Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

marketwatch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 198 posts

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

#151

Post by westmeal »

ratmeadow wrote: post #139
Xenoamorphous wrote: post #85

I find it odd that everyone here is talking about productivity. Although I guess it's to be expected since posts about increasing productivity are popular in HN; lots of people here focusing on their careers I suppose. Personally I find we work way too many hours. We spend the good part of 5 days a week (if we're lucky) at work, often literally all the daylight hours, at least in winter. I have to take my daughter ve…

Agreed, I find it astounding how so many people seem to be ok with devoting almost all their useful hours of life to work (although maybe they aren't ok but cope / convince themselves somehow). My weekday: get up and immediately go to work, come home, have about 2 -3 hours spare time, sleep, repeat. In that 2-3 hours I'm supposed to source healthy food, exercise, contact family, maintain friendships, maintain a roman…

Yeah it sucks.

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

#152

Post by globular-toast »

sumedh wrote: post #128
globular-toast wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People spend all their lives doing pointless work, accumulating wealth, then have nothing to spend it on so buy something like a car they don't need (like an SUV). It's odd there aren't more people questioning this. Wouldn't they rather enjoy their lives while they're young and not worry about having tons of disposable income when they're old? I guess there's something about security that drives people to the latter.…

> not worry about having tons of disposable income when they're old? Who is going to take care of you if you are sick?

Well it won't be your SUV.

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

#153

Post by hinkley »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #68
hinkley wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waiting six days to finish something because you didn’t get it done last time… that’s not gonna work.

> Waiting six days to finish something because you didn’t get it done last time… that’s not gonna work You'd hand off work, to humans and machines, with a bit of overlap to sync expectations. With enough automation, it becomes plausible. But not in the near future.

What overlap? You asked for a one day work week. You’re either idling your equipment and space or you have employees who mostly don’t meet each other.

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

#154

Post by JumpCrisscross »

hinkley wrote: post #153
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Waiting six days to finish something because you didn’t get it done last time… that’s not gonna work You'd hand off work, to humans and machines, with a bit of overlap to sync expectations. With enough automation, it becomes plausible. But not in the near future.

What overlap? You asked for a one day work week. You’re either idling your equipment and space or you have employees who mostly don’t meet each other.

> You asked for a one day work week. You’re either idling your equipment

Why?

An automated factory that has a team come in once a week to monitor and maintain isn't beyond our current capabilities for several simple products. It's simply uneconomic. It's not unfeasible to imagine that changing in the future.

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

#155

Post by Lord-Jobo »

sumedh wrote: post #128
globular-toast wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People spend all their lives doing pointless work, accumulating wealth, then have nothing to spend it on so buy something like a car they don't need (like an SUV). It's odd there aren't more people questioning this. Wouldn't they rather enjoy their lives while they're young and not worry about having tons of disposable income when they're old? I guess there's something about security that drives people to the latter.…

> not worry about having tons of disposable income when they're old? Who is going to take care of you if you are sick?

It won't be my kids even if I have them; they won't have the money to take care of me if wealth inequality in my country doesn't improve dramatically and rapidly

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

#156

Post by fennecfoxy »

Xenoamorphous wrote: post #85

I find it odd that everyone here is talking about productivity. Although I guess it's to be expected since posts about increasing productivity are popular in HN; lots of people here focusing on their careers I suppose. Personally I find we work way too many hours. We spend the good part of 5 days a week (if we're lucky) at work, often literally all the daylight hours, at least in winter. I have to take my daughter ve…

4 day work week? Sure! And if the rich weren't allowed to weasel and corrupt their ways into 0% tax rates it'd be even better!

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

#157

Post by fennecfoxy »

lm28469 wrote: post #127
kortilla wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The standards of living are far better now than they were 80 years ago.

When people didn't have ipad pros but could afford rent/mortgage and 3 kids on a single paycheck ? We're flooded in useless shit but can't afford the basics. So yes, underfloor heating, smart light bulbs and google maps are great but is it really all there is to life

Just need to finally tax the rich, all major human affecting industries made publicly owned or heavily regulated; water, food, housing, internet, healthcare, etc.

I just wish people would vote for this.

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

#158

Post by machomaster »

bluesign wrote: post #121
marcus_holmes wrote: post #89

When I was nomadding around SE Asia, I worked 5 hours a day, 6 days a week (so I had time to do all the cool stuff in the places I was travelling through). That worked really well - I was at least as productive as I normally am in a standard 40-hour week. A decade ago I was working 5 days a week from an open-plan office, and mentally clocked out around 2pm each day. Office culture meant I was just moistening a chair…

For me personally, when no commute, even 6x4 hours is much better than 4x8 hours ( 1 hour spent at lunch etc, effectively 4x7 maybe 4x6 anyway )

Of course for you personally 6x4=24 hours of work is better than 4x8=32 hours of work.

The math is so simple, obvious and scewed that I don't understand why you wrote your comment, what is the informational value.

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

#159

Post by machomaster »

HDThoreaun wrote: post #40
card_zero wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that guy could be two guys, working four day weeks. I guess they'd overlap on Thursdays, but that's a detail.

We're pretty much at full employment. Labor force could get a few percentages bigger but I dont see where all these new people will come from

From BS jobs to more meaningful and useful (for society and other people) jobs.

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

#160

Post by jauntywundrkind »

I wouldn't mind 5 day work weeks nearly as much if they had a 3 day weekend. This isnt a serious suggestion, but an 8 day week where I felt like I had a block of actual away time would be such a killer improvement for me.

But I do hope I see a 4 day week in my lifetime. That would be massive.

Post reply on HN