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Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

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Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#221

Post by ben_w »

13of40 wrote: post #190
TeMPOraL wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GP's point is that the extra money has little value, because your spending options are becoming bimodal in distribution: all the trinkets are priced at "approximately anyone with a job can afford some of it", while the important bits like housing are priced at "an order of magnitude more than people typically earn", and this gap just cannot be crossed by working hard to get salary raises.

Let's consider some actual numbers, though: In 1999 I got my first "corporate" job at a starting salary of $50K. I was paying $800 a month for a two bedroom apartment, and what was left over was enough to comfortably support me and my wife. Entry level salary for the same job is now about $120K, meaning someone in that position can easily afford to pay $1920 a month for rent. According to Zillow, that same apartment…

That pay is significantly above the US average of $77,463[0].

For a different anecdote, an friend of mine briefly worked a pizza fast-food joint in Davis (CA), and the pay from that didn't even cover her rent and bills, she had to get support from others.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_w...

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#222

Post by slashdev »

somsak2 wrote: post #211
nunez wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your solution is to be the top 5% in some other cheaper economy while continuing to get paid a US comp package. Not sure how that's better. In fact, this is exactly the thing that's going to drive down all of our comp over time. If you can work effectively in Costa Rica, why won't I just hire good English-speaking talent in Costa Rica (more likely Brazil) at a tenth of your expected comp?

> why won't I just hire good English-speaking talent in Costa Rica (more likely Brazil) at a tenth of your expected comp? you can try! but you'll find that this is basically impossible -- the folks that are good enough aren't going to take 1/10th of the comp they could be making.

Yeah, that’s basically the case.

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#223

Post by yodsanklai »

ramraj07 wrote: post #75
vladvasiliu wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A 4 day work week today means working 4 days a week for the same money as a person working 5 days a week Sure, but you'll have even less hope for a salary increase next year, since this is basically what it is. This was the theory behind France's move to the 35-hour workweek, too. They also expected companies to hire more people to compensate for less work being done. Didn't work out as expected.

What happened in France? The way I see it, as programmers we will be far more productive working fewer days per week and just taking more time to relax. If this assumption is accurate you have to do nothing to compensate.

Nothing, 35 hours week don't apply to us, but we have 9-10 more paid holiday than before. As for impact on salary, hard to say, it wasn't an A/B experiment. We can only speculate.

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#224

Post by Taurenking »

wnolens wrote: post #131
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #7

Young people don't want to work hard because there's little incentive. No matter how hard you work, unless you're in the top 5%, you're far priced out of most places most people want to live. You can afford everything comfortably beside housing & health care (which you don't need much of when you're young) on a relatively low wage in the US. So you've pretty much given up on housing. What's the point in working hard?

As someone who worked very hard for 10y and was paid in some top percentile, the incentives still ran out. I'm bored of the meaningless high paid work, single and likely socially stunted and emotionally blunted from workaholism. But at least I can buy a house where none of my loved ones can, and who will eventually be priced out of renting even basement apts nearby.

[dead]

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#225

Post by Nexxius »

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #118
medo-bear wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as far as worker rights go, i think australian workers have it better than in most countries. in places in eu like austria you even have "sicky police" that go to check up on you when you are sick. lol i dont think something like this would fly in 'straya. to be clear im not talking about full on compo and insurance companies hiring private investigators. im talking about calling your boss and telling him/her that yo…

> in europe? im actually the opposite. i miss the great variety of great restaurants in sydney and melbourne Yeah that's what I mean - harder to get good east Asian and Middle Eastern in Europe - although there's more African food here (Europe) than straya.

Just a side question but, is the term "straya" a regional shortening of Australia? I've always heard it from friends as "Oz" or "Aus".

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#226

Post by LeanderK »

myaccountonhn wrote: post #220
LeanderK wrote: post #111

I've seen some strange criticisms after a friend of mine transitioned to a 4-day week. Like whether he has any ambitions, doesn't want to work etc. He is a very committed, good programmer really kinda keeping the company running. I bet he gets more stuff done in 4 days than others in 5. But he has a very active private, social life. He goes a lot on vacations, has hobbies or is just actively enjoying life. He's also…

I work 4 days a week and never received this criticism.

maybe it's cultural? I'm in germany for the context

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#227

Post by miiiiiike »

somsak2 wrote: post #214
miiiiiike wrote: post #129

I give myself a fixed number of "hands on keyboard" hours that I need to meet each week and track my time to the second. If I hit my number in four days, hey, three day weekend. If I don't hit it by Friday, I'm working Saturday. I love it. I want to keep doing this for as long as I can.

Mind me asking how many hours that is? Does it include meetings?

Four, as of this year. I don’t include meetings.

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#228

Post by medo-bear »

Nexxius wrote: post #225
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in europe? im actually the opposite. i miss the great variety of great restaurants in sydney and melbourne Yeah that's what I mean - harder to get good east Asian and Middle Eastern in Europe - although there's more African food here (Europe) than straya.

Just a side question but, is the term "straya" a regional shortening of Australia? I've always heard it from friends as "Oz" or "Aus".

its aussie bogan slang. if you are new to australia, rock up to work barefoot with a VB or a Tooheys in your hand and tell the next new guy "wellcome to straya mate"

Re: Young people would sacrifice other perks for a 4-day workweek

#229

Post by defrost »

Nexxius wrote: post #225
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in europe? im actually the opposite. i miss the great variety of great restaurants in sydney and melbourne Yeah that's what I mean - harder to get good east Asian and Middle Eastern in Europe - although there's more African food here (Europe) than straya.

Just a side question but, is the term "straya" a regional shortening of Australia? I've always heard it from friends as "Oz" or "Aus".

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGYbn24C1Fs
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