Jump to content

4-Day Work Week & 6-Hour Work Day - Thoughts?


David

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

Next time I'm suffering from mental health issues, I'll definitely take a look at how fortunate we are in the UK compared to other countries and that will cheer me right up. Can't believe I didn't think of that before!

Unless the other country I look at is Finland ☹️

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Next time I'm suffering from mental health issues, I'll definitely take a look at how fortunate we are in the UK compared to other countries and that will cheer me right up. Can't believe I didn't think of that before!

Unless the other country I look at is Finland ☹️

Not what I suggested at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's actually quite refreshing to hear exactly the kind of opposition I expected.

The vibe I'm getting is the conservative view that workers should be grateful for the employment, that they should get the work done regardless of the pressures, and that anyone given time and money to spare will waste it.

I simply don't think that is the case, nor would it be the case. The absolute key for applicable industries is businesses managing their customer expectations and work capacities. We have those problems now with oversubscribed production plans and poor process control. Businesses lose more money and time on inefficiencies, credits due to error, and reproduction than anything else, mostly (in my experience) caused by the "work harder not smarter" mentality. Get a grip on those things, among others, and a switchover to reduced hours without reducing pay would be much easier.

An extra day off a week wouldn't be spent by one and all scratching their nuts either. It opens up the opportunity for further education, pursuing new qualifications, thereby adding to an employee's worth and value to the business and the marketplace, and therefore giving them greater opportunity for career advancement. It worries me that a poster on here remarked how they were working class and always would be, or would never be rich, or words to that effect. Without the time, energy, and chance to better yourself skills-wise and career-wise outside of your working hours, you risk burn out and ennui, both enemies to progression. I have several friends and colleagues taking work-focused university courses from home alongside full time work, and the majority complain of and exhibit signs of fatigue, while not expecting to complete what would be a 3 year course in less than double that. That's a load of time that the employer won't see a benefit from.

Older friends and relatives who have either been able to take or been forced into early retirement have taken the opportunity to fill their time by contributing to social projects, which corresponds with findings during trials of reduced hours elsewhere. This on turn feeds back into social wellbeing for the community, and eases the pressure on social services and charities through volunteering, none of which is possible if the community is stuck in work. All these projects are available now, of course, but their support and social contributions would massively increase.

I'm aware many of the views in this thread are shaped by personal experience, and although I've seen a lot of shitty human behaviour, I still believe the effect of an experiment in reduced hours would surprise a lot of the naysayers. For a guy who thinks people can be real dicks, I do have a lot of faith in them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm essentially doing this right now, after attempting to reduce my hours due to feeling stagnated by my workload I instead agreed with my manager that I would work from home on Friday and use it as a skills day. So instead of doing my regularly scheduled job I'm instead free to pursue my interests so long as they're generally related to improving at my job. It's not identical, but it's what I'd use that day for anyway as I'm feeling more confident as a result and like I'm growing, and if anything my productivity has gone up with the added focus and feeling better about the work I'm doing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
9 hours ago, Pier Six Brawler said:

The 7 day week is definitely outdated, theres no reason why a week has to have 7 days, IMO we should have metric time and a week should be 10 days and everyone can work 5 days on, 5 days off.

You might not be a million miles off with this. We were on about something similar in the pub on Boxing Day, actually. When we first started going in pubs in '94/'95 ish(we were 13 and 14), the only people who worked normal hours on a Sunday and Bank Holidays were the police, fire and hospital staff(and bar staff), and if you were required to work weekends as a one off, you got double or triple time. There were no supermarkets or shops open really(barring the odd corner shop), so virtually everyone we knew would be out socialising with friends and family. The pubs were rammed full of families, with the kids all playing football outside in the beer gardens or on the play equipment they had.

Then, over the space of a few years every shop and supermarket started opening 7 days(and eventually 24 hours), the call centers started popping up in the area and had you working at least one weekend day per week as part of your normal hours(no extra pay) and gradually everyones day off became staggered. Now, even getting half of us together for a bit of a chill out sesh is a nightmare.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...