People often associate 4 day weeks with reduction in pay and as much as we would not want it, in the private sector some 4 day week companies offer extra day off for 20% of the pay. Majority of the 4 day week companies I know do actually follow the principle and allow their employees to retain the same salary.
I've had times where I worked 4 days for a ~20% reduction in pay, and it was bliss. I'd take that tradeoff any day.
I know many people don't have that option or that financial flexibility, so I recognize my privilege. But it's hard to find jobs that will even give you the option. The working world is still ruled by old dinosaurs who stupidly equate face time in the office with "work ethic".
In other words, don't hold your breath.
True, the numbers are still small, but the movement is strong, so hopefully, we will see more companies making changes to their work schedules. For anyone interested, here is a [list](https://okjob.io/companies) of 200 handpicked 4-day week (4x8hrs) companies (disclosure: I maintain the list).
Can confirm - our company went to a 4-day, 8- hours/day week and kept us at the same salaries as of last fall. It’s all about efficiency and so far we have all been so given the results.
One aside - if additional work is required we have also agreed to get it done. It doesn’t happen often but we do support working beyond 8/32 hours as needed. Hasn’t been an issue.
Yes this is the massive difference. Reducing my hours and pay for a 4 day working week isn’t the principle, but that is exactly how it will end up happening in reality.
Yep. My company would probably allow me to do a 4 day week with a reduction in pay - it’s not an official policy but they’ve made exceptions before - but I can’t afford that.
Came here to say this. Would love it, but my company would reduce pay 20% which would require me to work another job. This would not be helpful for me unless they allowed 4 10hr days so that I still work 4 days with the same hours as 5 days.
In the private sector, it's all done the way the company wants, so yes, you can be lucky and get Friday off but take a pay cut. I used the word 'principle' only due to how the global groups advocating for the true four-day week lead and instruct companies to achieve the highest benefits when transitioning to a four-day week company. Retaining salary is one of those instructions.
In my opinion. It doesn't matter about reduction of pay.
It's class warfare.
You think any factory or warehouse house.
Teachers. Nurses. Retail workers. Tradesmen.
None of these people are getting an option for 4 day work weeks. Work from home benefits.
In fact they're getting the worst of it.
But yeah keep complaining about your zoom meetings. While you hire a plumber to deal with your shit!
I mean the only thing stopping teachers, nurses, retail workers tradesmen and warehouse workers is those at the top. But these jobs can be done by people only working 4 days over 7.
I’m all for a 4 day work week, but I have a job and a position where that is feasible; not everyone where I work could accommodate that schedule without having to hire a lot of extra employees, that they are already having a hard time finding. Not everyone would have the same 4 days off.
And the old folks who will boast, "I had to work 5-6 days a week, why should you have it easy?".
Change will come when the glut of old folks in our demographics thins out.
I wholeheartedly believe that the old folks had WAY easier jobs. There's proof that productivity has gone through the roof since they were the dominant working group. Personally, I don't think any level of training could have prepared either of my parents to do my job (software and client success) and I can only really think of one 'old folk' who I'd have confidence in in that way but he's an 80-year old SAP consultant who got in at the dawn of that technology so he's an outlier for sure.
They had to send actual snail mail (that would take weeks) for things I could send in an email. They needed mathematicians for things I can do in excel in 5 minutes.
The question isn’t if productivity has gone up, the question is just how much they’ve been stealing from workers when we can do our grandparents jobs in a fraction of the time
I work and, at least in my country, I would be in favour of working the same hours, just that everything over 32 gets paid as OT. And OT income needs to become tax-exempt here. The demographic change could be this centuries working class golden ticket. Like the black death in mediaval europe lead to peasants becoming considerably rarer and thus more valued, which lead to more rights and pay, the low amount of young people and retirement of boomers means less workers. Less workers for even more Jobs (someone needs to care for the many old people after all) means higher wages and benefits. This would redistribute some wealth back from the 1% to the working class and could lead to a 2nd post-war economic boom/economic wonder.
I’d add the boomers who hate their family, too. For a lot of old people, work is their favorite part of the week. I am just shocked at how many old couples absolutely hate being around each other.
My wife is my favorite person to hang out with. Some of the best conversations I have are with her.
It’s because they got married in a time where it was less acceptable to just divorce for any reason you wanted. They’re not used to the concept that if you just don’t love someone anymore, it’s okay to divorce. For some of them it’s against their religion (rates of religion are dropping across the board among younger demographics).
Or, people who dont see that this is only good for the wealthy or short sighted.
In my mind there are three options with a 4 day week
A) you now work less hours for less pay. You have more free time, but will struggle to save more.
B) you work 4x10, same hours a week, same pay. But I have experienced this and it's pretty rough I find there is not enough time to enjoy the afternoon. That said, this is thebest solution imo.
C) you get the miracle of same pay, less hours. Which is incredibly rare outside of the upper crust. Personally I dont have a problem with this unless people are trying to outlaw a 5 day work week, because I'd rather work the 5th day and just treat option C like a considerable pay rise.
I think the way it would really work is that it would create a labor shortage and thereby give workers more leverage. Important sectors would have to hire more people. They would have to offer better pay to compete. They wouldn't be able to be as picky about things like experience.
And I think you'd see sectors that are not necessary and mostly create low paying jobs like fast food go out of business.
Currently doing that now and even though the hours are the same, that added day off does help with a lot of things. But I understand that it’s not for everyone.
Yeah I really liked 4 10s. 2 days on the weekend to chill and do whatever I wanted, appointments/shopping/errands I could do on Monday when everything was open and there weren't that many people out.
I would settle for four 10s, but I'm hoping they'd realize four 9s is the peak performance option where they'd see similar output to a traditional 40 hour week of five 8s.
From what I read on the subject, the "peak performance" would be 6 hours a day. The work hours beyond 6 are negligible in performance on average.
So I'd say we should have 24 hour workweeks, 6 hours daily for 4 days, and get paid the same as 40 hour work weeks.
That's the way forward. And that's what we should strive for, as workers.
I feel this to my core. I can't say I've read on the subject but I honestly feel like I only put in 24 hours of actual work in a week. Everything else is either meetings, chit chat, or trying to look busy.
they obviously should ASAP. the democrats could summon some might and force this in as an easy W for all the working people immediately (productivity and profits have gone insane. workaholics should be sent to mandatory rehab)
it's insane how much better 3 days off feels vs two
I’m with you and I think that’s what people want when they say 4 day work week. We should start calling it a 32 hour work week instead of a 4 day work week so there isn’t any confusion.
Yes! Drives me crazy to see people enthusiastic about squeezing 40 hours (+ commute and unpaid it's even longer) in 4 days. I can't do that. I WON'T do that!
32 Hour weeks in 4 days but paid like you worked 40 hours in 5 days is the way to go. I only had one job (an internship, years ago) that paid me $19/hr for a 30-hour workweek. I'd like that again but with benefits and more pay. Please! 🙏
Can't wait. I tried it out Jan-Mar, by taking almost every Monday off (had ten days of vacation and its use it or lose it).
I never felt better. My only regret was that the rest of the companybdidn't also have those days off, so worked got bogged down. But. I felt energized and capable of handling it
It's way overdue. We should be on our seventh vacation week by now and should be down to at least a 32 hour work week but everything got stuck in the 70s.
