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Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

theguardian.com

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Re: Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

#211

Post by Aeolun »

data4science wrote: post #79
combatentropy wrote: post #25

This is not the first article about how people get the same amount of work done, even more, in four days instead of five. But another thing they have in common is that they never ask the question, what about three? Or what about two? One? Surely at zero, productivity will not match the old standard of 40 hours a week. But it seems like the next logical question to me. If employees are just as productive at 32 hours a…

Actually, Tim Ferris wrote a book called "The 4-Hour Workweek" with the goal of more people achieving the title. It is more oriented at breaking free of normal work habits than a scientific study of optimal productivity though.

I recall half of that book was about outsourcing your work.

It’s only a 4-hour workweek for you. There’s still someone doing the work.

Re: Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

#213

Post by iaintrobot »

Well no flamin’ poo.

Why do we need study after study that tells that we’re living beings that shouldn’t be consigned to a cage of guilt and shame.

This is stupid. We know what feels good or not, but our barbaric system divorces our natural function from our consciousness - starting in childhood.

Worst part is that we see that we have power to shape the world, but nobody believes that with same power comes the ability to create a comfortable environment for everybody where they can operate without guilt or shame or fear.

What a monstrous machine we’ve created for ourselves.

Love y’all. Peace out.

Re: Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

#216

Post by sgc »

kokokokoko wrote: post #184
rhizome wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get 15 days off and be fired for taking 4 days off in the year For doing something that is specified in the employment agreement? Pretty sure that would fall under fraud/misrepresentation.

Absolutely not. I would encourage you to look into "at will" employment law in the US. The employee may have a case for receiving unemployment benefits in that situation, but it is completely within the legal rights of the employer to do that in the US if the state has employment "at will".

It would be stupid though. They are better just firing for no reason.

Re: Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

#217

Post by toomuchtodo »

GordonS wrote: post #128

I switched to a 4 day working week a couple of years ago, and took a 20% pay cut in the process. I'm certain that I don't actually produce any less than I did when working 5 days, and my stress levels are definitely lower. All in all, the company got a pretty good deal, since I now have the same output, but get paid less!

You should ask for a raise based on the value you’re providing, and get your comp back up to where it was before.

Re: Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

#218

Post by garfieldnate »

ryandvm wrote: post #17
wodenokoto wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do employees know when good is good enough? When things get stressful and overwhelming at work, I look to my contractual hours per week and remind myself not to overdo it.

This is actually the downside of these "you decide" plans and why I absolutely hate "unlimited PTO" policies. Whenever it's up to me I end up taking less vacation than if I just had an allotted amount. People shortchange themselves because they don't want to inconvenience their team. And as an added insult, the company gets out of paying you for unused vacation when you finally burn out.

At trivago you can decide how many days to take off in a year, but German law stipulates that you have to take at least 24 (2 per month). One of my co-workers tried to never take vacation and HR made him stay home for all of December!

Re: Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

#219

Post by Bartweiss »

izacus wrote: post #203
Bartweiss wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen companies set minimum time off, which can certainly simply the problem. (At risk of the Dilbert situation: "you need to get this done by end of year, and also take two weeks of holiday".) But ultimately, I think that's a road to this sort of cultural approach. Once people around you are taking time off, it becomes easy to justify taking time off. (And so, like most cultural things, you'd better have managem…

> Once people around you are taking time off, it becomes easy to justify taking time off. (And so, like most cultural things, you'd better have management doing it first.) Also once teams and management get used to people taking time off, the business processes also become more resilient to people missing for a week or two and taking PTO becomes less of a problem for everyone. Suddenly someone missing for a week is j…

I'd never considered this explicitly, but it's an excellent point.

It occurs to me that Google somewhat famously adds artificial downtime to their services to make sure no one is relying on 24/7 uptime. I don't want to reduce people to server-equivalents, but I'll bet high vacation rates are a pretty good way of making sure no one relies too much on individual knowledge. Even from my personal experiences, lots of things get documented when the person who knows them well is heading out of town and there's a sudden scramble to formalize that knowledge.

Re: Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

#220

Post by CalRobert »

kokokokoko wrote: post #173
CalRobert wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't, and there's a massive cultural imbalance. Buddy of mine works for a upto company in Portland but his colleague got a talking to for gasp taking 2.5 weeks off in a year. I too work for a up to company but I ALSO have a legally guaranteed minimum 21 days off a year. There's ALWAYS a limit. Try taking a year long holiday and see how that goes. With UPTO the limit is up to your manager.

In an employment "at will" state(Oregon is one), there really is no such thing as a set amount of days. You could get 15 days off and be fired for taking 4 days off in the year. So even if you have a set number of days, your manager can still fire you for taking them. Your manager can fire you or not fire you for any reason. So you could take 30 days off and not get fired if your manager doesn't want to. With "at wil…

Sure, but my point was that guidelines to expected pto help to make it clear what would be generally ok or not. Also unlimited pto means no cash out if indeed you are fired.
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