Four day work week

Brookert said:
Would love a 4 day week, but people have their priorities all wrong in this country. No one will say they wished they worked more when they are on their death bed. However if you don't go above and beyond, you don't get the progression, so there's no winning.
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The trouble with that saying is it applies equally in the opposite direction. No one who retires early mortgage free and decent savings complains that they worked hard. People who failed to make mortgage payments and were turfed out of their house and lost significant savings would have very much liked the opportunity to work more AND earn more doing it.

Living paycheck by paycheck, struggling to make ends meet is not fun and I doubt anyone would put on their gravestone they wished they lived at the poverty line etc.
 
Funny thing about mortgages is that if everyone would earn 20% less, mortgages would be 20% less (actually difference would probably be bigger) and everybody could pay them off just fine in about the same time with their lower income.

Housing prices are mostly set by peoples ability / willingness to pay. In London and other growing cities people are literally working themselves to death to keep up with the Joneses or just to afford the little nice place to live.
 
D.P. said:
But it is a good mindset, i never understood the fixation some people have that they are paid form 98-5. no, you are paid a salary to do a job, the average working hours maybe 40 hours a week, and you contract may stipulate a facetime requirement but it is pathetic to view a job in an hourly way.
You are hired because you have a job to do, not sit on a seat for 8 hours a day. If someone is so concerned about hours worked then would they be happy if the employer deducted wages for time spend in the bathroom, time spent having a cuppa, on Facebook/OCUK? Do you want to be clicked in and out every-time you get off your seat?

It is a ridiculous antiquated notion as your colleagues rightly say, best reserved for a factory or warehouse.


Of course, it has to go both ways and with any decent employer it will. If I've had a very productive morning then I'll wrap up several hours early.
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Are you against garages, plumbers, builders etc giving 'estimates' over 'quotes'?
 
D.P. said:
No one who retires early mortgage free and decent savings complains that they worked hard.
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Which rarely happens. People who get into high paid positions don't tend to retire at 40 despite being able to financially, they go on forever. Rupert Murdoch is a billion years old but is still the CEO of News Corp, why didn't he retire a millennia ago?

Where I work the senior management are almost entire people in their 60s and late 50s and none of them are planning on retiring until they have to.

Collecting money is like collecting anything, you become addicted to it.
 
Rroff said:
No one should _have_ to work 60 hours a week as a norm, some people might choose to, some jobs might actually require it i.e. if you aspire to upper management, etc. (for the record there are very few weeks lately when I haven't done atleast 15 hours, sometimes 21-22 hours over time - but I do get paid hourly after a certain point).

IMO the whole balance is wrong and people have been conditioned into mindsets that actually if you take a step backwards doesn't really make a whole lot of sense in abstract when viewed from outside the "system".
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Not really. If you're client facing the relationship is important. Unfortunately this can mean longer hours, especially if they operate in all timezones.
 
estebanrey said:
Which rarely happens. People who get into high paid positions don't tend to retire at 40 despite being able to financially, they go on forever. Rupert Murdoch is a billion years old but is still the CEO of News Corp, why didn't he retire a millennia ago?

Where I work the senior management are almost entire people in their 60s and late 50s and none of them are planning on retiring until they have to.

Collecting money is like collecting anything, you become addicted to it.
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as far as work is concerned people seem to be more likely to do well if they are passionate about what they do

I'm sure there are plenty of people at the top of their professions who could retire at 50 or so but just don't want to as actually they're still quite passionate about their work..... and it was that mentality that got them to the top in the first place
 
we have 3 day and 4 day shifts where i work and they are considering changing this to 4 on 4 off .
im on a 4 day split mon tue fri sat probably the most unpopular but i dont mind it ,tend to finish mid afternoon on mon tue (6am start) so last week went to polzeath and got some bodyboarding done ,same on my days off .
would struggle to do 5 (apart from overtime on odd occasion when i need money)
work life balance is very important
 
I work 5 days a week and I'm fine with it. I still get plenty of time to do my hobbies and socialise. Sure I would like more time to do the things I want to do but that's what holidays are for. I work 9-5 mon-fri, so yes the "boring mundane job" that quite a few people especially on the internet seem to think is sad... yet you know what it’s perfect for me. I wake up I have a bit of morning to myself before I go to work I get in for around 9 then I leave at 5 on the dot, I'm not paid to work anymore so I won't. I see some people in my office that work longer because they feel their work is "that important" and they simply must be there to do it. Personally I just see that as poor time management. Sure I do a bit of overtime if needed towards special or urgent projects, but only if I am being paid for that overtime and if it A) interests me B) doesn't conflict with my personal plans.

