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Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

politico.com

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Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#31

Post by subpixel »

philote wrote: post #3
jaymzcampbell wrote: post #2

I swapped to a 4 day week (with relevant pay cut, which certainly made it easier to justify with my employer) in order to finish my MSc without burnout and it's changed my life. The entire balance of the working week has changed - 4 days is almost a 50-50 split which makes an enormous difference to your psychology (0.57:0.71). My employer has stated they've not noticed any change in productivity either, including on…

So your employer is getting the same work out of you with less pay? Sounds like you should push for your old pay back.

I see the 4-day week as a desirable perk that may be available within high-performing organizations. Modifying pay is probably more a bargaining chip for ICs who are working 4 days when others are not.

Outside of knowledge work, the 4-day week appears where demand outstrips supply. It's pretty common for dental offices, an one example, to work 4 days _just because they can_. The bos can pay themselves several hundred thousand dollars a year and pay their staff competitive salaries without giving up their long weekend plans.

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#32

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

savanaly wrote: post #19
bloopernova wrote: post #9

Considering the opposition to working from home from some parts of (USA) society, I have trouble seeing this get widely adopted. At least in the short to medium term. The anti-WFH people appear to fall into 3 camps: landlords and property owners, middle management who believe people are not as productive or efficient at home. And, as pointed out in a reply, there's also the group who believe that face to face communi…

I'm not even in the anti-WFH camp, but notice you've selectively omitted the most sympathetic camp (what is this argument tactic called? Strawmanning?). People who think teams will be more agile and innovative when they can have impromptu face-to-face conversations. I personally think that's true, but not a big enough deal to make me favor RTO. But it's not good to summarize an issue in such a way that the other side…

> what is this argument tactic called? Strawmanning?

Yeah, think like how you challenge yourself in deliberate practice. Putting up a "straw man" to fight doesn't really help one learn to fight.

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#34

Post by FrustratedMonky »

Syonyk wrote: post #13

I've "corrupted" (from the point of view of GDP productivity and such) a lot of people into asking for (and mostly getting...) a 32h/week work schedule. I've been doing it for almost 8 years now, and at this point, it's simply a non-negotiable in any sort of employment discussions (that, and not carrying a pager). I work Mon-Thu, 8h/day, and I'm generally unreachable Fri/Sat/Sun (doesn't mean I won't put in a long we…

Wonder how many software devs would be able to do this.

When I have a long weekend, a lot of times, its 'finally, no interruptions so I can get some work done', and end up working.

Guess, if you have an itch, could fill it with open source projects instead.

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#35

Post by tikhonj »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #14

Do we really need another slap in the face to "employees that have to move muscles" - if 4 to 20x pay, working from home wasn't enough, now they only work 4 days a week!! Yes those people read reddit, hackernews and other sources. edit: OK - didn't notice this was for "employees that move muscles" Carry on then

The article started by talking about UAW negotiations—it's about "employees that have to move muscles".

Not that it matters. "We shouldn't try to improve things for one set of people if things are bad for a different set of people" is an incoherent and toxic attitude regardless of context.

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#36

Post by Syonyk »

robg wrote: post #4

Curious among folks here: Are you aware of companies that allow for or even encourage four day work weeks?

Overtly advertising it? No. Hasn't stopped me (and quite a few others) from getting 4 day weeks out of them.

The trick is being senior enough (or in demand enough) that you can get one company to agree to a 32h week for you (and be willing to walk - I've interviewed with very interesting companies who weren't willing to consider it, and so we ended the discussions).

Once you have it in some form or another, you're good. It's just a condition of employing you, early in discussions with other companies.

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#37

Post by williamdclt »

avgcorrection wrote: post #10
philote wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your employer is getting the same work out of you with less pay? Sounds like you should push for your old pay back.

Kind of amazing that they just admitted that freely.

It’s only leverage if somebody else offers higher pay for 4d week, which isn’t too different than the standard “other companies pay better” leverage

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#38

Post by capital_guy »

robg wrote: post #4

Curious among folks here: Are you aware of companies that allow for or even encourage four day work weeks?

bit.io was a 4 day work week company before being acquired by databricks [0]. not sure if they kept that afterwards, seems unlikely

https://www.databricks.com/blog/welcoming-bit-io-databricks-...

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#39

Post by darreninthenet »

gregdoesit wrote: post #21

The Netherlands is arguably one that heavily embraces the 4-day workweek. In this country, employees can request a shorter work week (4 days) for proportionality less wages (so eg for 4 days get 80% of wages). More than 80% of working moms utilise this option and around 10% of dads. [1] Among my friends I have parents where both of them work 4 days, taking the 5th day off on separate days, and their kid goes to dayca…

I used to work for a Dutch bank (in London) ~20 years ago and pretty much all of our colleagues in The Netherlands worked a four day week although with full pay and hours, just working longer days over the four day week.

Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?

#40

Post by jaymzcampbell »

philote wrote: post #3
jaymzcampbell wrote: post #2

I swapped to a 4 day week (with relevant pay cut, which certainly made it easier to justify with my employer) in order to finish my MSc without burnout and it's changed my life. The entire balance of the working week has changed - 4 days is almost a 50-50 split which makes an enormous difference to your psychology (0.57:0.71). My employer has stated they've not noticed any change in productivity either, including on…

So your employer is getting the same work out of you with less pay? Sounds like you should push for your old pay back.

tbh I was surprised to hear it myself. I work in an agency for a client 100% of my billable time. I don't work on Fridays where I certainly would've continued my day-to-day tasks. I'm kind of a tech lead on things (it's a little fuzzy) so as long as I've got things stacked up enough for the rest of the team and people are unblocked, work continues. I think they meant it in a "we haven't had to slow down or get blocked" sort of way.

I think it mainly speaks to the fact that "most stuff is not actually critical". So people have adapted accordingly and the work that needs to be done, is done, and that which isn't so pressing can wait.

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