Introducing the 4-day Work Week

[Nobleshield]

Either one. I've long felt that it's decades past going to a 4 day week (without 10 hour days) and it just stays around due to inertia. It would balance the week out more as 4/3 instead of 5/2.

That said I doubt it will take off. Even if you got a company to do it, that means everyone is taking a pay cut because no company is going to pay 40 hours for 32, even if they should.

[EliWallach]

My company floated the plan. 4x11 or 7am - 6pm. Didn't go over well with all the folks who had to tend to their kids in the morning. Instead we adopted a plan where you can take off every other Friday as long as average 40 hrs / week.

[Mistame]

Meh. I have a 3-day work week (40 hours). /shrug

[Zan15]

I work 7 days a week instead of 5.

3 of those days are less than 4 hours of work. the other 4 hold the majority of work effort and hours.

4 days would be great, though with the aging population if anything hours and work is going to increase as there is not enough workers to cover the up coming drop in baby boomers working..

.....and the fact that an entire 30% of the population hates immigration, even though its the perfect solution for our problems.

[cubby]

A four-day work week would be ideal.

[Muajin76]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/04/tech/...ity/index.html



What are your thoughts on the 4-day work week? Do you see this as something more and more companies will adopt? Or maybe a 6-hour work day instead? What would you prefer?

Meanwhile..Jack Ma of Alibaba was trying to introduce the idea of a 6 day work week in China. :P
I don't remember that idea going well with Chinese people.

[Raeph]

Been working 5 9s and 10s for the last twenty years. Hell my job at a department store when I was going to college was 55 hour weeks because the other co workers keep calling in and I was tapped to work part of their shifts consistently.

I'm at the point now were anything less than a 45 hour work week seems like I"m slacking. 50 feels just about right and normal. I couldn't imagine only working four days a week.

[Theodarzna]

Been working 5 9s and 10s for the last twenty years. Hell my job at a department store when I was going to college was 55 hour weeks because the other co workers keep calling in and I was tapped to work part of their shifts consistently.

I'm at the point now were anything less than a 45 hour work week seems like I"m slacking. 50 feels just about right and normal. I couldn't imagine only working four days a week.

I am curious why on Earth you'd feel some sort of duty or reason to feel that way. That is perhaps the most bizarre attitude towards work I've ever seen.

[Qoning]

I wouldn't mind it, but seeing as it would probably disrupt my normal habits & patterns, I'm fine with how things are. People should work as much as they want, if they want 3 days of weekend, there is nothing stopping them, open a business and set your own hours.

If it meant suddenly places start being closed 2 days a week (with most things already closed Sunday in smaller cities), I would fight it tooth and nail.

[Jtbrig7390]

I only work a max of 4 days a week.

I have pulled 50hr weeks and worked two jobs at once, Ill never do ether of those again. Ill work 4 days a week for 5-8hrs each day and that's it.

My sanity and health comes before $$$.

[Orby]

I work 72 hours a week with two jobs and would love to work 4 days a week.

Much respect. I tried working two jobs literally with no days off. It fucking sucks. 72 hours sounds a bitch too, I work 5 days a week now and only do 48 hours.

[Deianeira]

What's lazy about wanting to live your life? I work to live, not live to work. Plenty of stuff to do when not working, too. It's not like people who don't work spend 24/7 in bed or something.

Yes that is my motto aswell "i work to live not live to work" Also people that say they are going "stircrazy" by day 3 just shows that they have no social life or interests to keep them occupied outside of their work.

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This smells like slavery to me.

The question i wonder is. If one cannot take more then one week off becuase you couldnt afford it then Either you are paid way to little or you have a waaaaay to luxurious lifestyle.

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Oh I get paid, nicely I might add. I just cant afford to take on the technical debt. I wear many hats in my position, full stack developer, project manager, code reviewer, SCRUM Master (dont even ask how this is possible), support, maintenance, and even some help desk.

If I were to take my full 100+ hours this year, my code reviews would fall behind, legacy system updates would get pushed to the back burner, my back up wouldnt be able to keep up with support requests as he didnt develop my supported apps, my current dev projects would get pushed back etc etc.

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Not really. In 2008, during the crash, KPMG allowed us to carry over 100% of our time. But come crash time and layoffs, that money stacked up quick as KPMG vets had banked hundreds, even thousands of hours. That cost KPMG layoff payouts to balloon like crazy. So they started a rule that only allows you to carry over 50% of your unused PTO.

KPMG is extremely generous with PTO. If I wanted to, I could literally use those 120 hours tomorrow if I wanted to, I just dont want to incur the technical debt that comes with such a long vacation.

So what you are really saying is that KPMG could actually hire one or more people to do some of your work? Because you are working way more then one fulltimejob.

[XangXu]

Or maybe they are not as boring as you and have things going on they would like devote their time to?