One of the things our office "promotes" is work life balance, I enjoy my work and I'm content with what I do and I will do the work to the best of my ability between 9-5. Outside of them hours it is my time and I do what I like. No more no less. But it seems some people struggle (or lack the balls) to just work their normal hours.

That said my week usually goes like this:

Mon: urgh start of the week, most likely work a bit slower unless there is something really really important going on
Tues: I hate Tuesday, worse day of the week but starting to get in stride
Weds: WOOOO peak efficiency day, will generally work better and hell half way through the week !
Thurs: Nearly at the weekend, will still be working quite well and generally motivated
Fri: LAST DAY OF THE WEEK TILL THE WEEKEND !!!!! will work well in the morning with lots of motivation, that slowly starts to decline after lunch time at which point I am slowly switching off until 5pm when I rush out of the door
Sat + Sun: This is my time ! I do what I like :)
 
I have a 4 day working week, Sunday to Wednesday. Sunday is dead, which is awesome. Wednesday is handover, so double the amount of people on. Thursday-Saturday off is great.
 
estebanrey said:
Which rarely happens. People who get into high paid positions don't tend to retire at 40 despite being able to financially, they go on forever. Rupert Murdoch is a billion years old but is still the CEO of News Corp, why didn't he retire a millennia ago?

Where I work the senior management are almost entire people in their 60s and late 50s and none of them are planning on retiring until they have to.

Collecting money is like collecting anything, you become addicted to it.
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That is because people that like their job, are good at it, passionate about the company, motivated to work long hours etc. are the people make it to upper management. Additionally, at that point they are getting serous compensation and greed again will take hold, not so easy giving up a 200K a year job if you genuinely like it even although you could retire. Other factors probably come into play, e.g. grand children might appear and the thought that a few more years work will pay for their college education etc.

Moreover, naturally, those that did earn a lot and wanted to get out and enjoy an early retirement are no longer visible to you in your company.
I've known quote a few poeple to quit their hgih paying jobs in their 40s and retire, or go into a new job where they don't earn squat but they get immense satisfaction.

I think it is Amigfan on this forum who retired in his late 30s. My aim is to retire early 40s. Mortgage should be paid off end of next year and then I will work 10 years to build up a big savings pool of around $700-1000k and then I will jack it all in become a full-time nature photographer where the only requirement on my income is it is enough that the IRS doesn't think I have a fake business to provide me with tax-free camera gear, which of course it is:D
 
I would imagine it to be a real struggle converting from a 5 to 4 day working week. I can see the benefits but I honestly don't see it happening.

You know what I'd accept as a middle ground? Working from home a day or two a week. I did it for 2 years and it was fantastic. Obviously not all jobs/industries can have people working from home, but for me it made a big difference. Benefits contain but not limited to:

* Better work/life balance
* Less stress
* Less cars on the road, less pollution
 
Terminal_Boy said:
Can't plan for events like that.

It's when you have LastMinute.com requests on a near daily basis that you know that your management can't organise the proverbial **** up in a brewery.
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It's poor management. What annoys me is managers who know a job is important yet they don't push for it until the last 30 minutes of your shift, then when you say it's too late, it's like it's your fault!

They need a kick up the arse.
 
Jono said:
Just work extra hours per day (2). I'd happily do that for a Friday/Monday off.
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That doesn't work well for everyone. Schools as one of many examples. You can only do so much learning in one day before you need a break. Same for work a lot of jobs and/or people cannont maintain 2 hour longer days.
 
Pottsey said:
That doesn't work well for everyone. Schools as one of many examples. You can only do so much learning in one day before you need a break. Same for work a lot of jobs and/or people cannot maintain 2 hour longer days.
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Same goes to any job needing your brain. honestly the best way to be more productive would be to reduce work hour to 6 hours a day and work 6 days a week. That is the complete opposite to what the OP seeks. 5 day week is about the right compromise.

Also adding 2 hours a day doesn't really work well for professional industries where you are already expected to work 10+ hours a day.
 
Clov!s said:
It's poor management. What annoys me is managers who know a job is important yet they don't push for it until the last 30 minutes of your shift, then when you say it's too late, it's like it's your fault!

They need a kick up the arse.
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Happened to me today. 4pm and we leave at 4:30, ops manager comes and says we need 2 of these urgent. Took a bit of faffing about to get it sorted but we did it and it took 3 of us to get it done, 1 drilling, 1 welding and 1 assembling.
 
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