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Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#71

Post by czbond »

throwawayforme1 wrote: post #50
izolate wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, why do you feel it necessary to use a throwaway? I echo your thoughts entirely and feel strongly enough about them to attribute them to my name. I think we (as a society/industry) need to start publicly having this discussion.

ADHD is considered a mental illness. That's why.

Yes - it can have that stigma. ADHD is present, however, in many entrepreneurs. It can also be a hindrance in SaaS startups, I'm mentioning it as a help. Pre-plan to have someone help with the details and keep someone on track. You either focus on opportunity, or have a project manager.

I am not ADHD/ADD, but have interacted with a few in this situation..

Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#73

Post by beat »

realbarack wrote: post #35
drakythe wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm gonna borrow OP's mindset for a second: Fuck this. In the United States the benefits of full time employment are mandatory if you want to live a much less stressful life. Tying benefits to employment has given employers far too much control over their employees lives, without a huge savings or secondary income source anyone without insurance is one bad day away from bankruptcy (and too many people /with/ benefits…

I agree with your sentiment regarding benefits in the U.S. Couldn't companies provide the important benefits (healthcare, 401k matching) to employees who worked a 4-day week as well? One potential issue is that I think there are fewer legal requirements, but competitive employers already provide benefits that exceed the legal minima.

Well, they could, but. Benefits, particularly health care, are very expensive for employers as well as employees, so employers, especially for lower wage work, look for ways to cut that. Not-quite-full-time is one way that's done.

Getting health insurance, whether public or private, out of the hands of employers is probably the single best thing that could be done for working conditions in America.

Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#74

Post by Osiris »

realbarack wrote: post #35
drakythe wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm gonna borrow OP's mindset for a second: Fuck this. In the United States the benefits of full time employment are mandatory if you want to live a much less stressful life. Tying benefits to employment has given employers far too much control over their employees lives, without a huge savings or secondary income source anyone without insurance is one bad day away from bankruptcy (and too many people /with/ benefits…

I agree with your sentiment regarding benefits in the U.S. Couldn't companies provide the important benefits (healthcare, 401k matching) to employees who worked a 4-day week as well? One potential issue is that I think there are fewer legal requirements, but competitive employers already provide benefits that exceed the legal minima.

My understanding of the current law is benefits are mandatory for employees working more than 32 hours a week. I don't know what the rules are for exempt employees.

Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#75

Post by ponsin »

_hn_throw_away wrote: post #12

(This is a duplicate of a story posted this past weekend. I want to copy my comment from it for greater visibility.) Fuck everything about 5 day work weeks. I'll gladly switch to any job that offers a 4 day work week. It's one of the best perks. As someone with ADHD, work days are entirely spent getting work done. There isn't any extra slack or allotment for personal tasks. They're 100% owned by the employer. Weekend…

Be careful starting a startup. It will be hard to find an investor willing to invest in a company whose founder only works 4/7 days a week

Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#76

Post by jniedrauer »

devy wrote: post #27
notus wrote: post #2

> In contrast, Jack Ma, co-founder of Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba, has championed 12-hour working days. In April 2019, he described the "996" pattern, in which workers do 09:00-21:00 shifts, six days a week, as "a blessing". Yikes, that sounds depressing. > A report commissioned by the Labour Party in the UK suggested a four-day working week would be "unrealistic". The report seems to be missing the point o…

> Yikes, that sounds depressing. Perhaps - but more depressing is losing a high paying job and earning a minimum wage with no hope of living a comfortably life, in that local context. Taken it out of context makes it further apart from the true meaning. Success has no shortcuts - it requires 100k+ hours of hard working and perseverance. Working leisurely is for the folks that are already prosper (read: take a look at…

> Working less and living a good life? No, you can't have it both ways, unless you're already rich.

As someone else said... why not? This isn't some immutable law of the universe.

Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#77

Post by dillonmckay »

shaklee3 wrote: post #67
Vysero wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH I get 90% of my work done in the first 4-5 hours at work and then my productivity drops of significantly. When I was an independent roofing contractor me and my employees only worked in good conditions and only worked 4 days a week. I always paid them for 40 hours. I did really well as an independent contractor despite the offset in time.

Do you mind me asking why you got off of it? Housing downturn?

Not OP, but that is quite a physically demanding job with alot of time in the sun.

Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#79

Post by dillonmckay »

ponsin wrote: post #75
_hn_throw_away wrote: post #12

(This is a duplicate of a story posted this past weekend. I want to copy my comment from it for greater visibility.) Fuck everything about 5 day work weeks. I'll gladly switch to any job that offers a 4 day work week. It's one of the best perks. As someone with ADHD, work days are entirely spent getting work done. There isn't any extra slack or allotment for personal tasks. They're 100% owned by the employer. Weekend…

Be careful starting a startup. It will be hard to find an investor willing to invest in a company whose founder only works 4/7 days a week

Sounds more like a lifestyle business strategy.

Re: Microsoft 4-day week boosts productivity and sales

#80

Post by levythe »

FrankyHollywood wrote: post #19
me_me_me wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that has always came true throughout my life is a phrase: "If you don't know why, its money." Why there is no national healthcare - money, someone makes a ton of it by preventing nationalization of healthcare system. Everything that doesn't make sense, has better alternatives (somehow not adopted) always boils down to money :(

Another reason is people don't like sharing. In democracies the majority of people don't vote for a program where they have to pay for others, even if the net result would be in their advantage. so it's money, and stupidity :)

There are plenty of concerns around the reliability of a single payer system or a publicized care system aside from what has already been mentioned. For instance, the sustainable quality of care is brought into question, as is the incentive for continued development in the field. There are reasons to be upset about the current system, but these are two things it undeniably excels at.

There is also simply anxiety over giving one of the most if not the most powerful government in the world power over its citizens in such an intimate fashion.

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