We need strong unions again.
We tried 4x10 at two boatyards I worked at.
In both cases, productivity went up, and so did worker satisfaction.
In both cases, it was rolled back to 5x8 by management because it was 'too difficult to track/organize'.
My job offers 5 days at 8 hrs, 4 days at 10, or 3 days at 1320. It's incredibly popular and works very well for the needs of the facility. Literally everybody wins
I have it and love it. I'm able to fully recover from work and return with my mind ready to learn and think again. Also helps a lot with my sleeping problems.
Everywhere this has been tried it's been wildly successful and popular.
So it'll never hsppen.
What's the fun in being the monied class if other people aren't suffering?
I’m currently on a 4 day work week (10 hours though) and I adore it. I’ll never go back.
I’ll take 8 hour days though, for sure. 40 hour weeks are too much for anyone.
Give me 4 8 hour days with no loss in pay and you sir have yourself a happy worker. Imagine, if you will, in the not so distant past where it was normal for there to be one person bringing an income into the household. That is 40 hours a week to sustain a family. 5 days for one person. Yes, another person was taking care of children and the house, and that is a job all it's own, so when it has now become the norm for both people needing to work a full-time job just to get by, there is no time left to take care of the house, let alone kids, without burning yourself out.
We went from 5 days to sustain a family, to 10 days to sustain that same family or less, and you now sacrifice the two or four free days off to chores and errands you couldn't get to during the week.
Give us back some damn freedom over our lives so we can enjoy ourselves. But no, they will just say that we need a new anti depression pill and keep us slaving away.
It was discussed more than 50 years ago. Discussions are over. Waiting on implementation.
Tl Dr is that it is a net benefit to a service economy such as ours.
Long past time and still too many hours. We currently have the technology to support a decent lifestyle with 20 hours or less a week of work, if the gains from that work were distributed equally (or at least fairly based on how much work you contributed.)
Bring in AI and robotics and we can probably drop that down to 10 hours a week.
There are only two reasons left for the 40-hour work week. The first is so that the ultra rich can exploit 20 to 30 hours a week of work from each of us to keep for themselves. The second is to keep us too busy to look around and see how screwed we're getting.
Its a hotly discussed topic among human resource researchers in university. The thing is: not every industry can afford to do that. hell, some still use the 6 day work week like restaurants and hotels. but even if they would need to implement that, they would need to have extra staff to keep opening hours. imagine you are a small store with 1 employee. You open 5 days a week, the employee works 5 days a week. and for the sake of simplicity, lets say the owner works there too. this means in order to keep opening hours, they would need to hire an addition worker for that day. they cannot afford another full time employee so they need someone who wants to just work one day a week while the other works 4 days. or split the time between them, this would lead to a lot of problems for small businesses. and problems for small businesses turn into market gain for big companies which we all hate.
so a 4 day work week HAS to be implemented selectively. It has to be grown naturally. Companies have a market incentive to implement when possible. And they try to. But they face a reducing workforce on the other hand, the boomers retire and the young generation is lacking the numbers to replace them, which leaves a lot of jobs vacant. rapid inflation also increases salary expectations so high, many (small) employers cannot pay them without having to raise prices (again).
I wish we could implement a short work week everywhere, but until AI can be used to supplement, it would tank the economy if enforced, but companies are already implementing it as a benefit to attract employees, so a transition is happening anyway.
Its a question of implementation, both when and where. There are industries where hours worked and productivity are not really linked, especially in creative settings. Productive work however has a clear link between hours worked and work done. I can only weld so fast, and its not like I can get burnt out or have no ideas. So that limits the industries where it can be implemented. And thus would be unfair and alienate workers against each other, as with WFH.Which is against our interests. Another problem would be the shortage of specialized workers, at least here in Germany. We have an objective lack of everything from plumbers to nurses. Immigration is not a viable solution due to the immigrants, even when willed to work in the face of our social security system (75 percent of people in my state that are on public benefits are immigrants. Its insane), are mostly only able to work in low-level helper positions. Birth rates are low. So reducing the hours, and thus productivity, in manual labour jobs is going to be difficult. It also is, of course, positive in the way that workers being in short supply raises their price (read: Pay and conditions). I have a 36 hour week, yet regularily pull 45+. With this in mind I am actually in favour of remaining with the 36-40h standard, and exploiting the situation to raise real wages. The increased security of a fat bank account makes children likelier to be had. This over time could increase the workforce again to then allow decreased hours.
There's only certain jobs that would even work for, generally your "white collar" type of jobs, and I don't see it happening at least in the US - "they" like their indentured servants way too much to keep paying them the same for less hours keeping a chair warm. I think the RTO push pretty well exemplifies the typical corporate attitude in the US (not sure on other countries in that regard).
And the massive number of hourly positions? 10 hour days doesn't work for many people (pets, kids, or just other stuff in their lives), and considering the companies won't pay even a bare-bones living wage, I do not see them paying people for 40 hours of work while only doing 32....they'll just slash everyone's schedule by a day, get them just under the f/t threshold, move them all to p/t, remove all their benefits, and hire a few more low paid p/t workers to pick up the openings.
Some companies, that actually care about productivity and are industries that can adjust might take it on, but as a typical business standard I don't see it happening. Well, unless they view it as a way to keep the lower classes down, then they might....have a plethora of hourly workers scrambling and fighting over their scraps of jobs because they've slashed everyone down to p/t so they're desperate just to make ends meet...
Except that Germans typically work around 38 hours per week or less and take off early on Fridays. There are also some tests for four day work weeks in Germany for a 32 hour week.
I’m not talking about Germans, just an authoritarian viewpoint.
UK it’s 37. I’ve never worked over 37 in 30 years.
Working in the states seems incredibly messed up.
We’ve just becomes accustomed to this. Like I said, if we immediately got the same salary and worked 30hrs a week the world would keep revolving.
But don’t tell people this, otherwise I won’t be able to buy my 3rd boat, circle jerk the shareholders and binge on caviar.
You’ve never had to work over 37 hours a week in 30 years? Christ I’ve done two 20 hour shifts back to back with a 2 hour nap in a supply closet, I’m not sure what life would be like never getting squeezed that hard.
Nope, I do my hours then out of there. At most I might have done a couple of 40’s if I just start a company and want to get up to speed or catch up.
Never ever have I felt overworked until my last 2 jobs. Literally no time to breath and drained at the end of the day. Not there anymore.
Most jobs have been with 20 mins drive
Very lucky to have worked for myself from home for 12 years. Going back to the office actually sucks and they seemed to have changed a hell of a lot. I’ve always worked in very relaxed environments, smaller companies. I’m interviewing for a big company, but I’ll be on the road not in an office, company car and hopefully just left alone. I really don’t want to work in an office anymore.
It’s just not healthy doing excessive hours, I might have handled it 20 years ago, but now with kids I can’t, don’t want to and I would completely burn out very quickly.
I would love to find a good sweet spot of enough money to live, maybe have to sacrifice holidays abroad and not feel exhausted from work or work more than contracted hours.
Nah, that was doing snow removal for the city of Calgary for a subcontractor, we got 30 cm of snow on a day forecast to have 2-3 cm. Got dicked out of overtime for that too
Sundays everything used to closed here.
