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It sounds too good to be true, but companies around the world that have cut their work week have found that it leads to higher productivity, more motivated staff and less burnout.
... Or they could just quit being CHEAP and get staffed properly. A lot of places operate on skeleton crews after they went layoff/expense cutting crazy to generate more money to the executives and all that has done is put added strain on the employees "Lucky enough" to keep their jobs.
Certain areas of my company has gone the "4-10s" shift and depending on how well its executed, the customer does not get serviced properly. Depends on the industry of course, but companies need to wake up and realize you can't lay your way off to success just as you can't starve yourself to health. You want to be successful, you have to be STAFFED properly to handle the workload.
Problem is long term thinking has been done away with for short term, one quarter success. People are stressed and burned out because now they have the job of 2-3 people thrown on them. Turning your facility into a ghost town with limited manpower isn't good.
Reduced work-weeks have been nudging in for a while, for a variety of reasons stated and unstated. In the middle range, it will be a way for companies to keep a full range of talent on hand with flexible terms, when there's really not enough employment hours for 5 days or more. Swapping four days for five with no reduction in hours is... just a first step.
The problem is that we're into an era of greater volatility in employee needs - companies can neither afford to cut staff to match the net demands nor carry a larger staff so that there are never man-hour shortfalls. Squeezing days and hours are just the start of permanent reductions in work hours for many businesses and industries.
I'm all for a 4 day work week. In most of my professional 40 hour a week jobs, I've rarely worked the entire 40 anyway. Most of it was just being present at the office. I come in, get my things done quickly and leave on time for the most part. Unless someone works for one of the said example companies above and is overworked, I don't see most people sitting for 8 hours straight in concentration on tasks. I know I work in spurts of an hour or 2 here and there throughout the day. This "butt in seat" or "face time" requirement is antiquated. Just get the job done and leave. I could understand being available if something comes up, but to have to sit in your chair all day is absurd and counterproductive. Other wasted time is spent on unnecessary meetings, which should have just been an email. On my days off work, I accomplish so much more than I ever do at the office.
1st - I can't burn through 10 straight hours of work. That's tough for me. Even 8 hours is a grind for me in my line of work. I can't imagine having to work *another* two hours 4 days a week, yuck. I'd rather work ahead as much as I can and sort of "coast" through certain days when I can.
2nd - Unless you're going to give this privilege to everyone on a particular team, it really stinks for those people who are working more traditional hours. I worked with a gal for many years who somehow talked her way into getting Wednesdays off, while working 10 hours the other 4 days of the week. We worked in deadline driven environment. Whenever there was work that had a short turnaround, this gal refused to take the work on the grounds "I'm losing a day on Wednesday so I can't meet the deadline". Also, anything due on Wednesdays couldn't be assigned to her at all because she wasn't working. So invariably the rest of us took on more work because of this.
I’d happily give up 25% of my pay for a 30-hour work week in a heartbeat. Most office workers only have 2-6 high quality hours per day in them. This lines up with my own personal observations in the workplace.
I would have loved to do this if it were available. As a matter of fact, it was discussed in my workplace back in the 90s and we hoped for it, but it never happened.
When you have to commute to NYC from the suburbs, the commute itself adds two or three hours to your day. I would have rather had four very long days and then three off.
I'd rather do for the sake of having a day off during the week to do errands and take long weekends without needing PTO.
This. Your day is already shot when you're at work anyway. I hate the long workday as it is, and the extra hour or two is miserable, but if it means you get a Friday off and can handle errands or take a long weekend without using that precious, limited PTO, it's worth it. Splits your week almost in half with 4 on, 3 off. A long weekend is worth it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
I would have loved to do this if it were available. As a matter of fact, it was discussed in my workplace back in the 90s and we hoped for it, but it never happened.
When you have to commute to NYC from the suburbs, the commute itself adds two or three hours to your day. I would have rather had four very long days and then three off.
This too. Less commuting; saves personal time, wear, tear, and gas on your vehicle.
Better yet, make the 40 hour work week a 32 hour work week. I've always been mentally checked out on full day Fridays anyway.
That extra day is a whole day to myself, for me to do what I want to do.
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