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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

#41

Post by mejutoco »

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.

One way I make sense of it is that employers are competing for talent. Better working conditions (such as 4 day workweeks) might attract better employees for the same price. This could unlock enough productivity to compensate for the 5th day.

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

#42

Post by golergka »

howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #20

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…

Hours of work are not input for knowledge work.

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

#43

Post by jstx1 »

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.

Plenty of bullshit jobs where your input hardly matters. It's like a thin gas that expands to fill the working week - 20% compression doesn't mean much in that context.

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

#44

Post by alarmingfox »

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?

Yeah that surprised me too. Surely if they are able to get the same job done while working from home that would be the better option for everyone involved no?

As some employees may lose like an hour a day just to travel whereas that hour could be spent working on features etc. if they didn't have to travel into the office.

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

#45

Post by TheGigaChad »

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…

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

#46

Post by alarmingfox »

willbw wrote: post #31
iLoveOncall wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does. They claim 80% of time but it's not true at all as I explained before. Not only that but the cost for the individuals is huge when going back to the office. You must not live in London to comment that.

I think its farcical to claim that a 4 day week is a 'scam' because you find it offensive for whatever reason. Its still an improvement on the 5 day week and something atypical. I am not sure what you think a 'scam' is but we have different definitions. The number of people who are working from home will not be 100% nor will the number of companies working from home exclusively be 100%. Given we have had limited time…

They have marketed this by saying they will be working 80% of the hours they use to work yet they want their employees to travel to the office? Surely the hours they've cut for their employees will now be lost travelling to the office and back instead?

I'd rather work a 5 day week if I could work from home then a 4 day work week and have to travel to the office

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

#47

Post by Frost1x »

papito wrote: post #37
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 actually WANT to go to the office, especially when it's nice out. My body is craving the walking and the activity, and the positive stress of being in a different environment is actually helping my mood significantly. I've become puffy, lazy, and slow. But not 5 days a week, no.

The problem isn't remote work, the problem is the never ending productivity growth. Chances are, you've shaved at least 30-40 minutes a day of your commute. You've probably let work gobble that up because even though it wasn't comped time, you still considered it work time so it wasn't too difficult to squeeze a little bit more in each day.

Take that time back, go use it to go on a walk or exercise. You'll thank yourself. Prior to the pandemic I worked remote but in a location less obsessed with productivity. I had flexibility to exercise in the middle of the day most days when my energy levels topped out and I was in the best shape of my life. Fast forward to now and infinite demand always likes to pretend everyone is somehow behind and I too let my reclaimed commute time slide. I've recaptured it, started exercising regularly again, and already feel great. This culture that obsesses with productivity generation for someone else above all else isn't healthy.

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

#48

Post by ginko »

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?

>we still want you to spend 12 hours a week crammed onto a bus or train

Your commute is 3 hours per day?!

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

#49

Post by eertami »

papito wrote: post #37
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 actually WANT to go to the office, especially when it's nice out. My body is craving the walking and the activity, and the positive stress of being in a different environment is actually helping my mood significantly. I've become puffy, lazy, and slow. But not 5 days a week, no.

I've never understood this. If you work from home you can also just... go walking outside? In fact you could even go walking for longer, since nobody is checking for your presence and you haven't wasted time commuting.

I'd rather walk to the lake and go for a swim during the afternoon, than walk to a train to walk to an office.

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

#50

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

I wish them luck. I understand their need to have folks in the office, and this is one way to make that more attractive.

But it is only one factor. Good management, strong teams, and a whole lot of "soft" stuff is even more important than beanbag chairs and foozball tables. The "good management" part is where most companies go pear-shaped. I wouldn't want to go to Buckingham Palace every day, if I hated the people I worked with/for, and felt like my work was being treated badly[0].

Although I work exclusively at home, and have no desire to ever dress "business casual" again, I think that a good* office environment can be extremely conducive to great work.

* As in "not like 99% of today's offices."

[0] https://dilbert.com/strip/1996-06-02

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