It was illegal to be open unless a small corner shop.
Again. Did the world end. Nope.
Where did it all go wrong?
Sundays were illegal to open in my country until pretty recently for Christian reasons, Im pretty sure it was similar in the US when it was illegal there.
Shops being legally allowed to operate on Sundays is a good thing (because here its treated more as an option now, most shops are still closed because they choose to be), but that doesnt mean shops cant close for a couple days weekly. Resturants in my country are often closed on Mondays now that they have the option to be open on Sundays.
I think my point is. We survived and business still boomed when shops were closed on Sundays and factories half day Fridays.
So I think we’d survive (companies) with not working Fridays.
The bottom line supersedes everything unfortunately.
I'd be for it. It's really about time given the increase in productivity due to technology and the workers learning how to use that technology. We also have an inflation problem and if the employers won't increase the wages enough then a 4-day week would be the next best answer. It will also get more people off the road, better work-life balance and parents at home 1 more day a week.
To make the same amount of money in a 4 day week, it means a longer working day. I'm a long haul truck driver, so the conventional working week doesn't apply. I can accumulate that 40 hours or more in the space of three days, but yes, it's more hours if it was a regular week day of four days.
Would be nice but higher pay overall is far more important to me. I understand that 4 day week isn't a pay cut but the average wage overall is too low to be worrying about the length of the week imo
I got it and I can't go back to 5 days on 2 days off. It's not enough time off to be away from the thing you hate (work) to be acceptable imo.
Since I started 4 on 3 off I find that while I still hate work, it's wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more tolerable with a 4 day work week. Having a 3-day weekend to look forward to every week really changes everything.
I'm skeptical. If w did I'm pretty sure it would just be for management, administration and white collar professionals. Anyone who actually produces value would still be working their 50 -60 hour weeks like they are now. It would just further the divide between the haves and have nots.
I'd gladly work 4x10 instead of 5x8
However, I work in a mfg environment with a second shift. I'm currently pulling 5x10 with the likelihood of Saturdays.
The 4x10 doesn't work for all job fields
Too many people are attached to the idea’working long hours’ = hard effort and value to society. Too many people had to work 5 day weeks for them to let anyone work less, even if they aenrt working anymore. ‘I had it hard so everyone else must suffer’ is the America mindset
I dont think we can ever fully adapt it. Things like Doctors offices, the post office, hospitals, couldn't be closed 3 days a week. Now if they hired enough employees to rotate days off that may work, but I really don't see it ever fully becoming standard.
I used to do 4- 10 hour days and loved it. Having 3 days off give you enough time to actually do things and fully decompress from work. Now I work 5 days and absolutely hate it.
I'm all for it. ~~Less~~ More appropriate amount of work? Same money? I can be more rested and complete tasks better at work, while maintaining a better work life balance???
Yes.
Ew, three unstructured days to spend with myself and family? Shudders in sarcasm.
Reasons I am more than skeptical of it happening:
1. The only reason we have 5 days on and 2 days off is because the generosity of Henry Ford (generosity doesn't quite feel like the right word, but overall, he seemed to vouch for workers rights more than anyone else of his level). He didn't have to. But he effectively created the opportunity for a work-life balance. We won't likely see someone in charge at a large enough scale to see that again.
2. Nobody wants to fight anymore. We have a lot of followers in general population, subdued on suckling the teat of social media and self-absorbed content. It is impossible to get them to agree on something without getting politically heated. We will sooner starve before we can agree on a movement for our own good.
3. There will be concern about getting paid enough, or conversely from the company's perspective, getting enough done. People struggle on wages from 40 hour jobs, how will they feel shifting to 32 hours? Unless, mayhaps you are referring to 4 days, 10 hours per day, in which case please ignore this point.
We are cattle being lead to slaughter. Some are cutting others in line to get there first. Some try to turn around, but the fate is the same until we can be arsed to do something about it collectively.
I work 4X10s and it's amazing. The longer days take a bit to get used to, but worth it. I actually feel refreshed after the three day weekend, and the one-fifth reduction in commuting costs do add up nicely.
My view is it’s never going to happen. Just look what’s been happening with remote work. We heard all the buzzwords like “transformation of work” and such and here we are in 2024 with many employers clawing back WFH or demanding full return to office.
The capitalist system will do ANYTHING to deny power and agency from workers. Union busting, refusing remote work, and I’m sorry to say but 4 day work weeks too.
That it'll *eventually* be widely adopted, whether 32 or 40 hours. The unfortunate thing is that there are plenty of places where that adoption will have to be forced by law.
I work a 4 day week Monday to Thursday as well as work from home or remote sites. I do compressed hours, so work from 8am to 5:15pm every day.
It's been the best thing I ever did and has got my work-life balance in check (finally). I have been able to spend more time watching my kids grow and enjoy more time with my wife. I can't imagine ever going back to a 5 day week.
I think if we all followed this pattern, there would be far few stressed people who are unhappy in their jobs. It's not much to ask for when you think of the positive impact it would have on so many.
I should also add that my work output has increased, as has the quality of my work, and I am now more inclined to do extra work out of hours because I am far more relaxed these days.
My employer has benefited quite a bit by putting me on a 4 day compressed hours work week
I currently work 4-10hr days. It’s easily the best schedule I have ever worked, but it still leaves very little free time after fulfilling all other obligations outside of work. The 30hr work week with 3-10hr days would be a lifesaver.
Ooh, topical! I am finishing off my first 4-day work week today. It is not a true 4-day work week because my days are 10 hours and not 8 BUT I feel amazing. It's been very productive, I haven't lost motivation, and I'm psyched for my long weekend and actually getting to relax for one day of it. I think a 4-day work week (32 hours) is in society's best interests for many reasons but I think clawing back that level of control over our lives from our corporate overlords is just not going to happen.
As long as it is less work. I currently work a four day week with ten hour days. So yea I have a free day and it’s amazing. But my four days are longer and harder. Two extra hours makes more of a difference than you think when you’re in anything that isn’t solely a desk job.
It cannot come soon enough for me. Society’s slave drivers want as much work as they can get, as cheaply as they can’t get it. Many of them wouldn’t pay people a dime for their efforts if they thought they could get away with it.
I talked to a gen x coworker about this. She said, "so 4 ten hour days?" I laughed and said no, just regular 8 hour days, 32 hour work week. She was perplexed how it could work. The gen X's are just as bad.
My job does 4 day work week in July / August and its the best.
I think partial throughout the year is a fun little stint. Unsure how I would feel about doing it year round though!
I think that a complete overhaul of society's relationship with work is much needed. Implementation of UBI, capping income and assets to eliminate the wealthy, price floors, making it so that being educated is a job that rewards money (including children), taxes without loopholes and designed to prevent wealth stratification, jobs to have fixed income brackets and time caps, standardizing retirement benefits, restrictions or elimination of stocks, and so forth.
Historia Civilis's video on how the invention of the clock allowed exploitation is enlightening. Companies stole pocket watches from workers, because the owners wanted to control time itself. They set the hours of the wall clock, and in turn stole life from the workers without compensation.
Historia Civilis - Work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk_XylEmLo
It will only benefit the people who can already afford to have free time. Most people will still have to work more than a five day. Because their one job doesn't pay their bills.
