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List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

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Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#61

Post by mikhailfranco »

101008 wrote: post #34
rsavage wrote: post #33

I am co-founder of a 5 year old tech startup with 50 staff that introduced a 4dww / 32hr work week a little over 2 years ago. Since are a lot of questions surrounding 4dww - Thought I might be able to offer some insights. 1. “four days but actually working longer” or “four days with reduced hours”. -- We offer 32hrs work week, rather than the standard 40hrs in our home country. This is generally taken as 4 days, but…

Where can I apply? :)

Guessing https://www.runn.io/careers based on

Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2024)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40563325

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#62

Post by isoprophlex »

amelius wrote: post #49
Yeul wrote: post #38

36 hours is the standard in my country- it's called progress. A century ago it was probably 80 hours for everyone over 12 lol.

However, the free market dictates that you will be outcompeted by anyone who is willing to work 40+ hours. So much for progress.

Lmao work 40+ for almost the same pay?! No thanks.

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#63

Post by michaelteter »

scarab92 wrote: post #58
nemomarx wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would you be twice as productive working 80 hours a week as you are at 40? surely there's diminishing returns, and it doesn't seem obvious that 40 is the sweet spot.

Diminishing returns doesn’t invalidate their point. Working more hours will always produce more output, even if the marginal increase in output decreases.

That doesn’t consider the greater picture and all the costs.

If the harder worker becomes dissatisfied sooner and leaves the position sooner than the worker putting in fewer hours, that increased employee turnover will result in lower company productivity and higher overhead.

The net result may be far worse.

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#64

Post by iterateoften »

scarab92 wrote: post #58
nemomarx wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would you be twice as productive working 80 hours a week as you are at 40? surely there's diminishing returns, and it doesn't seem obvious that 40 is the sweet spot.

Diminishing returns doesn’t invalidate their point. Working more hours will always produce more output, even if the marginal increase in output decreases.

It invalidates their point because what’s stopping you from saying say “you can be outcompeted by someone willing to work 168 hours a week.”

it’s not diminishing positive returns. Eventually you work so much the returns go negative.

According to you it doesn’t matter if on the 49th consecutive hour the worker is basically dead and unable to come into work the next week. Overwork leads to loss of productivity and possible negative outcomes for the business if mistakes happen because of exhaustion.

In the real world there is probably some equilibrium for maximizing productivity vs hours work vs supply of workers capable of working those hours to that quality consistently.

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#65

Post by repelsteeltje »

tsimionescu wrote: post #48
scarab92 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “studies” surrounding this topic are laughably bad. The authors almost always have conflicts of interest. The studies are often funded and/or staffed by proponents of the 4 day work week. The outcomes are mostly subjective and self reported, which is problematic because employees clearly have a vested interest in claiming they are more productive than they really might be. They’re also short term, and dont addres…

These studies are entirely irrelevant. No one will ever convince any corporation or private owner that they can get more work out of people working less, even if it were true (which I personally highly doubt). And that is also entirely irrelevant. The relevant question is whether our society can maintain similar levels of good fortune if we all worked less. And the historical evidence is clear: there are many times m…

This?

> The productivity benefits of automation have not led to a 15-hour workweek, as predicted by economist John Maynard Keynes in 1930, but instead to "bullshit jobs": "a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#67

Post by IshKebab »

crimsoneer wrote: post #53

Just like remote work, this turns into a culture war issue every time (and the comments turn into a cesspit). I really wish people would stop arguing and let the market show us what's actually more effective.

The market is strongly influenced by the culture though. For example nothing now is actually different to before covid. The only thing that has changed is the culture - people like working from home and are less willing to give it up.

Working hours is simply a negotiation between employers (who obviously want more hours for the same price), and workers (who want the opposite). Again culture has a large influence on that - it's very difficult to persuade people to work 6 days a week (in the West) because culturally we no longer do that.

You can't ignore culture and just say "let the market decide" because culture is part of the market.

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#68

Post by IshKebab »

swarnie wrote: post #59
Neuronaut wrote: post #55

I recently saw a company that uses the 4-day week with 9 hours a day. Skipped right there.

That's the point... You cover your normal working hours in a shorter number of days and get an extra day off. My work offer the same scheduling option and i'd say 80% of the the tech team take it.

That's not the point. Most proponents of a "4 day working week" mean 4/5 of the hours.

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#69

Post by robjan »

MortyWaves wrote: post #11

I’m starting to believe the obfuscation and lack of information regarding “four days but actually working longer” or “four days with reduced hours” models is deliberate.

If it's the former, it's been common to have "compressed hours" as a flexitime option in many big UK companies for decades.

Re: List of 200 UK companies that moved to 4-day working week

#70

Post by akdor1154 »

rsavage wrote: post #33

I am co-founder of a 5 year old tech startup with 50 staff that introduced a 4dww / 32hr work week a little over 2 years ago. Since are a lot of questions surrounding 4dww - Thought I might be able to offer some insights. 1. “four days but actually working longer” or “four days with reduced hours”. -- We offer 32hrs work week, rather than the standard 40hrs in our home country. This is generally taken as 4 days, but…

Which roles has it worked better for than others?

Do you track engineering hours worked?

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