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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

#161

Post by mchusma »

belter wrote: post #75
simonswords82 wrote: post #33

This is part of a wider scheme in the UK whereby 60 firms and 3000 employees are piloting 4 day weeks. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/04/thousands-o... From the article: Employees from a wide range of businesses and charities are expected to take part in the scheme, which will run initially from June to December, including the Royal Society of Biology, the London-based brewing company Pressure Drop, a…

"Which country and city governments have a four-day work week?": https://buildremote.co/four-day-week/4-day-work-week-countri... I am surprised the lack of mention of Denmark, Sweden or the Netherlands. Most business persons I contact, normally only work 4 days a week.

Isn't this worse for people who rely on government services? (Without knowing the details)?

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

#162

Post by michaelcampbell »

jihadjihad wrote: post #94
basisword wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think work is just like everything else in this regard. Providing you have standard white collar job, as things continue to improve and get better, we just find new things to complain about. e.g. parent poster complaining about 'business casual' when it wasn't that long ago business casual was a nice step down from having to wear a suit. The workplace continuously adjusts but so do our expectations.

It's always weird to watch Office Space and see the guys all wearing ties. I can't imagine having to do that for a typical software job.

I worked in a Wall St. firm in the 90's and wore suit and tie every day, even though my job was neither customer facing nor even in New York.

I quickly realized I didn't mind it at all once I found correctly fitting shirts. If you consider a tie to be too constricting, you have the wrong shirt.

Even as borderline OCD (self diagnosed, so likely wrong), I never found particular clothes to be a hinderance to me typing (I'm a software dev), and I'm one of those guys that can't stand tags in t-shirts and rip them out. I think 90% of the angst over "comfortable" clothes is a learned cultural thing, and overblown. IMO.

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

#163

Post by SkyPuncher »

fleddr wrote: post #130

I've been working 4 day workweeks for well over a decade now, took the pay cut myself. As for the goal to maintain 100% productivity whilst cutting back on hours, I'm confident that they will succeed. In fact, they'll succeed in this without requiring some kind of brilliant plan, as this recalibration happens automatically. When you start working one day less, nobody will reduce your workload by 20%. You'll have the…

> As for the goal to maintain 100% productivity whilst cutting back on hours, I'm confident that they will succeed. In fact, they'll succeed in this without requiring some kind of brilliant plan, as this recalibration happens automatically.

I worked as a contractor for a while with a 32 hour/week schedule. I was essentially just as productive as I was full time.

Reality is for most creative jobs, there's a fraction of your work week where you're extremely productive. Everything else is just rounding out the admin work while your brain is mush.

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

#164

Post by michaelcampbell »

Loughla wrote: post #122
iso1631 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dilbert had his own desk, with his own stuff, he had a modicum of privacy from his colleagues The cube farm was hated at the time, but things only ever get worse if you work in an office.

“After your boss has taken away your door, your walls, and your storage areas, there aren't many options left for the next revolution in office design. One of the following things is likely to go next: the floor; the ceiling; your happiness." Scott Adams was blasting open concept offices before it was cool to blast them.

Hot-take, it was never NOT cool to blast open offices. Unless you're in middle management.

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

#167

Post by jrochkind1 »

I work a four-day week (80% time, not imagining 4-10s) as a software engineer at a non-profit academic organization. For a paycut basically, I make 80% of what I think of as my "actual" salary.

I have managed to do this at a succession of several jobs now. When I briefly tried to go back to 5 days, it was really hard. It seems insane to me now that anyone works 5 days a week. (And I do know plenty of people work even more, and I am very lucky).

Fridays are for doctor's appointments and car repair and grocery shopping and errands. Which probably does mean I'm away from "work hours" for these things less than I would be full-time, I just schedule such things for Fridays where possible. In general, I am pretty convinced that I'm at least 90% as productive on 80% time as I would be on 100%, maybe more.

Working at non-profit academic, I'm definitely not making my "market" salary. I could be making a lot more than I am now, even at 80% of a salary, at various more typical organizations. But I'm not sure how viable the 4-day week is with potential employers -- even if I'm willing to take a paycut to 80% of salary, which I am! Unlike the OP which is giving everyone a 4-day week at full salary? My impression is that most high-paying software engineering jobs/organizations are not going to let you do 4-days a week? Which is crazy when they could get me for 80% of the cost with most of the productivity -- but I guess the high-paying organizations aren't exactly trying to save money on salary.

I really don't think I'd go back to 40-hour-a-week-standard unless I had to.

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

#168

Post by bodge5000 »

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

Yeh I kind of thought the same. I applaud them either way, the more companies adopt it, the more pressure is placed on the others to offer the same, but whereas 4 day work week is a huge bonus for me, wfh is a hard requirement.

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

#169

Post by dsr_ »

heretogetout wrote: post #147
fleddr wrote: post #130

I've been working 4 day workweeks for well over a decade now, took the pay cut myself. As for the goal to maintain 100% productivity whilst cutting back on hours, I'm confident that they will succeed. In fact, they'll succeed in this without requiring some kind of brilliant plan, as this recalibration happens automatically. When you start working one day less, nobody will reduce your workload by 20%. You'll have the…

> Let's say you do need to attend a meeting. It's a 1 hour meeting. You're needed in the meeting. Go in and say you only have 20 mins. Every time I've tried this or seen it tried the meeting gets rescheduled and everyone's time is wasted. I wish it worked this way.

Yesterday I had a 1 hour meeting where 3 of the 7 participants needed to attend another meeting after 30 minutes. We reorganized the agenda to hit the issues that they were especially concerned about while they were available, and then did the other things in the next 20 minutes, finishing a little early.

It's not impossible, it just requires a culture of consideration, communication, and prioritization.

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

#170

Post by jrochkind1 »

john_the_writer wrote: post #2

Four days in the office :( I mean you do you, but Bleck. "You don't have to come to work on Friday but we still want you to spend 12 hours a week crammed onto a bus or train." How else could you possibly write code or sit in front of a computer all day?

They don't want you to spend 3 hours a day commuting, that's up to you. That does sound like a miserable commute.

A quick google search suggests that the average US commute is 28 minutes one way, or about an hour a day, not 3 hours a day. The average US commuter is probably in their own car though, mass transit is usually going to add some, despite other social and personal benefits. I also know it's going to be higher in certain major metro areas. And that the US built environment is kind of insane, and sometimes seems like it was honestly designed to maximize commutes.

I agree nobody should ever be spending 3 hours a day commuting. But it's not like the only possibilities are working from home or 3 hours commuting...

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