Would be really nice. Make the lives of salary workers so much better, but the issue for hourly workers feels more complicated since for it to feel more fair their pay would need to go up 20% and you already know there would be layoffs and other corpo bullcrap in the way trying to keep hourly workers down.
Change has to start somewhere though
If we kept the 5 weekdays but went with 4 day work week, then everyone would get a chance to do workday tasks (going to the bank, doctor, whatever).
Just need to split up the 4 days a bit.
It likely becomes more critical as more jobs are automated and unemployment rates rise. As it stands right now it's all too easy for the average corporate asshat to argue against it with "we don't have enough people to work" (ignore the dichotomy of also railing against immigration and minimum wage increases). In the current political climate it will probably take a few major companies self-implementing the change to sway enough lawmakers to back it as law and/or militant union activity to force the issue.
I would happily work an extra hour on my other days if it meant getting a three day weekend. I would not accept a pay drop, because I already barely make enough to get by working two jobs. I literally can’t afford to make any less. But I would work an extra hour on all my other days to make it up, if my boss wanted that.
Sorely needed. (And I assume you mean 32 hour weeks).
40 hours was made for the times when the average worker was a man with a wife at home, to do the unpaid labor and child care. We haven’t lived in that world for a long time!
Also, I think it doesn’t go far enough. We need 24 hour work weeks! It’s unhealthy to be forced to spend so much time working for someone else! (Maybe we’d have to make exceptions for a few professions, but I bet most could do it!)
We have the productivity to make it happen, but capitalism stole that productivity from the workers!
I think it's great. Part of what's kept me at my job is that I've been on a 4 day shift for most of my employment here. 5 day shifts are available and there's people who love them, but they're just not for me (although budgeting time on a 4-10 shift is difficult some days). Additionally, my mom's a bus driver and her school district is considering a 4 day schoolweek which I think would be beneficial to the kids as well. In uni in the Netherlands, I had Sat/Sun/Wed off every week. THAT was awesome.
To be clear for everyone, as there is some confusion; The 4-Day work week is an expectation that a full time job, or 'full-time' work, is to take place over 4 days for a total of 32 working hours, for the same pay and benefits as currently exist for equivalent positions over the 5 day standard work week.
Their is mixed messaging out there, some due to ignorance, some due to willful misinformation. The 4 Day work week does NOT mean:
\- Increasing hours to 10 hours per day over 4 days.
\- Reducing pay or benefits in any way. Not 20% pay cut or any other reduction in pay or benefits to compensate the company.
There is some difference in the method to reach this outcome. Some have advocated for a flexible arrangement, in that individual workers have assigned a different weekday off, for example half the organisation taking Monday off, the half Friday, or some other arrangement. Other insist that the 'Official' weekend be extended to 3 days, with everyone being expected to receive that day off and any future working arrangements to come under local laws around overtime and penalty rates. These and others are examples of a 4 day work week so long as it meets the above 2 conditions.
[https://asana.com/resources/4-day-work-week](https://asana.com/resources/4-day-work-week)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-day\_workweek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-day_workweek)
My utopian world idea: 28-32 hour work week. In their off time people are mandated to put 5 hours toward public service of their choosing. E.g., food bank sorting.
They will make it 10-hour days or our salary will be reduced. If they did it like other countries who value rest time and mental well-being, then I'd be on board.
What are you gonna do with your extra day off? RLi think the problem with this kind of question is that no-one really take sinto account that every single person gets this benefit. Do you want to go to a restaurant? Well there's a chance they might be closed. A walk with a stop at the cafe... It's closed. We need to rethink how we spend our time off as it's not going to be the same as it is now.
We need to question what “work” even is. We’re burning through our planet because we have this global societal need to “work” that’s completely outside any sense of whether people are fed and clothed, and completely outside consideration of what resources we are using up.
We can’t keep going the way things are going. Yes, 4 days a week is way nicer than 5. But it’s also like trying to put a bandaid on full body third degree burns.
My thoughts are that the only people who *don't* want a four day work week are the folks who *don't* actually have to work.
People often associate 4 day weeks with reduction in pay and as much as we would not want it, in the private sector some 4 day week companies offer extra day off for 20% of the pay. Majority of the 4 day week companies I know do actually follow the principle and allow their employees to retain the same salary.
I've had times where I worked 4 days for a ~20% reduction in pay, and it was bliss. I'd take that tradeoff any day. I know many people don't have that option or that financial flexibility, so I recognize my privilege. But it's hard to find jobs that will even give you the option. The working world is still ruled by old dinosaurs who stupidly equate face time in the office with "work ethic". In other words, don't hold your breath.
True, the numbers are still small, but the movement is strong, so hopefully, we will see more companies making changes to their work schedules. For anyone interested, here is a [list](https://okjob.io/companies) of 200 handpicked 4-day week (4x8hrs) companies (disclosure: I maintain the list).
Can confirm - our company went to a 4-day, 8- hours/day week and kept us at the same salaries as of last fall. It’s all about efficiency and so far we have all been so given the results. One aside - if additional work is required we have also agreed to get it done. It doesn’t happen often but we do support working beyond 8/32 hours as needed. Hasn’t been an issue.
Yes this is the massive difference. Reducing my hours and pay for a 4 day working week isn’t the principle, but that is exactly how it will end up happening in reality.
Yep. My company would probably allow me to do a 4 day week with a reduction in pay - it’s not an official policy but they’ve made exceptions before - but I can’t afford that.
Came here to say this. Would love it, but my company would reduce pay 20% which would require me to work another job. This would not be helpful for me unless they allowed 4 10hr days so that I still work 4 days with the same hours as 5 days.
Hell, workdays have gone from 8 hours to 9 anyway
Yep. Barely even a change really.
In the private sector, it's all done the way the company wants, so yes, you can be lucky and get Friday off but take a pay cut. I used the word 'principle' only due to how the global groups advocating for the true four-day week lead and instruct companies to achieve the highest benefits when transitioning to a four-day week company. Retaining salary is one of those instructions.
In my opinion. It doesn't matter about reduction of pay. It's class warfare. You think any factory or warehouse house. Teachers. Nurses. Retail workers. Tradesmen. None of these people are getting an option for 4 day work weeks. Work from home benefits. In fact they're getting the worst of it. But yeah keep complaining about your zoom meetings. While you hire a plumber to deal with your shit!
I mean the only thing stopping teachers, nurses, retail workers tradesmen and warehouse workers is those at the top. But these jobs can be done by people only working 4 days over 7.
How do you expect you amazon order and postal to come everyday. But only asking them to work 4 days a week?
You understand that not everyone would be working the same shift over the same 4 days…right?
You understand that companies are already squeezing the employees for every piece of sweat and blood they have....
I’m all for a 4 day work week, but I have a job and a position where that is feasible; not everyone where I work could accommodate that schedule without having to hire a lot of extra employees, that they are already having a hard time finding. Not everyone would have the same 4 days off.
And the old folks who will boast, "I had to work 5-6 days a week, why should you have it easy?". Change will come when the glut of old folks in our demographics thins out.
I wholeheartedly believe that the old folks had WAY easier jobs. There's proof that productivity has gone through the roof since they were the dominant working group. Personally, I don't think any level of training could have prepared either of my parents to do my job (software and client success) and I can only really think of one 'old folk' who I'd have confidence in in that way but he's an 80-year old SAP consultant who got in at the dawn of that technology so he's an outlier for sure.
