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More bosses give four-day workweek a try

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Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#22

I'd really like to do 4x10hrs versus 5x8hrs. I think that'd be a significant improvement for a lot of people.

The great thing about 4x10s is if employees are given the choice of Monday or Friday off you suddenly have a 40% reduction in time for meetings where everyone must attend. It cuts down on wasted time and frankly your fourth day is usually more lightly loaded, letting you get more actual work done.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#23

It seems a lot of these experiments are a success. But after a while somebody gets greedy and thinks “we get good productivity at 32 hours. I wonder how much more we could get at 40 hours?” And soon you are back at the old schedule. Something similar happened at my company. For once a project was ahead of schedule. So instead of thinking that the system worked well and keep working in relaxed manner management decide…

Is it not also the responsibility of employees to ask for that benefit? Specially developers have that leverage. We have the ability of changing the whole job landscape.

Sounds like labor organizing, and yes, its the best way to ensure you say some say in what your work-life looks like.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#24

I did this (4x10) for about a year at a previous company, really enjoyed it. The hardest part was coming back after the 3 day weekend, it always felt like coming back from vacation.

If were an a 4 day week I would like to have Wednesday free instead of Friday.

That or a floating day.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#25

It seems a lot of these experiments are a success. But after a while somebody gets greedy and thinks “we get good productivity at 32 hours. I wonder how much more we could get at 40 hours?” And soon you are back at the old schedule. Something similar happened at my company. For once a project was ahead of schedule. So instead of thinking that the system worked well and keep working in relaxed manner management decide…

Is it not also the responsibility of employees to ask for that benefit? Specially developers have that leverage. We have the ability of changing the whole job landscape.

>Is it not also the responsibility of employees to ask for that benefit?

I've been on both sides of this equation and yes employees have a responsibility to speak up, but given the dynamic of the relationship it's easy to see why they wouldn't. If managers aren't interested in listening then speaking up can just get you on their bad side.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#26

I did this (4x10) for about a year at a previous company, really enjoyed it. The hardest part was coming back after the 3 day weekend, it always felt like coming back from vacation.

If were an a 4 day week I would like to have Wednesday free instead of Friday.

I thought so too, but it turned out for me that having a 'break' in the middle of the week interrupted my work momentum, and I also never got the luxurious feeling of a 3-day weekend. 4+/3- worked a lot better for me (both work-wise and emotionally) than 2+/1-/2+/2-.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#28
9/80 schedules are common in my industry. We are paid based on 80 hours/2 weeks. Week 1 is 36 hours (4 days x 9 hrs/day) and the Friday is off. Week 2 is 44 hours (4 days x 9 hrs/day, 1 8 hr Friday). There's flexibility around this with management approval.

I think most people like this arrangement, especially those with long commutes. A full free day for appointments, errands, or just relaxing can be a big help.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#29

I'd really like to do 4x10hrs versus 5x8hrs. I think that'd be a significant improvement for a lot of people.

I think stuffing 10 hours in a workday will have a diminishing rate of productivity return during the last couple of hours during the workday.

How about a compromise? 4x9 hours.

Re: More bosses give four-day workweek a try

#30

It seems a lot of these experiments are a success. But after a while somebody gets greedy and thinks “we get good productivity at 32 hours. I wonder how much more we could get at 40 hours?” And soon you are back at the old schedule. Something similar happened at my company. For once a project was ahead of schedule. So instead of thinking that the system worked well and keep working in relaxed manner management decide…

It's as if killing the golden goose is a tale as old as time...
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