Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Can we have the day off?

mlsu.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

521–530 of 823 posts

Re: Can we have the day off?

#521

Post by xena »

ikjasdlk2234 wrote: post #198
cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

I think the feeling is if we want to even keep our current footing in the market we have to increase productivity by 10x because everyone else is as well. And if everyone else is, the productivity floor is raised but every other competitor has done the same so we don't have 10x the economic output, maybe only a marginal increase. If that is true, then there will be no days off because we have just reset the status qu…

Chinese youth have a term for this, neijuan: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=neijuan

Re: Can we have the day off?

#522

Post by knappe »

radu_floricica wrote: post #462
Buttons840 wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One possibility is once AI becomes profitable and wildly successful, and we all lose our jobs, we vote to nationalize the AI companies, and send some good vibes (but no money) to the VCs who paid for it, and remember that the AI was only built by breaking copyright law at an industrial scale and so it's fair to nationalize it.

[flagged]

Right. Those productive companies that totally didn't just steal the entirety of humanities production to build their product.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#523

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

Not saying we shouldn't do 4-day weeks (we should), but you can sorta do this for short periods. Take a vacation day every Friday through summer. For 14 vacation days that's 3.5 months of 4-day weeks. Block your schedule on Fridays with lots of random meetings ("meeting friday!"). If you don't tell anybody, nobody really notices.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#524

Post by tomhow »

__loam wrote: post #305
Aurornis wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Luddites were not anti technology they were against technology allowing employers to suppress wages and working conditions and for increasing the quality of life and more humane working conditions for the extra productivity. I’m seeing this talking point circulated a lot recently but it’s not really the whole story. Luddites weren’t on a selfless crusade to steal from the rich and give to the poor. They wanted…

[flagged]

We've banned this account. There have been several warnings and the trend is only getting worse. We want HN to be a place to discuss difficult topics, and this should be a good place to discuss the relationship between labor and capital, given that there are many users on each side of the table. But such inflammatory, demeaning terminology as this just poisons the threads and makes it impossible to have constructive discussions.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#525

Post by fendy3002 »

BirAdam wrote: post #258
apt-apt-apt-apt wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright guys, I'm running for president. 4 day work weeks (8 hours each) for employees or prison.

You could likely get some funding for a PAC based around this. You just have to get Altman, Musk, and the other to realize that it’s a good marketing move. “Our AI is so awesome and boosts productivity so much that no one has to work another 5 day week, ever again.”

benefits for the commoner? not in a million years they will support that

Re: Can we have the day off?

#526

Post by madrox »

NothingAboutAny wrote: post #509
madrox wrote: post #65

The four day work week is a prisoner's dilemma. If everyone did it, then we'd all get a payoff, but if someone defects to a longer work week they tend to get ahead at work. Thus we all do it and thus we all lose. It's funny how underappreciated it is how the five day work week is powered by norms...at least in the US. People assume there are laws about it. The only laws dictate compensation past certain thresholds, a…

I went through a big back and forth with a small startup where I initially negotiated in at 3 days a week. Eventually they said "we really need you the full 5 days" and I explained that I'm gonna do the same amount of work regardless and they could pay me 40% less by agreeing to 3 days. they still wanted me 5 days, so I took the job and just coasted those 2 days from home, they were still very happy with my performan…

I personally believe in rolling company shutdowns. Give engineering a week off every quarter. Give product the following week off.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#527

Post by bob1029 »

I feel like we're actually getting there with one of my clients. The business is very close to being constrained on the customer again.

A lot of the paradox in productivity and labor may be attributable to a severe debt that needs to be paid down and now finally can be. Some of the 996 (or 007) working hour system stuff is coming from your peers feeling this new hope. The tone will continue to shift as backlogs get exhausted.

If you are pure software play I think you are on track to get more days off than you bargained for, one way or the other.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#530

Post by dcrazy »

Cakez0r wrote: post #114
hexis wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

typically there is a floor, at least de facto.

The contracts I've seen have an explicit floor, not a de facto one. I.E. The contract says the minimum number of hours you need to work. Some countries also have overtime laws which create a ceiling. Either way it doesn't change that being paid for your output is the realm of entrepreneurship and submitting bids for project work.

Employment contracts are virtually nonexistent here in the U.S. While the norm is “40 hours”, actual requirements vary by employer, may or may not be communicated in writing, and can change at the employer’s whim. If you make under $107,432 per year (which is around starting salary for fresh graduates at FAANG), you are entitled to overtime pay (minimum 1.5x) for hours worked beyond 40 in a week.
Post reply on HN