Live data from Hacker News

Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

bloomberg.com

161–170 of 211 posts

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know ANYONE who would be happier if they got a 25% pay cut First of all, relax. Second: Pay was not cut. This was an experiment with a 30h work week with 100% pay. Unions would never agree to anyones pay being cut. The benefits they were looking for in this case would not be higher employment. The main benefit would be reduced people on sick leaves because of work related illness (stress, depression, overwo…

> First of all, relax. Second: Pay was not cut. First of all, I am relaxed. Second of all, please read my comment and the comment I was responding to. It says: >> the hours that were cut also wouldn't have to be paid to the people not working them. and then the conclusion is: >> In a perfect situation this would have led to higher employment numbers and happier employees. Which, again, is hippie logic. I don't know a…

> Which, again, is hippie logic. I don't know anyone who would be happy with a 25% cut in pay.

I feel very sad for you that you don't.

Although I have many friends into crass commercialisation I also have many that appreciate lifestyle over things.

I know many people who turn down 5 day work weeks and many who want to but are not allowed in their current jobs.

We don't need to work 5 days a week anymore in 1st world countries like Sweden.

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Last time I did the same I lost the ability to vouch. Shoot an email to the mods, I'm sure they'll restore it. Looking at rebootthesystem's previous comments, a couple are a bit heated but in general it's decent quality. I've made worse comments than that one without getting flagged myself; assuming good faith goes a long way.

People are just too sensitive these days. Calling bullshit for what it is without going around in circles not to offend anyone used to have a name: Being honest. These days people are so delicate that get offended by straight talk and "flag" you. I wonder if they realize the facts don't change at all. Every time I run into these kinds of situations I remember that my grandparents survived a Genocide. People are so in…

"Offending people" isn't "being honest" or vice versa. If they seem to go hand in hand, that's failure on the part of the communicator almost 100% of the time. There are tons of people who are totally honest all the time, who somehow manage to not offend random people when interacting with them. It can be done, it's not magic.

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So here's a question that I continually ask myself as I work at my remote, salaried 6-hour-a-day developer job that I've been doing for the last year: how do I know how much work is enough? If I gauge by productivity, that's cool... I'll just be really fast and get my stuff done and then go play banjo or whatever. But then when folks hand me a crufty WordPress site that is misbehaving and it could be anything between…

Absolutely. I don't fully understand workplace cultures (including my own) that claim to care more about "getting your work done" than "hours in a chair." The problem is that output is in many cases a very crude measure of effort. And not just because some people are vastly more productive than others, but also because it's often the case that when reading a bug report, you don't know if the fix will take 3 or 3000 l…

> The problem is that output is in many cases a very crude measure of effort.

Unfortunately, businesses and companies are mostly concerned about output. Does the line below sound familiar?

> I don't care how you do it. Just get it done.

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#164

My utopian society workweek is 4 days/8 hours. That extra day off would do far more for people than one or two less hours every day. So 4x8=32 hours, vs 6x5=30 hours. I would even bargain for 4 days/9 hours, or 4x9=36 hours. That third day is huge. It's the difference from having only enough time for some leisurely weekend activities, to having enough time to take a mini-3-day-vacation every week (short flights, etc.…

Hmph. Mine is 2 days / 18-20 hours per day.

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#165
Everyone in the job market needs be on such a roster or it won't work, thus it is not a failure in itself.

If every business was required by law to have a tea lady (or man) per every 50 employees it would not make any business uncompetitive, and would be sustainable, and it would reduce unemployment, and I'd get a cuppa.

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what's stopping you from being a salaried employee that just happens to work 30 hours a week?

Employer expectations of 40-50 hours of work a week, with corrective action as the stick that enforces it.

Yeah, that's true. My point is that nothing is stopping companies from offering 30 hour work weeks and also benefits.

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#168
post #11

They're abandoning it because of an obvious requirement? Did someone not realize that in a 24 hour operation that consists of physical activities, cutting hours would require more people to carry the same workload?

It cost the city more, but it saved the national government 4.7 million in unemployment payments.

[deleted]

Re: Sweden reveals results from pilot of 30-hour work week

#169
post #14

the costs outweigh the benefits Well, if you put a low enough price on people's happiness, health, and quality of work, then yes I guess. Anyway: I hope the people involved in the pilot and happily doing 6 hours shifts now, won't take it too hard if the pilot should be stopped and they're back to 8 hour shifts.

Sweden is one of the most liberal countries in the world. When they conclude the costs outweigh the benefits I'm inclined to believe them.
Post reply on HN