Well, the idea when this was trialled in the UK is that you're supposed to be paid the same for 32 hours as a 37 hour working week. A more rested and efficient staff theoretically can be more productive in less amount of time. Apparently the tests did seem to show productivity gains in many industries. It's more an issue with customer service when you need someone to cover those hours. Of course, you could always change customer expectations regarding opening hours, depending the time of customer.
Of course, I would be in favour of this given there is more to life than work. Working is a waste of time in a certain sense anyway. It's not like you get paid enough to live comfortably now, in a lot of western countries. So it basically is just a form of wage slavery and a way of curtailing and squandering your vital energy: So you don't think too much, support the 'safety' and power dynamics of the status quo. Thinking is a dangerous thing.
Also, I'm still bemused that some Americans seem to work like 60 hours a week, and literally have no annual leave. That is fucked up.
Indeed it is.
For some it is common. I know my best friend works well over that and barely gets annual leave because she's a police officer.
Wow that's incredible. She doesn't because they are often short-staffed. And she works for a private institution.
She's a campus police officer
Yep which is why a lot of Americans are trying to leave and move somewhere else. If I could afford it, I would move to Canada or the UK.
Well I would gladly do it if it wasn't for my family. I thought about teaching overseas since I am an English major and teach English but my family would never go for that.
They wouldn't go for it unfortunately. 😕
That's how it should be. Work Monday through Thursday Friday through Sunday off
Thanks for the MHO
Currently I work a minimum of 40hrs a week as an engineer for a manufacturing company. 40hrs as is isn't really enough time for myself or any of my colleagues to get everything done that needs to be done and handle new emerging issues, so it would just put more strain on us and we'd probably just end up working on Fridays anyway.
I certainly wouldn't say no to a pay increase though.
Same with my job but I would still take off that Friday lol no matter how stressful the rest of the work week would be
I think the stress from the constant pile up of work would be too much for me after a while.
Yeah it probably would do me in after a while as well.
Yes Absolutely 💯
The idea of a four-day work week is compelling for many. It can lead to improved work-life balance, increased productivity, and reduced burnout. If a company offers 32 hours with no pay cut, it reflects a progressive approach valuing employee well-being. Alternatively, a 10-hour, four-day option maintains full pay and hours but may be taxing depending on job nature. It boils down to personal preference, productivity levels, and company culture. Evaluating the impact on your professional and personal life is key.
32/40 at 100% also means the prices will go up. Go get reprogrammed.
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I don't think this will ever happen in the U. S. They can't even raise the minimum wage. This country is run only for the employers.
In Europe I think there are places experimenting with it. I think it's a good idea. You have to be careful though with cutting back too many hours. In France for example people work low hours but want the government to provide great services. Over a million people protested against raising the retirement age which is great in isolation. If you look at the big picture, the government can only provide things if they have money. France debt to GDP is 110% which is almost as high as the U. S. They are close to broke but the people don't want to accept any cuts, or pay more taxes, or work more. So there will continue to be protests and/or riots for ever. The situation will not improve by itself.
In Switzerland people are more pragmatic and realistic in their view of how government money should be raised and spent. People will not always vote for more spending and lower taxes even though the people have all the power here and we could do that if the majority wanted it.
But I can't work a full work week anyway so to me it doesn't make much of a difference personally.
Being French, a word on the 35hrs labor week law, because it's a misleading one, misleading when you look at it in terms of absolute time. What happened when we shifted from 39hrs to 35hrs a week, in 2000, is that companies didn't recruit more to compensate for the 4hrs left, which was the plan, for the socialist party running gov at that time. Instead, companies actually asked their employees to achieve the same amount of work in 35hrs instead of 39hrs, which raised pressure on people. They're still working as much as before, just with pressure to work quicker.
About the rest of your take, we don't love taxes, in general, but we want great public services as you said. That's a usual contradiction from us. We have protests/riots about many topics, it's common, traditional, cultural, don't take it as something new or menacing, it's just who we are, how History made us :)
@Maybe_Maybe_not It's ok. I think it's good that people stand up for what they want and they believe in. I'm just saying from a public finance standpoint it's difficult to manage.
