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More Companies Are Trying a Four-Day Work Week (reuters.com)
Companies around the world have cut their work week down to just four days and found that it leads to higher productivity, more motivated staff and less burnout. Reuters highlights some of those companies: "It is much healthier and we do a better job if we're not working crazy hours," said Jan Schulz-Hofen, founder of Berlin-based project management software company Planio, who introduced a four-day week to the company's 10-member staff earlier this year. In New Zealand, trust company Perpetual Guardian reported a fall in stress and a jump in staff engagement after it tested a 32-hour week earlier this year. Lucie Greene, trends expert at consultancy J. Walter Thompson, said there was a growing backlash against overwork, underlined by a wave of criticism after Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted that "nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week. People are starting to take a step back from the 24-hour digital life we have now and realize the mental health issues from being constantly connected to work," Greene said.
Schulz-Hofen, a 36-year-old software engineer, tested the four-day week on himself after realizing he needed to slow down following a decade of intense work launching Planio, whose tools allowed him to track his time in detail. "I didn't get less work done in four days than in five because in five days, you think you have more time, you take longer, you allow yourself to have more interruptions, you have your coffee a bit longer or chat with colleagues," Schulz-Hofen said. "I realized with four days, I have to be quick, I have to be focused if I want to have my free Friday." Schulz-Hofen and his team discussed various options before settling on everybody working Monday to Thursday. They rejected the idea of flexible hours because it adds administrative complexity, and were against a five-day week with shorter hours as it is too easy for overwork to creep back in.
Schulz-Hofen, a 36-year-old software engineer, tested the four-day week on himself after realizing he needed to slow down following a decade of intense work launching Planio, whose tools allowed him to track his time in detail. "I didn't get less work done in four days than in five because in five days, you think you have more time, you take longer, you allow yourself to have more interruptions, you have your coffee a bit longer or chat with colleagues," Schulz-Hofen said. "I realized with four days, I have to be quick, I have to be focused if I want to have my free Friday." Schulz-Hofen and his team discussed various options before settling on everybody working Monday to Thursday. They rejected the idea of flexible hours because it adds administrative complexity, and were against a five-day week with shorter hours as it is too easy for overwork to creep back in.
The stress must be getting to you. Because we've saw it only days ago.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
if costly benefits like healthcare and retirement savings are foisted onto employers, then having fewer employees that do the work of two or three is a savings. And hard working employees are simple to replace because "right to work" laws means no notice, no severance, and no reasons need to be given for termination.
We operate a highly efficient serfdom, and it boggles my American brain that Europeans aren't doing the same.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
if costly benefits like healthcare and retirement savings are foisted onto employers
Almost everything like that ultimately come from the employer in the form of wages or benefits. Whether the consumer pays/saves out of pocket, they pay it through taxes, or they pay through employment in lieu of higher wages. The consumer has no other source of money for these expenses than their job.
"right to work" laws means no notice, no severance, and no reasons need to be given for termination.
You are thinking of "At Will". "Right to Work" means something completely different: A ban on closed union shops.
With minor exemptions, "at will" is the law in all 50 states.
27 states have "right to work" laws.
At-will employment
Right to work
Let's be blunt cowardice always finds excuses for lack of action, whilst proudly proclaiming how brave they are. So badly are they beaten, rather than fight for what they should be provided in exchange for them doing all the work, they would attack other workers who are getting too much or maybe, just maybe, that could be paid US government and Corporate propagandists, you know workers should beg for their jobs, worship their bosses and be grateful for the crumbs they receive and cowardice just laps that stuff up, like the obedient dog it is.
American the reason working conditions are shitty, America - The land of the free and the home of the brave, well not true at all, the land of the minimum wage serf and the home of anti-union cowards to afraid to fight for what is theirs by right, the complete opposite of what the USA was a century ago.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I know UBI is a hot and popular topic on /.
A shorter work week, more vacation and an earlier retirement are much more practical ways to accommodate the loss of jobs to automation.
Oh, hey!
It looks like you've dropped below 40 hours! That's great, it means we no longer have to offer you insurance, or a 401K, or matching?