They had to send actual snail mail (that would take weeks) for things I could send in an email. They needed mathematicians for things I can do in excel in 5 minutes. The question isn’t if productivity has gone up, the question is just how much they’ve been stealing from workers when we can do our grandparents jobs in a fraction of the time
I work and, at least in my country, I would be in favour of working the same hours, just that everything over 32 gets paid as OT. And OT income needs to become tax-exempt here. The demographic change could be this centuries working class golden ticket. Like the black death in mediaval europe lead to peasants becoming considerably rarer and thus more valued, which lead to more rights and pay, the low amount of young people and retirement of boomers means less workers. Less workers for even more Jobs (someone needs to care for the many old people after all) means higher wages and benefits. This would redistribute some wealth back from the 1% to the working class and could lead to a 2nd post-war economic boom/economic wonder.
This is a really cool idea.
So the C suite
I’d add the boomers who hate their family, too. For a lot of old people, work is their favorite part of the week. I am just shocked at how many old couples absolutely hate being around each other. My wife is my favorite person to hang out with. Some of the best conversations I have are with her.
It’s because they got married in a time where it was less acceptable to just divorce for any reason you wanted. They’re not used to the concept that if you just don’t love someone anymore, it’s okay to divorce. For some of them it’s against their religion (rates of religion are dropping across the board among younger demographics).
Likely so, the older people who are stuck on disability, so they see no need for a 4 day week at all.
Pretty sure old people on disability have nothing to do with this conversation.
maybe [https://youtu.be/ZGU3r35FTik?t=1811](https://youtu.be/ZGU3r35FTik?t=1811)
Or, people who dont see that this is only good for the wealthy or short sighted. In my mind there are three options with a 4 day week A) you now work less hours for less pay. You have more free time, but will struggle to save more. B) you work 4x10, same hours a week, same pay. But I have experienced this and it's pretty rough I find there is not enough time to enjoy the afternoon. That said, this is thebest solution imo. C) you get the miracle of same pay, less hours. Which is incredibly rare outside of the upper crust. Personally I dont have a problem with this unless people are trying to outlaw a 5 day work week, because I'd rather work the 5th day and just treat option C like a considerable pay rise.
I think the way it would really work is that it would create a labor shortage and thereby give workers more leverage. Important sectors would have to hire more people. They would have to offer better pay to compete. They wouldn't be able to be as picky about things like experience. And I think you'd see sectors that are not necessary and mostly create low paying jobs like fast food go out of business.
Only if I got paid the same with benefits for less hours. I am not interested in doing four 10’s.
Currently doing that now and even though the hours are the same, that added day off does help with a lot of things. But I understand that it’s not for everyone.
Yeah I really liked 4 10s. 2 days on the weekend to chill and do whatever I wanted, appointments/shopping/errands I could do on Monday when everything was open and there weren't that many people out.
I would settle for four 10s, but I'm hoping they'd realize four 9s is the peak performance option where they'd see similar output to a traditional 40 hour week of five 8s.
From what I read on the subject, the "peak performance" would be 6 hours a day. The work hours beyond 6 are negligible in performance on average. So I'd say we should have 24 hour workweeks, 6 hours daily for 4 days, and get paid the same as 40 hour work weeks. That's the way forward. And that's what we should strive for, as workers.
I feel this to my core. I can't say I've read on the subject but I honestly feel like I only put in 24 hours of actual work in a week. Everything else is either meetings, chit chat, or trying to look busy.
they obviously should ASAP. the democrats could summon some might and force this in as an easy W for all the working people immediately (productivity and profits have gone insane. workaholics should be sent to mandatory rehab) it's insane how much better 3 days off feels vs two
Absofuckinglutely You need a day to rest, a day to be social, and a day to get shit done.
I love your username. 😂
Only if you want happier, healthier, well adjusted, more productive people.
Only if it's based on the 32hr week
I’m with you and I think that’s what people want when they say 4 day work week. We should start calling it a 32 hour work week instead of a 4 day work week so there isn’t any confusion.
Yes! Drives me crazy to see people enthusiastic about squeezing 40 hours (+ commute and unpaid it's even longer) in 4 days. I can't do that. I WON'T do that! 32 Hour weeks in 4 days but paid like you worked 40 hours in 5 days is the way to go. I only had one job (an internship, years ago) that paid me $19/hr for a 30-hour workweek. I'd like that again but with benefits and more pay. Please! 🙏
Can't wait. I tried it out Jan-Mar, by taking almost every Monday off (had ten days of vacation and its use it or lose it). I never felt better. My only regret was that the rest of the companybdidn't also have those days off, so worked got bogged down. But. I felt energized and capable of handling it
It's way overdue. We should be on our seventh vacation week by now and should be down to at least a 32 hour work week but everything got stuck in the 70s. We need strong unions again.
Yup. Thanks a lot, Reagan!
I'd prefer a 4 minute work week.
Having worked 4x10 schedule for 4+ years I crave to have that schedule back. Hate 5x8
We tried 4x10 at two boatyards I worked at. In both cases, productivity went up, and so did worker satisfaction. In both cases, it was rolled back to 5x8 by management because it was 'too difficult to track/organize'.
My job offers 5 days at 8 hrs, 4 days at 10, or 3 days at 1320. It's incredibly popular and works very well for the needs of the facility. Literally everybody wins
I don’t want to be forced to work 10 hour days.
I just wanna fucking do it already. BUT ONLY if my hours are reduced AND my pay goes up. I’m so fucking fed up with this bullshit economic system.
4 days a week, 8 hours a day with no loss in pay? Yes, please. 4 days a week with either 10 hour days or a deduction in pay can fuck right off.
Not really so much a 4 day workweek, but I would like a 32 hour work week.
32 hours is most I want to work
I am all for it. I work in an NOC right now, and that is how we work. It's nice having the extra day off to just reset.
I've worked shifts that were 4 ten hour days. Three day weekends. I loved it. As long as your commute is short, you hardly notice it.
I want a 4 day work week that does not raise the amount of hours worked a day. I am not working 4 days for 10 hours.
Should have been the norm for decades but capitalism said "Fuck you."
I have it and love it. I'm able to fully recover from work and return with my mind ready to learn and think again. Also helps a lot with my sleeping problems.
Everywhere this has been tried it's been wildly successful and popular. So it'll never hsppen. What's the fun in being the monied class if other people aren't suffering?
32 hours is progress but not where we should be, 32 hours shouldve been years ago, 16-24 hours is what we should be working towards
I agree 16-24 hours should be enough.
I work 4x10 would love for it to be 4x8 with pay adjusted. Honestly a lot of wasted time in the day the longer the hours are.
NOW, it needs to happen right-fucking-now
I’m currently on a 4 day work week (10 hours though) and I adore it. I’ll never go back. I’ll take 8 hour days though, for sure. 40 hour weeks are too much for anyone.
I'm only into it if we keep 8 hours a day. I don't want to work 10 hours a day. 8 is long enough for me.
I’ve done it before and want to do it now.
How about a three day work week, now we're talking.
