably improve.

At least, it would decline for me since I don’t have an obesity problem but I like me a good french fry.
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