Wow, this is a great idea!
--- Every CEO in America
[End Of Line]
I never got that. I mean it has been known for a long, long time from studies by Ford and others that mental workers have peak efficiency at 6h/day for 5 days/week and that working more _decreases_ total (!) productivity. I guess there are so many americans that are virtue signalling by working (or claiming to work) much more that the sheer stupidity of doing so does not get through anymore.
So let me state this again: If you work 40h or more a week as a mental worker, then you are unproductive and self-destructive. If you work around 30h a week as mental worker, you are pretty much at peak overall (!) efficiently. And no, if you claim otherwise, then you are just uninformed. These facts are not up for dispute and they have not been up for dispute for a long time. The current experiments are just re-discovering known information.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I think you're being a tad harsh on the US. First, let me be the first to acknowledge that the US has PLENTY of problems. However, it also has one of the most dynamic, healthy, advanced economies on the planet. One of the richer ones per-capita also, though not #1. I'm firmly against forcing our system on others, but the truth is that our economic system could make a TON of other countries a LOT better off, if they would just swallow their pride and adopt it (looking at you, South America).
If the 4-day work week actually improves productivity and competitiveness, you'll see it adopted in the US fairly quickly.
With regards to unions - there are places that could benefit from more unionization, and there are other places where unions are absolutely strangling progress.
I actually did this years ago, and it was a dramatic improvement for me, both personally and professionally. I could afford to give up the pay and needed more time for my personal life, so it was an easy decision to make, and I would do it again if I could (right now I can't, but I'm hoping for another opportunity in the future).
People dramatically overestimate the amount of work being done in the hours beyond employees "want to be here" time. Fridays especially are days in which very little gets done in many companies. When I was working 4 days a week, I got maybe 90-95% of the work of a full work-week done, not 80% as you'd expect. And I did that feeling much more relaxed, not more hurried. And I could do a lot more on weekends. And I had more time to relax whenever weekends weren't perfect. You know, sometimes shit happens on a weekend, and it ruins your whole weekend. With 3 days instead of 2, there's always at least one day left you can enjoy.
My personal experience says that a 32-hour week is vastly superior to a 40-hour week in all respects. Moving everyone to a 32-hour week with only 10% reduction in salary would be an optimal benefit to society, and everybody would profit. Employees would get more money per hour, companies would get more work done per currency unit, everyone would be less stressed, stress is a major health factor, so healthcare costs would drop - I see not one reason why we aren't doing it. Well, stupidity, like most things in the world today, but aside from that?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Workers already reduce their effective work time to around this level.
They just don't do it by going home early. They do it by standing around the water cooler, by long bathroom breaks, smoking breaks, watching Netflix at their desk, by having unproductive meetings, or by padding the serious work with bullshit work.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
In the country where I come from (Israel), part time employees get benefits as well. Not everybody are americans (and thank god for that).
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
I know many workers who stay late doing nothing simply because management tends to appreciate workers who stay late, even if they don't do much.
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
What you're saying does not invalidate anything the GP said. In fact it reinforces it. Screwing the workers, poor holidays, long hours, and a culture of living to work is one of the reasons the economy is as dynamic, healthy and advanced as it is.
People often like to say: "We are the most efficient".
To which I reply: "Yeah but we are happy"
If a company and the workers are able to do a four day work week this is about the ideal schedule. It goes like this, you work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday with Saturday and Sunday off. Then the next week you work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, with Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. Every weekend is off and every other weekend is a 4 day weekend. Holidays, vacations and unscheduled (health and personal) time off is where both the company and workers need to figure out how to do this. 24 /7, part time and other non-standard working hour jobs do not fit this.
Passionately Indifferent
Nope, they say 32 hours.
Which is not unusual, because in many places, 37.5 hour workweeks are common (7.5h/day), or 35 hour workweeks (7h/day) is the standard. Many of those countries do allow 40 hour workweeks as a maximum (often because the laws state overtime must be paid after that).
And yes, in my previous jobs (usually as an intern) I worked 37.5 hours and 35 hours and even OT work (on request).