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Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

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Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#341

Post by wkat4242 »

cableshaft wrote: post #332
wkat4242 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One year a company did mandatory 'half-day Fridays' during the summer where the company closed after a half day on Friday. > But in order to do that we had to work 9 hour days Monday - Thursday. This is SOP at my work in Spain. It's fine for me, they're very flexible anyway. And I work from home so much that it doesn't really exhaust me.

I wouldn't have had an issue with it if I was WFH at that time, but I wasn't. But I have been WFH the past six years and at this point I can't really handle going to the office for a full day anymore. Every once in a while I go into the office for something and after 4 hours I'm staring at the clock and itching to leave (even if I have work to do). I usually duck out after about 6 hours, I say it's to beat the worst…

> But I have been WFH the past six years and at this point I can't really handle going to the office for a full day anymore. Every once in a while I go into the office for something and after 4 hours I'm staring at the clock and itching to leave (even if I have work to do).

Agreed. I have to go twice a week officially but I wouldn't know how to cope if I actually did that. I end up going once every two weeks or so and I come late and knock off early. And yeah like you say I'm super drained after it. One time my vision even started flashing when I was in the metro. Now I have to say I'm neurodivergent so these things take a lot out of me.

But the office has changed also. Before the pandemic I used to come 2-3 times a week but I had my own desk, sat beside colleagues who I actually worked with and that understood the thing about IT which is if I have my headphones on I don't want to be interrupted because I'm concentrating on something.

Now we have people from all departments all over the place, like sales and marketing blabbing on the phone. It's very distracting. We have to fight over desks (often people take my booked desk and other people book one and don't show up), I have to carry around my stuff like I'm in playschool. It just feels like it's just a show, it no longer accomplishes anything. It's a very hostile work environment now.

WFH is just so much better. I'm more relaxed, my head is clear, I have more time to chat with others on Teams, and if I need to do something at night I just grab my screen because it's all open anyway. There's much less barriers.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#343

Post by TomK32 »

supplied_demand wrote: post #93
TomK32 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see many of my 40-ish age who live healthy enough by exercising, going to work by bike or walking instead of car, so they can still be active, let alone productive when they enter retirement age.

I'm not sure I follow your comment. It's possible that AI will change the idea of who can be productive, just as the internet has changed the idea of who can be productive (people with limited mobility, for example).

Oh the productivity fallacy. AI making your job easier and saving you an hour a day doesn't mean that you'll spend this hour to do sport or even be able to use that hour as you please. We have cars (after trains, bicycles and horses) to get faster from A to B but at the same time the commute to work has grown. Many machines have been invented over the last millennia, yet we use this gain in productivity not to have more leisure time but to enforce consumerism onto the workers.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#344

Post by bamboozled »

Gareth321 wrote: post #298
bamboozled wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many young people I know see nothing being done about climate change and make their choice right there. These are also smart, educated well-off types. The level of suffering we can expect isn't something they want to introduce children into. I find it surprising this is somehow difficult for governments to grok.

I doubt it will make a difference but climate change isn't expected to cause great suffering. Compared to great filter events, climate change doesn't even register. Estimates are of a rise of [2-4 degrees centigrade by 2100.]( https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/climatechange/science#:~:text=Glob... .) This will likely result in an [ increase ]( https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/6/1/014... .) of arable land.…

What I think you're missing is that it's not about human resilience on a technical level, it's about the power structures that do nothing to really fix it, the corruption, the stupidity, the lack of empathy, the corporations that trample everything for profit. It's a major turn off for young people, they see this and think, why bring a lovely innocent child into such a shit show. We can have all the sex we want, have more money, and enjoy life and not participate in the rat race. Many people don't see it as a tragedy either. It's just a choice they make and move on.

Humans can handle storms. We can rebuild homes, change where we settle and live, build with better materials and practises, and improve storm infrastructure and protections.

Yeah, people don't want to raise children in this sort of chaotic, apocalyptic scenario where your town is wiped out by some major, never seen before flash flood event. You rebuild and some new major storms topples it.

In fact, as the temperature rises slightly, fewer people will die due to temperature extremes. This is because at present, many more people die due to exposure to low temperatures than high temperatures.

Not where I live, farmers were having trouble doing their jobs due to the extreme heat this year. In 50 years at current trajectory? More people on earth, likely less food, what will that be like?

