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'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

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Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#21

Post by firefoxd »

Last Sunday, I was walking down the street with my kids when a man bumped into me trying to cross the street. He turned around to apologize and we had a discussion at the red light. He was working a 12 hour shift and was now on his break which he had to rush to get to the store. He said memorial weekend was extremely busy. "After that we will go back to regular busy."

When we talk about 4 day workweek, it's for some specific jobs. Not for that guy. Culturally, at least in the US, we would be happier if some people worked 7 days, 24 hours a day.

Ex: wouldn't it be better if the bank was open after work? Wouldn't it be better if USPS would show up on Sunday? Isn't it annoying that Chick-fil-A is closed on sunday?

Personally , I would love to work 4 days a week, but if the people that package and ship the product I help develop worked only 4 days, we would have angry customers. They will switch to our competitor who will brag about faster delivery.

4 day workweek is a cultural problem. We will have to give up on our instant gratification mentally to make it a reality.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#22

Post by from-nibly »

No, the market cant handle that right now. A 4 day work week happens because of market forces. Companies don't need to offer perks unless they cant attract enough applicants or retain their top talent. We just saw this last year that companies done need anymore applicants. We are also seeing now that companies don't even care which part of their talent they keep.

There might be a class divide coming that would include 4 day work weeks, but the vast majority of us scrubs are going to be 5 days a week for a while to come. At a minimum we are going to have to ride out this financial crisis for the next decade.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#23

Post by Helmut10001 »

fleshdaddy wrote: post #7
Helmut10001 wrote: post #4

I am working 75% since about 7 years now. However, I did not chose 4 days, but 6 hours (and 5 days). I like this much more because I can more evenly distribute my workload and I have a more regular schedule, including recovering from work on a daily basis. 6 hours is the maximum I found I can concentrate and be productive. Afterwards, my output always decreased significantly and I was mainly wasting time.

Opposite for me. Much rather have an extra day where I can do anything I want with no one bugging me. Workdays are basically a wash for me anyways.

I agree, but I am looking at it from a productivity perspective, not maximizing leisure quality.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#24

Post by flax »

firefoxd wrote: post #21

Last Sunday, I was walking down the street with my kids when a man bumped into me trying to cross the street. He turned around to apologize and we had a discussion at the red light. He was working a 12 hour shift and was now on his break which he had to rush to get to the store. He said memorial weekend was extremely busy. "After that we will go back to regular busy." When we talk about 4 day workweek, it's for some…

You don't have to have individuals working 24/7 to have things open 24/7.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#25

Post by zolbrek »

jameslk wrote: post #15

I’m curious what the logical extreme of this is. Why 4 days? Why not 3 days? 2 days? 1 day? No days? When do we hit the equilibrium level between less work resulting in meaningfully less output? Were these jobs ever needed?

A friend of mine has this at her workplace and she loves it. She works 9 hours a day Monday through Thursday which at 36 hours isn't that far off from the 40 hours I put in over 5 days. I think anything beyond that starts to get ridiculous. Imagine working 11 to 12 hours a day for a three day work week, seems like that would just result in a lot of foot dragging to me.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#26

Post by imiric »

robbyiq999 wrote: post #17

The ai leaders should come out and say… “Ai advancement is so powerful (as we have been saying and hyping for our shareholders) we now will offer our beloved employees - 4 day workweeks, as the productivity gain has removed 1 days worth of work for the work week” And so will begin our fever dream tech utopia

Productivity gains came from computers many decades ago, yet companies pocketed the difference, and workers got shafted.

These changes won't happen until workers demand it, regardless of the technology that comes along.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#27

Post by azinman2 »

from-nibly wrote: post #22

No, the market cant handle that right now. A 4 day work week happens because of market forces. Companies don't need to offer perks unless they cant attract enough applicants or retain their top talent. We just saw this last year that companies done need anymore applicants. We are also seeing now that companies don't even care which part of their talent they keep. There might be a class divide coming that would includ…

Seems you think that a 4 day work week is paid as 5 is currently. I don’t see why that’d be necessarily true. In that scenario, it’s kind of like a part time worker and I can see many businesses finding appeal in that.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#28

Post by Spastche »

klyrs wrote: post #12
j16sdiz wrote: post #6

Searching the very title on Google give me these: (2023) Is the 4-day work week closer than we think? - Nearly half of Aussies think it will happen within five years. https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2023/is-the-4-day-work-week-cl... (2021) Four-Day Workweeks Are Closer To Reality Than You Think https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeswigunski/2021/05/03/four-d... (2018) Why the 4-day workweek might be closer than you think —…

Richard Nixon was hyping the 4 day work week in 1956!

what a bizarre guy, I would not have expected that

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#29

Post by whythre »

azinman2 wrote: post #27
from-nibly wrote: post #22

No, the market cant handle that right now. A 4 day work week happens because of market forces. Companies don't need to offer perks unless they cant attract enough applicants or retain their top talent. We just saw this last year that companies done need anymore applicants. We are also seeing now that companies don't even care which part of their talent they keep. There might be a class divide coming that would includ…

Seems you think that a 4 day work week is paid as 5 is currently. I don’t see why that’d be necessarily true. In that scenario, it’s kind of like a part time worker and I can see many businesses finding appeal in that.

I bet many businesses would love that. More places of employment start acting like Walmart, where you have to be management to get a full time job with benefits. Everyone else has a shifting 30-35 hour schedule that makes it effectively impossible to have a predictable, normal life outside of work. And no benefits for part time workers either. And the pay is so crappy food stamps are practically mandatory.

Re: 'It's better for humans in general': The 4-day workweek is closer than you think

#30

Post by whythre »

jvm___ wrote: post #19
jameslk wrote: post #15

I’m curious what the logical extreme of this is. Why 4 days? Why not 3 days? 2 days? 1 day? No days? When do we hit the equilibrium level between less work resulting in meaningfully less output? Were these jobs ever needed?

What happens to the economy when the contract janitor and the coffee cart lady have their hours cut and now can no longer afford rent. They only have one free day a week so they can't find a second job.

Uh… telling them they should have to get 2 jobs seems like the absolutely wrong solution, here.
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