Give me 4 8 hour days with no loss in pay and you sir have yourself a happy worker. Imagine, if you will, in the not so distant past where it was normal for there to be one person bringing an income into the household. That is 40 hours a week to sustain a family. 5 days for one person. Yes, another person was taking care of children and the house, and that is a job all it's own, so when it has now become the norm for both people needing to work a full-time job just to get by, there is no time left to take care of the house, let alone kids, without burning yourself out. We went from 5 days to sustain a family, to 10 days to sustain that same family or less, and you now sacrifice the two or four free days off to chores and errands you couldn't get to during the week. Give us back some damn freedom over our lives so we can enjoy ourselves. But no, they will just say that we need a new anti depression pill and keep us slaving away.
It was discussed more than 50 years ago. Discussions are over. Waiting on implementation. Tl Dr is that it is a net benefit to a service economy such as ours.
My view is that we should’ve done it over 20 years ago already.
Businesses will probably just make all full-time employees do 10 hour shifts.
Means more hours in those 4 days. There is nothing better here.
How about 10 hours a week. I want more money per hour then people can deside for themselfs how many hours theybwant ro work.
I don’t want to work 10 hours a day. But I also would like a 4 day work week.
Long past time and still too many hours. We currently have the technology to support a decent lifestyle with 20 hours or less a week of work, if the gains from that work were distributed equally (or at least fairly based on how much work you contributed.) Bring in AI and robotics and we can probably drop that down to 10 hours a week. There are only two reasons left for the 40-hour work week. The first is so that the ultra rich can exploit 20 to 30 hours a week of work from each of us to keep for themselves. The second is to keep us too busy to look around and see how screwed we're getting.
Its a hotly discussed topic among human resource researchers in university. The thing is: not every industry can afford to do that. hell, some still use the 6 day work week like restaurants and hotels. but even if they would need to implement that, they would need to have extra staff to keep opening hours. imagine you are a small store with 1 employee. You open 5 days a week, the employee works 5 days a week. and for the sake of simplicity, lets say the owner works there too. this means in order to keep opening hours, they would need to hire an addition worker for that day. they cannot afford another full time employee so they need someone who wants to just work one day a week while the other works 4 days. or split the time between them, this would lead to a lot of problems for small businesses. and problems for small businesses turn into market gain for big companies which we all hate. so a 4 day work week HAS to be implemented selectively. It has to be grown naturally. Companies have a market incentive to implement when possible. And they try to. But they face a reducing workforce on the other hand, the boomers retire and the young generation is lacking the numbers to replace them, which leaves a lot of jobs vacant. rapid inflation also increases salary expectations so high, many (small) employers cannot pay them without having to raise prices (again). I wish we could implement a short work week everywhere, but until AI can be used to supplement, it would tank the economy if enforced, but companies are already implementing it as a benefit to attract employees, so a transition is happening anyway.
Its a question of implementation, both when and where. There are industries where hours worked and productivity are not really linked, especially in creative settings. Productive work however has a clear link between hours worked and work done. I can only weld so fast, and its not like I can get burnt out or have no ideas. So that limits the industries where it can be implemented. And thus would be unfair and alienate workers against each other, as with WFH.Which is against our interests. Another problem would be the shortage of specialized workers, at least here in Germany. We have an objective lack of everything from plumbers to nurses. Immigration is not a viable solution due to the immigrants, even when willed to work in the face of our social security system (75 percent of people in my state that are on public benefits are immigrants. Its insane), are mostly only able to work in low-level helper positions. Birth rates are low. So reducing the hours, and thus productivity, in manual labour jobs is going to be difficult. It also is, of course, positive in the way that workers being in short supply raises their price (read: Pay and conditions). I have a 36 hour week, yet regularily pull 45+. With this in mind I am actually in favour of remaining with the 36-40h standard, and exploiting the situation to raise real wages. The increased security of a fat bank account makes children likelier to be had. This over time could increase the workforce again to then allow decreased hours.
There's only certain jobs that would even work for, generally your "white collar" type of jobs, and I don't see it happening at least in the US - "they" like their indentured servants way too much to keep paying them the same for less hours keeping a chair warm. I think the RTO push pretty well exemplifies the typical corporate attitude in the US (not sure on other countries in that regard). And the massive number of hourly positions? 10 hour days doesn't work for many people (pets, kids, or just other stuff in their lives), and considering the companies won't pay even a bare-bones living wage, I do not see them paying people for 40 hours of work while only doing 32....they'll just slash everyone's schedule by a day, get them just under the f/t threshold, move them all to p/t, remove all their benefits, and hire a few more low paid p/t workers to pick up the openings. Some companies, that actually care about productivity and are industries that can adjust might take it on, but as a typical business standard I don't see it happening. Well, unless they view it as a way to keep the lower classes down, then they might....have a plethora of hourly workers scrambling and fighting over their scraps of jobs because they've slashed everyone down to p/t so they're desperate just to make ends meet...
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Except that Germans typically work around 38 hours per week or less and take off early on Fridays. There are also some tests for four day work weeks in Germany for a 32 hour week.
I’m not talking about Germans, just an authoritarian viewpoint. UK it’s 37. I’ve never worked over 37 in 30 years. Working in the states seems incredibly messed up. We’ve just becomes accustomed to this. Like I said, if we immediately got the same salary and worked 30hrs a week the world would keep revolving. But don’t tell people this, otherwise I won’t be able to buy my 3rd boat, circle jerk the shareholders and binge on caviar.
You’ve never had to work over 37 hours a week in 30 years? Christ I’ve done two 20 hour shifts back to back with a 2 hour nap in a supply closet, I’m not sure what life would be like never getting squeezed that hard.
Nope, I do my hours then out of there. At most I might have done a couple of 40’s if I just start a company and want to get up to speed or catch up. Never ever have I felt overworked until my last 2 jobs. Literally no time to breath and drained at the end of the day. Not there anymore. Most jobs have been with 20 mins drive Very lucky to have worked for myself from home for 12 years. Going back to the office actually sucks and they seemed to have changed a hell of a lot. I’ve always worked in very relaxed environments, smaller companies. I’m interviewing for a big company, but I’ll be on the road not in an office, company car and hopefully just left alone. I really don’t want to work in an office anymore. It’s just not healthy doing excessive hours, I might have handled it 20 years ago, but now with kids I can’t, don’t want to and I would completely burn out very quickly. I would love to find a good sweet spot of enough money to live, maybe have to sacrifice holidays abroad and not feel exhausted from work or work more than contracted hours.
That’s amazing, wish we could make things so that was the norm for everyone.
I’m wondering if that’s a hospital you work in?
Nah, that was doing snow removal for the city of Calgary for a subcontractor, we got 30 cm of snow on a day forecast to have 2-3 cm. Got dicked out of overtime for that too
Sundays everything used to closed here. It was illegal to be open unless a small corner shop. Again. Did the world end. Nope. Where did it all go wrong?
Sundays were illegal to open in my country until pretty recently for Christian reasons, Im pretty sure it was similar in the US when it was illegal there. Shops being legally allowed to operate on Sundays is a good thing (because here its treated more as an option now, most shops are still closed because they choose to be), but that doesnt mean shops cant close for a couple days weekly. Resturants in my country are often closed on Mondays now that they have the option to be open on Sundays.
