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We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

beaconcrm.org

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Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#11

Post by basisword »

encrux wrote: post #9
pattle wrote: post #3

Four day work weeks sound good but since being remote from 2019 I could never go back to working in an office. Seems like a case of one step forward, two steps back

I was very pro home-office (and even Anti-Office) before and during the pandemic. Now that restrictions are more or less gone, I'm glad to be working in the office again. Being in the office for the first time in my career showed me that there are definitely upsides, especially when you get along with your team really well. Though 100% mandatory office time is BS.

>> I'm glad to be working in the office again. / Being in the office for the first time.

I think the fact it's your first time has a big impact. Give it time. Any time I start a new job I enjoy being in the office for the first 6-12 months. Once it becomes routine (same commute, same lunch, same people) and you have learnt how to do your job (and rely on others less) it becomes much less attractive. I'm not saying you'd go full remote but I would bet you will go hybrid and transition further remote over time. This is what I've seen happen with all of my colleagues (including people I thought would jump straight back to the office post-pandemic).

Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#13

Post by xnorswap »

sshah1983 wrote: post #10

I still don’t understand the 100% as productive in 80% of the time. The math doesn’t check out there unless the expectation is people are working 10 hr days Mon-Thurs. Even in that scenario, not everyone has the stamina to execute at that pace and it also makes it hard to recruit anyone with a kid who needs to navigate school dropoffs/pickups etc.

People aren't machines, they bend to their environment.

Even without crunching extra hours per day, you can be essentially as productive with fewer working days per week if you are more focussed on the days do you do work.

Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#14

Post by basisword »

sshah1983 wrote: post #10

I still don’t understand the 100% as productive in 80% of the time. The math doesn’t check out there unless the expectation is people are working 10 hr days Mon-Thurs. Even in that scenario, not everyone has the stamina to execute at that pace and it also makes it hard to recruit anyone with a kid who needs to navigate school dropoffs/pickups etc.

You're assuming people are 100% productive each day currently. If people are told they need to keep hitting the same KPI's etc. or they go back to a 5-day week, you bet they're going to work a bit harder on those 4 days. A bit less news, Facebook, chatting etc and a bit more actual work.

Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#16

Post by kristiandupont »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #7

Lol, what a scam, 4 day work week but you have to be in the office. I live close to Shoreditch but preparation time and travel both ways is easily 2 hours a day (for some of my colleagues that would be 3+ hours a day). If you went from working from home 100% 5 days a week to working from the office 100% 4 days a week results in the exact same amount of time, except you remove all the monetary savings from working fro…

The fact that this wouldn't be favorable to you given your particular situation does not make it a "scam".

Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#17

Post by seydor »

orzig wrote: post #4

If you were explaining the world to an alien, it would be hard to justify the lack of diversity in working arrangements. I applaud any such non standard option in the labor market - may your office be full of good fits!

birds migrate, humans travel to work, self-organization and herd behavior are very prevalent in nature

Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#18

Post by drclau »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #7

Lol, what a scam, 4 day work week but you have to be in the office. I live close to Shoreditch but preparation time and travel both ways is easily 2 hours a day (for some of my colleagues that would be 3+ hours a day). If you went from working from home 100% 5 days a week to working from the office 100% 4 days a week results in the exact same amount of time, except you remove all the monetary savings from working fro…

Scam is a bit strong. But I can see leadership wanting everyone back to office for whatever reasons, and out of fear of people leaving if they are forced to return to office, they came up with this 4 day work week thing to make it attractive enough for people to stay.

Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#19

Post by sshah1983 »

xnorswap wrote: post #13
sshah1983 wrote: post #10

I still don’t understand the 100% as productive in 80% of the time. The math doesn’t check out there unless the expectation is people are working 10 hr days Mon-Thurs. Even in that scenario, not everyone has the stamina to execute at that pace and it also makes it hard to recruit anyone with a kid who needs to navigate school dropoffs/pickups etc.

People aren't machines, they bend to their environment. Even without crunching extra hours per day, you can be essentially as productive with fewer working days per week if you are more focussed on the days do you do work.

Agreed but I’ve yet to hear the killer tactic for how a company gets every employee 100% focused 100% of the time.

I think there are some roles that end up suffering. Like someone who is a product designer and now has to cram more creativity in fewer hours. Someone who is in inside or outside sales and has less time where they overlap with customers to perform demos and close deals. It may work - it may not work.

The penalty for being sick for a day (or your kid being sick for a day) is more drastic too. Although perhaps those folks just use their extra day to catch up.

I’m more bullish on remote work than these 4 day a week experiments.

Re: We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon

#20

Post by howmayiannoyyou »

Quick refresher on productivity in economic terms: decreasing inputs = decreasing outputs UNLESS tech or technique improves. During supply and/or debt driven inflationary periods (eg. now), increased productivity = increased supply and/or decreased debt.

What do these maxims of economics mean for a 4 day work week?

At Beacon, nothing*. But implement this at Tyson Foods, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Waste Management, the FX trading desk at JP Morgan Chase, etc. and you get 2-6% productivity declines & some amount of increased supply-driven inflation unless you offset with new technology (eg. software, robotics) or techniques.

Celebrate work from home, 4 day weeks, flex-time, etc.... but understand that as these benefits carry costs in important (not all) industries. Also, the migration to jobs having these benefits, from those important jobs that do not, drives inflation and/or illegal immigration and so-called "white collar" top-heavy joblessness risk during recession.

No free lunch, even on Fridays.

** Note: UK small business situation is concerning, even if it doesn't apply to Beacon: "Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, showing that 2 million (or about 40%) of the UK's small businesses had less than three months of cash in reserves to support operations. He noted that 10% (or 200,000) were in grave danger, and 300,000 only had a few weeks of cash left."

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