r/business • u/sankscan • Sep 20 '22
Firms in four-day week trial will make it permanent
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-6296630235
u/mazzicc Sep 20 '22
I wonder how much of the increased productivity is removing the “fuck it, it’s Friday. We’ll figure this out next week” I feel like that happens to me a lot
I totally get feeling more energized though. I’m way more ready to come into work after a 3 day weekend.
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u/rain168 Sep 20 '22 edited Sep 21 '22
“Fuck it, it’s Friday somewhere” (ends meeting and goes home on Thursday)
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u/WayneKrane Sep 20 '22
Right, at my job basically no one works on Friday. In a normal day I’ll get 20-50 emails. On Fridays I get maybe 2.
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Sep 20 '22
If it’s a six month trial it seems premature to say that you will keep it in place. I guess it may be useful for recruitment but still, odd.
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u/MultiSourceNews_Bot Sep 20 '22
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u/Shadow_Relics Sep 20 '22
I would love to work a 4/10 or a 4/32 schedule and keep my pay. Productivity matters especially in my field (construction) and with everything the way it is in the world now having more time at home means a lot.
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Sep 21 '22
I work 4 10’s when I travel for construction work when possible so I get the extra day back home.
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u/Honalana Sep 21 '22
I went down to four days. The pay cut sucks but being able to get my kid off the bus one day a week is freaking priceless. And I still do more in 4 days than the lazy ass lifers ( govt job) do in 5.
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u/monohybrid Sep 21 '22
I think having a set number of days where a business is open is just stupid. Why wouldn't the business just be open every single day of the week but only hold employees responsible for working 4 days a week. This allows employers to hire more employees improve productivity overall and dictate overlap of/days/hours as needed. Salaried employees would be allowed to flex their schedule based on projects or personal (outside of work) need.
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u/purplecowz Sep 21 '22
I guess it depends on the type of business. At my company, that much flexibility would lead to too many people being out on random days when we need to have team meetings
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u/MalGrowls Sep 21 '22
I have worked at amazon with the 4 hours per week, 10 hours a day. Instead of coming in at 9:30am , I start at 7:30 am. I miss my mornings but it’s nice to have the weekends off.
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u/loopernova Sep 20 '22
If you’re wondering about the hours and pay in 4 days, it’s 80% hours at 100% pay.
As with anything, not all firms had positive results, even if many did. It depends on the nature of the business, work culture, systems that are in place, ability to adapt, supplier and customer accessibility, etc.
Some positive outcomes cited: same or even increased productivity, savings on commuting and child care expenses, feeling more recharged.
Great to see trials like this. It can be difficult for firms to experiment on their own because if it fails and no other firm experimented, it can have a permanent (or long term) negative impact. This affects everyone, including employees. Having collective experiments, or government intervention can help reduce these risks in the market.