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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?

#111

Post by mqoca »

Veliladon wrote: post #98

For the US the biggest impediment is healthcare is based on a per employee charge, not per hour charge. So there's this perverse incentive to extract every possible hour of labor from an employee, even with overtime at time and a half, to defray another fixed cost. Without public health care and the subsequent lifting of healthcare costs from employers back over to a progressive tax system, I can't see the 4 day week…

Is that really the case? I was under the impression that part-time jobs in the US such as retail, food, etc. were so common precisely because part-time employees do not receive the same benefits (health insurance, retirement, PTO) as full-time employees.

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

#112

Post by deltree7 »

Syonyk wrote: post #27
zooq_ai wrote: 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…

> 4 hour work-week ain't happening. Four hour or four day ? Both are terms that have been tossed around, though this is discussing four day (which you then discuss as 32h weeks later). > AI will make people who work 70 hour per week even more productive. So in knowledge work roles, firms may opt to have one 70 hr extreme workaholic vs 2 32 hour people Have you ever had to debug code from people at the wrong end of a…

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

#113

Post by deltree7 »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #25
zooq_ai wrote: 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…

The article is about a 4 day work week, which is commonly 32 or 40 hours depending on context. Not sure why you had to make this about AI.

[dead]

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

#114

Post by soupfordummies »

thegrim33 wrote: post #109

Is there any argument that can be made for a four-day work week that couldn't also be made for a three-day work week? Or a two? I guess I'm trying to get at where's the line? If everyone switches to four-day, will the next rally cry be for three-day after that? What argument is there for why four-day in particular is the "right" amount and not three or five or some other number?

The line is—-and Im just spitballing here—-probably somewhere around 26-30 hours or so.

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

#115

Post by apercu »

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…

I am far, far, far more productive in a 15-25 hour week than I am in a 35-45 hour week. Every hour past 30 is diminishing returns for focus/knowledge work.

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

#116

Post by helij »

ren_engineer wrote: post #93
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…

the primary issue I see with this is for things where unfinished work results in something going from being finished the next day to blocked from Thursday until Monday. Some small question or task that could be done in 5 minutes but now has to wait that entire time. Just not going to work for many businesses

This is a non-issue. I have no issues with helping with a task on Thurs 5:35pm or even 6pm if it will unblock some people. It rarely happens though if your team and organisation are properly managed.

You are making up an imaginary issue here I think. Fine if you said it would take 5 hours but come on...5 min task?

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

#117

Post by NateSwift »

mqoca wrote: post #111
Veliladon wrote: post #98

For the US the biggest impediment is healthcare is based on a per employee charge, not per hour charge. So there's this perverse incentive to extract every possible hour of labor from an employee, even with overtime at time and a half, to defray another fixed cost. Without public health care and the subsequent lifting of healthcare costs from employers back over to a progressive tax system, I can't see the 4 day week…

Is that really the case? I was under the impression that part-time jobs in the US such as retail, food, etc. were so common precisely because part-time employees do not receive the same benefits (health insurance, retirement, PTO) as full-time employees.

Under the Affordable Care Act employees that work more than 30 hours per week (or 130 hours per month) are considered full time and require health insurance.

I’d assume then that most part time employees work less than 30 hours a week

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

#119

Post by quacked »

Zandikar wrote: post #88
nickvec wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think most people think school is like pokemon training, where X minutes = Y XP, and more minutes in class = more XP, thus leading to higher-level students.

I remember when I was in school we missed a few extra days from snowstorms, so they added several minutes onto the school day to "make up for the missed time". It was so obviously stupid then, but no school administrator listened to me, because what does a high school kid know?

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

#120

Post by tomjakubowski »

quacked wrote: post #119
Zandikar wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think most people think school is like pokemon training, where X minutes = Y XP, and more minutes in class = more XP, thus leading to higher-level students. I remember when I was in school we missed a few extra days from snowstorms, so they added several minutes onto the school day to "make up for the missed time". It was so obviously stupid then, but no school administrator listened to me, because what does a high…

Yah, treating time as fungible is a big mistake and people do it all the time.
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