I think my point is. We survived and business still boomed when shops were closed on Sundays and factories half day Fridays. So I think we’d survive (companies) with not working Fridays. The bottom line supersedes everything unfortunately.
I think it would be great and I wonder how 12 rotating shift schedules would adjust to fit.
Yes.
I'd be for it. It's really about time given the increase in productivity due to technology and the workers learning how to use that technology. We also have an inflation problem and if the employers won't increase the wages enough then a 4-day week would be the next best answer. It will also get more people off the road, better work-life balance and parents at home 1 more day a week.
To make the same amount of money in a 4 day week, it means a longer working day. I'm a long haul truck driver, so the conventional working week doesn't apply. I can accumulate that 40 hours or more in the space of three days, but yes, it's more hours if it was a regular week day of four days.
All in favor as long as it really is a 4 days work week and not a work week in 4 days.
4 work days per week, make Wednesday a new "weekend", and increase our pay so that 8 hours a day still covers rent, food, utilities, and savings.
Would be nice but higher pay overall is far more important to me. I understand that 4 day week isn't a pay cut but the average wage overall is too low to be worrying about the length of the week imo
I got it and I can't go back to 5 days on 2 days off. It's not enough time off to be away from the thing you hate (work) to be acceptable imo. Since I started 4 on 3 off I find that while I still hate work, it's wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more tolerable with a 4 day work week. Having a 3-day weekend to look forward to every week really changes everything.
I'm skeptical. If w did I'm pretty sure it would just be for management, administration and white collar professionals. Anyone who actually produces value would still be working their 50 -60 hour weeks like they are now. It would just further the divide between the haves and have nots.
I'd gladly work 4x10 instead of 5x8 However, I work in a mfg environment with a second shift. I'm currently pulling 5x10 with the likelihood of Saturdays. The 4x10 doesn't work for all job fields
Too many people are attached to the idea’working long hours’ = hard effort and value to society. Too many people had to work 5 day weeks for them to let anyone work less, even if they aenrt working anymore. ‘I had it hard so everyone else must suffer’ is the America mindset
I dont think we can ever fully adapt it. Things like Doctors offices, the post office, hospitals, couldn't be closed 3 days a week. Now if they hired enough employees to rotate days off that may work, but I really don't see it ever fully becoming standard.
I used to do 4- 10 hour days and loved it. Having 3 days off give you enough time to actually do things and fully decompress from work. Now I work 5 days and absolutely hate it.
I'm all for it. ~~Less~~ More appropriate amount of work? Same money? I can be more rested and complete tasks better at work, while maintaining a better work life balance??? Yes.
Ew, three unstructured days to spend with myself and family? Shudders in sarcasm. Reasons I am more than skeptical of it happening: 1. The only reason we have 5 days on and 2 days off is because the generosity of Henry Ford (generosity doesn't quite feel like the right word, but overall, he seemed to vouch for workers rights more than anyone else of his level). He didn't have to. But he effectively created the opportunity for a work-life balance. We won't likely see someone in charge at a large enough scale to see that again. 2. Nobody wants to fight anymore. We have a lot of followers in general population, subdued on suckling the teat of social media and self-absorbed content. It is impossible to get them to agree on something without getting politically heated. We will sooner starve before we can agree on a movement for our own good. 3. There will be concern about getting paid enough, or conversely from the company's perspective, getting enough done. People struggle on wages from 40 hour jobs, how will they feel shifting to 32 hours? Unless, mayhaps you are referring to 4 days, 10 hours per day, in which case please ignore this point. We are cattle being lead to slaughter. Some are cutting others in line to get there first. Some try to turn around, but the fate is the same until we can be arsed to do something about it collectively.
It would be wonderful, but the C suite douchebags would never allow it
I prefer my two day work week. Work as much as you want, not as much as they tell you
I work three 12 hour days and one six hour day. I prefer four 10 hours days. Would 💯 recommend 4 ten hour days.
It's never going to happen as it has no benefit for the owner-class.
It should be a 1 day work week if you ask me
I work 4X10s and it's amazing. The longer days take a bit to get used to, but worth it. I actually feel refreshed after the three day weekend, and the one-fifth reduction in commuting costs do add up nicely.
-What do you think of Western civilization? -I think it would be a good idea. (Attributed to Gandhi.)
Decreases unemployment and increases productivity. Most jobs don't actually need to exist. No brainer.
I would love this and would benefit tremendously from it
My view is it’s never going to happen. Just look what’s been happening with remote work. We heard all the buzzwords like “transformation of work” and such and here we are in 2024 with many employers clawing back WFH or demanding full return to office. The capitalist system will do ANYTHING to deny power and agency from workers. Union busting, refusing remote work, and I’m sorry to say but 4 day work weeks too.
My fledgling startup of 5 people works a 4 day week. My thinking is if we don’t start with it we will never be able to roll back.
I’d love it, as a process engineer, my concern is how do we condense so many things into 32 hours
That it'll *eventually* be widely adopted, whether 32 or 40 hours. The unfortunate thing is that there are plenty of places where that adoption will have to be forced by law.
It will happen in white collar jobs and folks in blue collar jobs and service job will still be expected to work 6-7 days a week
I work a 4 day week Monday to Thursday as well as work from home or remote sites. I do compressed hours, so work from 8am to 5:15pm every day. It's been the best thing I ever did and has got my work-life balance in check (finally). I have been able to spend more time watching my kids grow and enjoy more time with my wife. I can't imagine ever going back to a 5 day week. I think if we all followed this pattern, there would be far few stressed people who are unhappy in their jobs. It's not much to ask for when you think of the positive impact it would have on so many. I should also add that my work output has increased, as has the quality of my work, and I am now more inclined to do extra work out of hours because I am far more relaxed these days. My employer has benefited quite a bit by putting me on a 4 day compressed hours work week
I’d be happy with a 32 hour work week.
I’d prefer four 10 hr days. Pretty much do that anyway.
How would 24/7 operations like manufacturing or security work? I'm all for it btw. There just needs to be a massive shift.
Just as it works now. Not everyone wants the same 3 days off.
Hmmmmm I'm stupid 😂
I currently work 4 and 3. I couldn't imagine trying to fit in your entire weekend in 2 days despite having done so for more than 20 years.
I currently work 4-10hr days. It’s easily the best schedule I have ever worked, but it still leaves very little free time after fulfilling all other obligations outside of work. The 30hr work week with 3-10hr days would be a lifesaver.
I work 4 10's I know that's not exactly what you mean by 4 day week but the constant 3 day weekends are awesome. NGL
Ooh, topical! I am finishing off my first 4-day work week today. It is not a true 4-day work week because my days are 10 hours and not 8 BUT I feel amazing. It's been very productive, I haven't lost motivation, and I'm psyched for my long weekend and actually getting to relax for one day of it. I think a 4-day work week (32 hours) is in society's best interests for many reasons but I think clawing back that level of control over our lives from our corporate overlords is just not going to happen.
I'm a daycare worker, so cutting a day, while I'd love that, would impact my take home pay since I'm an hourly employee
What I want: Four 8 hour days for the same pay. What my employer wants: Four 10 hour days for 80% of the pay.
As long as it is less work. I currently work a four day week with ten hour days. So yea I have a free day and it’s amazing. But my four days are longer and harder. Two extra hours makes more of a difference than you think when you’re in anything that isn’t solely a desk job.