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#345

Post by NoLinkToMe »

KetoManx64 wrote: post #330
orangecat wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually that life is too good for childless people, especially when they're wealthier. Take a DINK couple with high paying jobs, say an engineer and an attorney. Without kids they can have a nice house or condo, regularly take great vacations, and still be saving enough to have the option of retiring in their 40s or 50s. But with kids, that mostly goes out the window. The societal expectation is that you should…

Great in the short term, really crappy and lonely in the long term. Couples like this get to enjoy themselves in themselves in their 30s, 40s, and 50s while their friends and families are investing in their children and grandchildren, and then then the DINKs retire and find that they don't have anyone around to spend time with. The friend's lives and social groups revolve around their children and grandchildren, and…

There's a source of truth there, but it's also easy to overstate and to show only this side of the story.

My parents' lives revolved around their children too, and me and my brother are both working abroad at the moment (for work, love and adventure). My dad hasn't invested much in his social life, hobbies or skills, because he had a family. Divorced with kids out of the house and even out of the country, he's lonely.

Meanwhile his childless brothers and sisters have much more active social lives. They're an active part of the family life as well, but it's not the only thing they have going for them.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#347

Post by Neonlicht »

wkat4242 wrote: post #158
l33tbro wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying you are wrong here, but I think it is important to ground all of these old:young dynamics in culture. 'Subordinate', to me, is a very western lens and looks past the crucial point that the Japanese view power structures with far more optimism than we do. Japan clearly has its own problems, but honour and duty play a significant part in their culture and, admirably, contributes to the creation of a high…

Hmm I'm sure I would view that kind of social pressure as a straightjacket and I would have a very fringey and mediocre life in such a society. I'm just someone who is different and western civilization applauds individualism to some extent (except highly religious communities, army, etc). For people like me such societies are pretty cruel.

The concept of unconditional love is unknown to many cultures.

In the Netherlands children are a selfless act they are not a pension fund for their parents.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#348

Post by sokoloff »

BehindBlueEyes wrote: post #335
cavisne wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is in corporate jobs (including tech) Friday is a very relaxed day. If you are working a shorter week than everyone else, you end up doing the same amount of work in less time for less money.

This and... I remember when in France, the work week went from 39 to 35, that was 35h work week paid 39 - no pay cuts. Now I get that the economy/job market isn't like it was then, what with all the layoffs to protect shareholder from growth dropping from +9% to only +5% (arbitrary example from one company). But I am baffled at how quickly employees seem to have internalized the idea that reduced hours require reduce…

Because someone right behind you will happily take that deal for 32 hours of work for 38 hours of pay. And someone behind them will do it for 35. And someone behind them will…

Until employers run out of qualified someones willing to work for less, they don’t have much long-term incentive to pay you 25% more than someone else is willing to take for the same job.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#350

Post by BehindBlueEyes »

sokoloff wrote: post #348
BehindBlueEyes wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This and... I remember when in France, the work week went from 39 to 35, that was 35h work week paid 39 - no pay cuts. Now I get that the economy/job market isn't like it was then, what with all the layoffs to protect shareholder from growth dropping from +9% to only +5% (arbitrary example from one company). But I am baffled at how quickly employees seem to have internalized the idea that reduced hours require reduce…

Because someone right behind you will happily take that deal for 32 hours of work for 38 hours of pay. And someone behind them will do it for 35. And someone behind them will… Until employers run out of qualified someones willing to work for less, they don’t have much long-term incentive to pay you 25% more than someone else is willing to take for the same job.

Yeah, good point. I work in games, there's always an army of youngsters willing to put up with anything to break into the industry. I shouldn't be surprised...

And I know only all too well employers will continue even at the point of hiring unqualified someones willing to work for less...

But I'm wondering if there is more at play. Like is the web so full of HR BS that people don't know better? Is the economy really that bad or is it a self fulfilling prophecy because corporate scare tactics work?

And don't get me started on LLMs confidently repeating the same one sided HR BS when you ask anything about work conditions, and then claiming it intends to provide a comprehensive list of unbiased potential solutions to try, conveniently leaving out the last one which should be if all else fails start sending resumes...

Anyway, I'm seeing more unions spin up and more strikes this year, so I guess that gives me a bit of hope at least.

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