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

politico.com

61–70 of 157 posts

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

#61
post #23

4 hour work-week ain't happening. 1) Due to AI advancements, companies and business models are going to be disrupted. The last thing a firm wants is to work 4 day / week when competition can do 60 hour per week and leap frog them (including crushing them) at a crucial period. tl ; dr -- we are entering a crunch mode for many firms (vs stability where we can think of these luxuries) 2) US is already facing labor short…

> when we enter deflation

There was a survey showing that a lot of Americans believe the recent inflation will be over once prices go back down to where they were in 2020. They, and you, are in for an unpleasant surprise.

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

#62
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…

That's great for 9 to 5 type jobs, but some work just needs to be done outside office hours and on weekends. We have teams in other countries to help with time zone cover, but that can only get you so far.

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

#63
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…

[deleted]

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

#64

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…

32 hour days? Don't know if I could handle that :)

Lazy ass. Back in my day, before walking up hill both ways to school, we had to wake up before we went to sleep and our parents would kill us every night!

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

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-...

(bit.io CEO here) - databricks has a 5 day work week.

Would love to discuss how it worked for you

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

#66

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…

In France primary schools are traditionally off on Wednesdays and when I was there it wasn't uncommon for mostly women to have that arrangement: 80% pay but Wednesdays off.

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

#67
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…

I negotiated a 4 day week as well and won't go back either. You cant beat having a three day weekend and Fridays off. A co worker does the same but takes Mondays off which works for his family better.

I would also like to try a split week: work mon-tues, off wed, work thurs-fri, off sat-sun. This way you have a mini weekend giving you two "friday nights" and there's no weekly gauntlet to run.

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

#68
I really miss some empirical economics and management research during that 4-day workweek debate. Most of the debates come from parties with a vested interest in them. What makes me more curious is: what is going to be the minimum or maximum performance time offset in terms of competitiveness that the companies will need to overcome to adopt or not?

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

#69
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.

I do this, but I instead do more like 6 hours across Mon-Fri. If my life circumstances change I can see preferring longer days Mon-Thu.

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

#70
post #62
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…

That's great for 9 to 5 type jobs, but some work just needs to be done outside office hours and on weekends. We have teams in other countries to help with time zone cover, but that can only get you so far.

Sure, but the same is true of a 40h work week - there are still another 128 hours in the week you have to cover.

You need 4.2 40h teams of people for full coverage in a 168 hour week. You need 5.25 32h teams for the same coverage. It's not a radical jump.

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