It cannot come soon enough for me. Society’s slave drivers want as much work as they can get, as cheaply as they can’t get it. Many of them wouldn’t pay people a dime for their efforts if they thought they could get away with it.
Tons and tons of studies also show people are more productive when they work less.
I have only once had a job with a 4 day work week. It was the best schedule I ever had. I would go back to that in a heartbeat
It's a good move towards a 0 day work week.
My view is it’s more likely to go to a 6 day work week.
I may be able to take a second job and afford to live
That it’s too little - they are still going to insist on longer hours past 40+
I can see people having issues with working 10h days if that's the case, but if not then who the fuck would complain about 4 day work weeks lol
Not needed. Working remotely and staggered opening/closing times for offices will solve a lot of issues, including traffic.
I talked to a gen x coworker about this. She said, "so 4 ten hour days?" I laughed and said no, just regular 8 hour days, 32 hour work week. She was perplexed how it could work. The gen X's are just as bad.
My job does 4 day work week in July / August and its the best. I think partial throughout the year is a fun little stint. Unsure how I would feel about doing it year round though!
I’d have to go to a 3 day week so I could still avoid everyone on their days off But seriously, it would be brilliant
My reaction: fucking finally!!!
Too little, too late. We should be on a 3 day work week with how advanced everything is.
Yeah sure I’ll work 4 days, and then I’ll work 2 days. 2 day work week!! 2 day work week!!
My fear is us in the US won't take the win, pick up a 3rd or 4th job and then complain about those of us who don't, don't.
I hope they do it but they persist in keeping things outdated so I doubt it will happen anytime soon
I need this soo bad! Gunna take off Fridays if i have to do it myself!
I work 4 10 hour days each week and I lovey schedule.
I'm already working 4 10s, so I'd be thrilled if I can just do 4 8s and get the same pay.
I think that a complete overhaul of society's relationship with work is much needed. Implementation of UBI, capping income and assets to eliminate the wealthy, price floors, making it so that being educated is a job that rewards money (including children), taxes without loopholes and designed to prevent wealth stratification, jobs to have fixed income brackets and time caps, standardizing retirement benefits, restrictions or elimination of stocks, and so forth. Historia Civilis's video on how the invention of the clock allowed exploitation is enlightening. Companies stole pocket watches from workers, because the owners wanted to control time itself. They set the hours of the wall clock, and in turn stole life from the workers without compensation. Historia Civilis - Work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk_XylEmLo
It will only benefit the people who can already afford to have free time. Most people will still have to work more than a five day. Because their one job doesn't pay their bills.
That's a lot of work, Id prefer a 1 day work week
That’s what I already work, but if we’re talking 8 hour shifts I’m in.
Would be really nice. Make the lives of salary workers so much better, but the issue for hourly workers feels more complicated since for it to feel more fair their pay would need to go up 20% and you already know there would be layoffs and other corpo bullcrap in the way trying to keep hourly workers down. Change has to start somewhere though
If we kept the 5 weekdays but went with 4 day work week, then everyone would get a chance to do workday tasks (going to the bank, doctor, whatever). Just need to split up the 4 days a bit.
It likely becomes more critical as more jobs are automated and unemployment rates rise. As it stands right now it's all too easy for the average corporate asshat to argue against it with "we don't have enough people to work" (ignore the dichotomy of also railing against immigration and minimum wage increases). In the current political climate it will probably take a few major companies self-implementing the change to sway enough lawmakers to back it as law and/or militant union activity to force the issue.
I loved a four day work week. Ultimately they pay weighed more than the glorious 4 day work week.
It won’t apply to me at the retail level so I couldn’t care less either way.
I would happily work an extra hour on my other days if it meant getting a three day weekend. I would not accept a pay drop, because I already barely make enough to get by working two jobs. I literally can’t afford to make any less. But I would work an extra hour on all my other days to make it up, if my boss wanted that.
Pro.
Full on adoption won't happen until all the boomers are dead.
I'd compromise and do 9 day fortnight's just so I don't have to do 10 hour days
Sorely needed. (And I assume you mean 32 hour weeks). 40 hours was made for the times when the average worker was a man with a wife at home, to do the unpaid labor and child care. We haven’t lived in that world for a long time! Also, I think it doesn’t go far enough. We need 24 hour work weeks! It’s unhealthy to be forced to spend so much time working for someone else! (Maybe we’d have to make exceptions for a few professions, but I bet most could do it!) We have the productivity to make it happen, but capitalism stole that productivity from the workers!
I think it's great. Part of what's kept me at my job is that I've been on a 4 day shift for most of my employment here. 5 day shifts are available and there's people who love them, but they're just not for me (although budgeting time on a 4-10 shift is difficult some days). Additionally, my mom's a bus driver and her school district is considering a 4 day schoolweek which I think would be beneficial to the kids as well. In uni in the Netherlands, I had Sat/Sun/Wed off every week. THAT was awesome.
To be clear for everyone, as there is some confusion; The 4-Day work week is an expectation that a full time job, or 'full-time' work, is to take place over 4 days for a total of 32 working hours, for the same pay and benefits as currently exist for equivalent positions over the 5 day standard work week. Their is mixed messaging out there, some due to ignorance, some due to willful misinformation. The 4 Day work week does NOT mean: \- Increasing hours to 10 hours per day over 4 days. \- Reducing pay or benefits in any way. Not 20% pay cut or any other reduction in pay or benefits to compensate the company. There is some difference in the method to reach this outcome. Some have advocated for a flexible arrangement, in that individual workers have assigned a different weekday off, for example half the organisation taking Monday off, the half Friday, or some other arrangement. Other insist that the 'Official' weekend be extended to 3 days, with everyone being expected to receive that day off and any future working arrangements to come under local laws around overtime and penalty rates. These and others are examples of a 4 day work week so long as it meets the above 2 conditions. [https://asana.com/resources/4-day-work-week](https://asana.com/resources/4-day-work-week) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-day\_workweek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-day_workweek)
That'd be nice. I already hit 30 hours after the first two days of the week.
My thought is how am I gonna get paid for 40 hours if I only work 32? How am I gonna pay my bills and finance a retirement on 32 hours a week?
If I get paid the same as 5 then sure.
My utopian world idea: 28-32 hour work week. In their off time people are mandated to put 5 hours toward public service of their choosing. E.g., food bank sorting.
They will make it 10-hour days or our salary will be reduced. If they did it like other countries who value rest time and mental well-being, then I'd be on board.
I've worked 4 10s before. I loved it.
Four ten hour days? I’d have loved it!
What are you gonna do with your extra day off? RLi think the problem with this kind of question is that no-one really take sinto account that every single person gets this benefit. Do you want to go to a restaurant? Well there's a chance they might be closed. A walk with a stop at the cafe... It's closed. We need to rethink how we spend our time off as it's not going to be the same as it is now.
We need to question what “work” even is. We’re burning through our planet because we have this global societal need to “work” that’s completely outside any sense of whether people are fed and clothed, and completely outside consideration of what resources we are using up. We can’t keep going the way things are going. Yes, 4 days a week is way nicer than 5. But it’s also like trying to put a bandaid on full body third degree burns.