Thoughts on employers potentially having to offer 4-day week?

Noxia said:
I actually preferred having Wednesdays off and may go back to that tbh. As with all these things, I suspect the loudest voices will be people who can't do this and therefore they won't want others to have what they can't.
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That's a difficult one, as i too am the same as everybody else is at work, everywhere is open, and it breaks up the week. Also working Sunday always seemed chilled and much quieter, though i guess it depends on the job. But those few times something does happen on the weekend, you have to book the time off.
 
Ayahuasca said:
Fortunately, the company I work for already has plans for a 4 day week with the same pay and reduced hours.
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Do they have a system to buy/sell days - like you can buy extra holidays... or, in this case, you could say work 5 days a week for 20% more pay?
 
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Noxia said:
Jacobs have this. No, not the crackers.
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What do you mean - they reduced everyone's hours by 20% then allowed you to opt into 5 days a week for a 25% pay rise?

It seems a bit absurd and rather unaffordable for a lot of companies as loads of employees would just take the extra hefty pay rise and their payroll costs would have a big jump.

The concept of buying/selling days seems like it might not be compatible with a blanket policy of work being reduced to 4 days a week for everyone by default.
 
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BUDFORCE said:
It's what, about an hour and 50 minutes a day on a 37.5hr week?

So you'd be working about 9 and a half hours a day for 4 days

Those are quite long days depending.

I still reckon I'd do it.
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Yeah, it's not actually a 4 day week, you still need to do the hours.

Id be happy to do it though. But I do work from home and can be extremely flexible with what I do day go day, so not a huge difference for me, if I'm honest!
 
dowie said:
What do you mean - they reduced everyone's hours by 20% then allowed you to opt into 5 days a week for a 25% pay rise?

It seems a bit absurd and rather unaffordable for a lot of companies as loads of employees would just take the extra hefty pay rise and their payroll costs would have a big jump.

The concept of buying/selling days seems like it might not be compatible with a blanket policy of work being reduced to 4 days a week for everyone by default.
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Sorry I didn't take the whole message in. You can buy/sell holiday, that is part of the standard package. There is flexible working too but unsure re your specific question. I'll ask my colleague tomorrow as a hypothetical.
 
I'd go for it at work. I usually end up working 4x 9hr+ days + 7-8hrs as I need to work with US and China so always a mix on time zones.
Happlily make this just 4x9hr.... just don't tell the wife.... I need a new hobby for my free day.

sssshhhhh.......
 
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dowie said:

That's a possible issue in some salaried roles, in some cases it would essentially be like giving people an additional 50 days of vacation time.

Also working longer hours in one go can be less productive per hour worked. I mean we could take it further and say why not a 3-day week if people want that - work 12.5 hours per day for 3 days and still get in the 37.5 hours total per week + 4 days off in between. But those hours all at once probably won't be as productive as if they were spread out.
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I sort of agree. I tend to do little 30-50 min sprints of work then lose steam and distract myself with other tasks.

I think we've all seen presenteeism and bums on seats policies which don't actually equate to productivity or outcomes.

That said if people remain as productive as they currently are regardless of social media browsing, smoke breaks or extended lunches in compressed hours maybe that time off may help their behaviours and health over time and become more productive??

Who knows.

I get your point though. I make a concerted effort not to do more than I'm paid for (I'm salaried with no bonus or overtime or TOIL). Sometimes though you get caught up in stuff you enjoy.

I think if I could chose the day I had off and it didn't have to be the same day every day that would be pretty good. But let's face it most people would choose Friday!
 
D.P. said:
I already Work about 11-12 hours a day, albeit not continuous and very flexible . I would a 4 day week but that would simply mean cutting 20% working hours. The real issue is finding the contact hours with other teams, different time zones etc. 4-8pm are super busy.

I rather see a 6 day week with less hours being more practical . To some extent i already do that, stoping early at 6pm or taking a 90minute lunch (normally a working lunch) and catching up on Sunday
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I'd definitely not want to do 6 days. No one ever sticks to their hours religiously unless you're on shift and hourly paid. I live for my time off. :cry:
 
Freefaller said:
I sort of agree. I tend to do little 30-50 min sprints of work then lose steam and distract myself with other tasks.

I think we've all seen presenteeism and bums on seats policies which don't actually equate to productivity or outcomes.
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The vast majority of people cannot focus on mentally draining tasks for more than 3-4 hours without a significant break afterwards to "reset".

You'll have a few outliers, and these tend to be the top performers, but most people are done for the day after that and move on to easier stuff like emails and admin tasks etc.
 
I’m already working 6-6 4 days a week, contractually working 48 hours per week basic.

It’s either I do 4x12 or 5x10, both which are pretty poor working hours.

The place I work implemented condensed hours years ago as the energy savings were good when closing the business down on a Friday.
 
Freefaller said:
I'd definitely not want to do 6 days. No one ever sticks to their hours religiously unless you're on shift and hourly paid. I live for my time off. :cry:
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6 shorter days though, would increase productivity and opportunities for calls across time zones.
 
Ive usually done my contracted 35hrs by midday Thurs so if this does become a thing I will be putting a request in to HR straight away for condensed hours...
I doubt it will be approved but I will be doing it more to make a point..
 
D.P. said:
6 shorter days though, would increase productivity and opportunities for calls across time zones.
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The vast majority of people don't need to worry about making calls across time zones.

Also, unless you can work from home at least some of those days, or live close to where you work, the extra commute time would be a big turn-off for many people.

I can't say that I've ever seen anyone advocate a 6 day week, even if it was 4-6 hours a day.
 
Freefaller said:
I'd definitely not want to do 6 days. No one ever sticks to their hours religiously unless you're on shift and hourly paid. I live for my time off. :cry:
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As are most unless you're a doctor or CEO.

D.P. said:
6 shorter days though, would increase productivity and opportunities for calls across time zones.
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I really doubt it would, for a start you'll have a ****** off workforce that they only get 1 day off a week. The idea of the 4-day week is to promote a better work-life balance. Going to 6 days is moving in completely the opposite direction.

A few years ago my company gave everyone half a day off once a month, this didn't count towards your annual leave, the half day was on the same day for the entire company. Whilst it was a nice gesture, you were really limited with what you could do on your half day - it's not like you could go out for the day.

I imagine it's a similar experience for those who work on call, their time isn't truly theirs as subconsciously they may have to stop doing whatever they're currently doing to respond to a work call.

Working in software dev, I know most of my colleagues would love a 4 day week. In practice though I'm not sure how it would work as it's a global company so you've got other teams around the world who might be reliant on you and if you're out 1 day a week that could cause delays. I suspect the only way it'd work is not everyone having the same day off, but then everyone will want either the Friday's or Monday's off.

A better option would surely be to increase the legally entitled annual leave. If that got increased to say 40 days excluding bank holidays, then it gives people a bit more freedom.
 
Ayahuasca said:
The vast majority of people don't need to worry about making calls across time zones.
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I do, we have presence in 52 countries

including countries all over europe, Nordics, some in middle east, a lot in Asiapac, america, canada, south america, Australia

:p

I cannot get away from having to work in different timezones.
 
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