Also regarding article the salary never got mentioned are they still going to get paid for 40h or is this article some marketing movement to pay people less while boosting profits in the name of "health"?

I work 5 days a week for 40 hours and I still have time to do everything I want to do. Then again, I am Canadian, so I have a lot of protections in place that make working 40 hour weeks pretty tolerable.

I can’t say much for Americans, but I have friends who have told me about their boss just not paying them, or getting fired for trivial reasons... being denied time off for childcare or even just recreation.

Working a 40 hour work week is not hard at all.

But in America, where working a regular job sounds like slavery from what i’ve heard, I think I get it.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I do 4 / 10s at work right now. Works great for me. I would be lying if I got a lot done between 7 and 8 when few are there in the morning or I do a lot between 5 and 6 after everyone leaves on your standard day but when it is crunch time that super quiet time is nice. My job made it an option if your drive averaged over 45 minutes on way and they actually put this app on your work phone to monitor it. Mine clocked in at 52 on average and that was that.

If you think about it.. not only do I get 52 days less a year I have to drive so less gas, oil changes, and wear and tear on my car but also 3 and often 4 day weekends since many holidays fall on Monday's. It gets even better. Because I show up an hour earlier, yes I have to wake up and leave an hour earlier, and now leave an hour later I only really get home about 30 minutes later because I don't sit in the biggest hour of rush hour traffic. Sure, traffic is still pretty bad but its moved from parking lot status to slow rolling highway.

Sure, though I will admit, sometimes a 10 hour day drags on your ass. For sure at first. But I did better as I got used to it. Probably has a lot to do with me not really being held face to desk at my job too. If I need a break I take one. If I need to take a short walk I do it. I understand not every job is like that so 10 hours might not be bearable.

[Beazy]

So what you are really saying is that KPMG could actually hire one or more people to do some of your work? Because you are working way more then one fulltimejob.

Thats what high performance culture is all about friend.

I'm trying to hit $200k+ a year. You don't get to that level by coming in at 9am, doing just your work, and leaving at 5pm. You have to be a high performer and be exceptional at your job. You have to take ownership of things. You have to be proactive, not reactive. You have to step out of your comfort zone level and take on new projects from other teams. Etc etc etc. . . KPMG saves a salary by not hiring another person to do my work. It makes me worth more, and makes me irreplaceable (not really, everyone can be reaplced), but you know what I mean.

[Themius]

40 Hours a week is not that bad.

People who want 3 day weekends are fucking Lazy.

I always think im going to enjoy 3 day weekends, but by day 3 im going stircrazy.

People need to man up.

Lol I live for life... not to work.

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My company floated the plan. 4x11 or 7am - 6pm. Didn't go over well with all the folks who had to tend to their kids in the morning. Instead we adopted a plan where you can take off every other Friday as long as average 40 hrs / week.

Seems stupid to me.

All I care about is productivity some random set of hours does not mean much.

[deepr]

I work 5 days / 40 hours, 3 days at the office and 2 days I work from home. I'm perfectly fine with this and wouldn't even trade it for 4 x 8 hour days at the office.
Those 2 days at home provide enermous benefit and simply make life a bit easier in general.
Most of all it saves a lot of travel time from going to the office, which is a huge time sink and energy-drain.
The evenings before a workday at home are also much more relaxed, simply because you don't have to get up early in the morning, don't have to dress up, travel, etc.
Next to that I can be a bit more flexible in planning the little things in life that aren't work related but generally need to be done on workdays, for example going to the dentist, etc.
Oh yeah and if you work from home on fridays, you can start the weekend in a more relaxed way and feel much more rested on saturday morning. This way you can spend your weekend more effectively.
In general I think working from home 2 days a week is very good for my overall well being.

[Captain N]

The 4 day work week is fantastic. Having that extra day off in the middle of the week or having a three day weekend does wonders for the mind and body. It's really a shame that Americans feel the need to subject themselves to 60+ hour work weeks to survive or feel they're a worthwhile employee. I'm sorry but my job is to make sure I can live a life...my job is not going to be my life.

[Easo]

And then you have the Alibaba boss who wants 12 hour work day.

40 Hours a week is not that bad.

People who want 3 day weekends are fucking Lazy.

I always think im going to enjoy 3 day weekends, but by day 3 im going stircrazy.

People need to man up.

Do you live to work/slave, or work to live? Tell me, because studies have proven over and over again that in this case less IS more.

[Lochton]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/04/tech/...ity/index.html



What are your thoughts on the 4-day work week? Do you see this as something more and more companies will adopt? Or maybe a 6-hour work day instead? What would you prefer?

Due to my recent health status, I am paid as working 30 hours a week, but I only work 4. I used to work 40 hours a week before I got sick. I have no real thoughts on a 4 day week, as I used to do 5 day week work, so not much change.