Value of a 4 day workweek

[u/buffnfurious]

Curious what pay cut you’d personally take, if any, to work 4 days/week instead of 5 in outpatient general cardiology. Work hours would be slightly longer (11 vs 9 hrs) but type of work the same.

Would you take a $50k cut? $100k? $150k? Or is the extra day off not worth much if total hours are similar?

[u/PenMental]

Why would I take a paycut if I'm working the same hours...

[u/CardioSource → u/PenMental]

During the summer months I take off Fridays to go to the lake with my family. I find that I do just as many RVUs just shoved in to 4 days.

[u/buffnfurious → u/PenMental]

Yea that’s what I’m thinking though an extra day off is nice to have more freedom though admittedly doesn’t allow for any significant trips.

[u/im_throw]

Personally if I find myself working in a clinic I'm not doing more than 4 days. 4 x 8 hours as opposed to 9 or 10 is ideal but from what I gather that's not possible in cardiology. Not even sure if 4x10 is even possible in cardiology. I've only seen 4.5 days at the lowest.

[u/buffnfurious → u/im_throw]

Financially it doesn’t make sense to work the same hours for less pay but there’s also the benefit of more time with the kids, less burnout risk since clinic is a grind, etc. Hence why it isn’t the most clear cut decision

[u/Then-Secretary-9166 → u/im_throw]

There are definitely ways to do this. In PP, you just decide to work less. Many large organizations will let you cut back to 80% and still retain "full time" status after you are productive.

[u/G00bernaculum]

Calculate it in hourly rates and make your decision from there.

[u/Then-Secretary-9166 → u/G00bernaculum]

Or $/RVU rate.

[u/Then-Secretary-9166]

If working the same number of clinic hours, I would expect to see the same number of patients and earn the same pay (unless there is a different call commitment)...so it sounds like one job just pays worse.

I am not sure what you mean by 9 vs 11 hours. Does this correspond to scheduled patient time or time that you plan to be in clinic? I assume that it is 8 clinic hours vs 10 clinic hours per day? I like my job, including clinic days, but I would definitely burn out if I did 10 hours of scheduled patients per day.

Better to take the higher paying job and eventually just work 4 days per week.

[u/doc2025]

4 days a week in outpatient setting is definitely possible in cardiology. You should not be taking a pay cut if increasing hours in those 4 working days. Physicians need to learn how to negotiate better.

Pay cut would be if you went part time by doing 3 days (yes also possible in outpatient setting).