I've done this for 12 years now, at 3 different employers, first and current one for proportionally less pay, middle one was full hours compressed into 4 (not as good). Its a no-brainer. We tech workers are well rewarded. Most white collar westerners are more starved of time than of money. Extra day off means more time to spend with family, do hobbies etc. Employer definitely gets more than 80% out of me as I'm more rested. Pay hit is less than you might think because the last 20% is taxed more heavily than the first 20%. (due to the first X amount being tax free). Can save money by cooking from scratch more, shopping around for things. I'm not very practical or good at fixing things - if I was I'd probably save even more.
Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
81–90 of 157 posts
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#82Curious among folks here: Are you aware of companies that allow for or even encourage four day work weeks?
In the Netherlands this is completely normal for most types of jobs, 48% of the workforce works less than 36 hours. Are you looking for anything specific?
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#83[dead]
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it aligns better with my family (the local public school is only Mon-Thu as well) This is interesting and makes me think the answer to the title's question is public schools. Most Americans are not in a position to individually ask their employer for a 4-day week, but if the local school system does it, suddenly there's a unified block of thousands of people who really need Friday off to take care of their kids. I…
Interesting. I hope the 4-day school week doesn't exacerbate the education / illiteracy crisis that we are already seeing in America. Not sure if less time in school would help with this, though difficult to comprehend the nuances associated with experiments like this until the data is available.
Public schools are publicly subsidized day care centers. If people worked less there would be less need for the day care period.
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#85I know multiple people who have moved to 4 day work weeks. Most of them are 4x10, which they still much prefer.
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#86Unions.
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
If you're doing interesting, deep level work, I've found I'm a lot more productive when I spend my weekends doing "literally anything but computers." I'll typically spend Thursday afternoon curled up with some datasheets or architecture references related to my current project, and let my mind chew on it over the weekend in the background, while I'm doing other stuff. The distance from the problem allows a fresh pers…
I wholeheartedly agree and find myself the same. Banging your head on a rock only makes the head hurt
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it aligns better with my family (the local public school is only Mon-Thu as well) This is interesting and makes me think the answer to the title's question is public schools. Most Americans are not in a position to individually ask their employer for a 4-day week, but if the local school system does it, suddenly there's a unified block of thousands of people who really need Friday off to take care of their kids. I…
Interesting. I hope the 4-day school week doesn't exacerbate the education / illiteracy crisis that we are already seeing in America. Not sure if less time in school would help with this, though difficult to comprehend the nuances associated with experiments like this until the data is available.
Depends on the environment.
The simple fact of the matter for many students (In America at least) is that it's not a lack of time in class that's leading to a lack of education. One of if not THE primary function of primary school in America today is to be a place for kids to go while the worker bees go to work now that its no longer socially acceptable for kids to run free.
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it aligns better with my family (the local public school is only Mon-Thu as well) This is interesting and makes me think the answer to the title's question is public schools. Most Americans are not in a position to individually ask their employer for a 4-day week, but if the local school system does it, suddenly there's a unified block of thousands of people who really need Friday off to take care of their kids. I…
Interesting. I hope the 4-day school week doesn't exacerbate the education / illiteracy crisis that we are already seeing in America. Not sure if less time in school would help with this, though difficult to comprehend the nuances associated with experiments like this until the data is available.
The recent increase in the number of schools going 4-day is mostly a teacher attraction and retention strategy. There’s an ongoing severe teacher shortage, and poor rural districts in states with low average teacher pay are catching the worst of it (for obvious reasons). The alternative is the school district basically collapses from lack of staffing, or else has to come up with a bunch more money. It may or may not harm educational outcomes (I’d guess it tends to, personally) but they’re not doing it because they think it’ll help vs a normal 5-day school week, rather, because the alternatives are (to them) much worse.
Expect various other mitigation strategies to creep their way into nicer and nicer school districts, as the crisis worsens. That, or we’re gonna have to increase teacher pay a ton (good luck). I expect private tutoring services to positively boom over the next decade or two, as lower-than-usual SES families turn to them just to get back to the level of education they used to get “for free”.
Re: Who will lead the charge to a four-day work week?
#90Most of my friends and family work part time.
Those who don't at least have home office and/or can freely decide when to work.
I'm a freelance technical writer, and I don't get more than one draft/outline done a day. I work 3-5 days a week, but never more than 5h. When I'm done with a bigger task for the day, the following work won't be as good. It only works if I'm really hyped for the next task.