Oh it really is!
And that's why we have a gov matching our contradictions, with a center party trying to please people wanting more taxes AND people wanting more public infrastructure. Which doesn't work, it can't. It's a perpetual dilemma lol
*less taxes, I meant less taxes, obviously 😂
Well theoretically we work 9 to 11 days a month, 24hr shifts.
At times we can pick up trades, cover for vacations, school, illness, staff shortages and we are not supposed to work more than 48 hours straight, but it is not uncommon to do a 96 hour shift, plus your regular days.
I have done 220 hours only a couple times, it gets really old.
I have a friend that worked 4 10s and loved it.
Fridays off, 4 day weekends on Monday holidays, add 3 days of vacation and you are off for 7 days.
Not bad at all.
He got used to it in no time at all.
Yeah I think I could do that. 2 extra hours wouldn't kill me especially if I started at 5 or 6 in the am. Get off at 3 or 4.
i would be happy going down to an 8-day work week sometimes, but right now i've had 2 months off and i'm loving it, i had 2 shows the other night and now i have another 2 months off, then i'll be busy pretty much every single day and night until April i would guess in this business we call show
My one job I worked 3 12 hour shifts 6 am to 6 pm and they paid me for 40, I loved it cuz I had 4 days off a week , I actually felt like I had a life and work wasn’t stressful whatsoever, I think every job should be that way to be honest , I hate 5 day work weeks
Right it should.
I bet. I certainly would be.
That is too good to be realistic and actually unfair, why should i get more money for working less.
Also imagine i want to take care of a bank problem but it is only open 4 days a week! everyone squeezed into same 4 days is just stupidity, no offense.
None taken. It's just honestly to build morale. I feel like people would feel much more happier to work if they had an extra day off. Across the board many people from teachers to big corporations to bank tellers would feel less stressed out.
The average American works much more efficiently than in years past but has not received any benefits from it. The workweek has been 40 hours for almost 100 years. It is about time it gets shortened.
Yes indeed it is!
@Simslover92 i a, m almost retired so it does me no good but I still think it is rhe right thing to do.
You're so lucky. I have like 34 years to go. 😔
Well that's great that you're almost done. I'm dreaming of that day when I can do the same.
10 hours a day, four days a week would be fine.
At my job, we worked 9 hours Mon-Thurs and got off at 12:30 on Friday. I loved it.
Of course, it would be wonderful if 32 hours was considered full time and you got paid the same as you did when you worked 40 full benefits. There's no reason why 40 hours should continue to be considered "full time".
Yes 4 day work week is better then 5.
If you can work 32 hour a week without having to struggle financially, that can be a good option.
From worker perspective, working 32 hour, but earn as you worked 40 is great.
But if I had to work 40 hours a week, I'd still rather do it in 4 days rather then 5.
Full time here is 37, if I could work 32 hours and still be paid for 37, I'd take it. Not that it would make a difference, on my easy weeks I only have 1-2 shifts.
But now they're trying to get more of us welfare workers into taking full time positions rather than being on part time since they're having a hard time recruiting people so doubt they'd be offering something like that anytime soon. 😅
m It's an overly complicated question, because the sum of economical factors and consequences, country-wide, are super annoying to handle and account for an answer. Honestly, these factors are not only intricate but also boring to me, so I pass lol, no yay, no nay
I would do the first one definitely, but not the second one. Working 10 hours a day and making the same money is not a good deal even if you get an extra day off.
That's true but if you go in early like say 5 and get off at 3:30, it's not as bad as it seems. Or 6 and get off at 4:30. But I do see what you're saying. I would rather the first one as well.
In the U. K, it all sounds very 1970’s and a bit frightening. Expect I believe that was a three day a week! Mind you, having said that the 1st COVID lockdown I believe certain businesses did have a four day week with limited hours.
One of the big problems today is that COVID created the problem where a lot of working people, across all industries, are working from home.
u 32 hours per week and you get paid more than when you worked 40 hours per week: where does the business get the money to pay you more for less?
No you get paid the same amount just in 32 hours or you would work 10 hours 4 days a week so it would still equal 40 hours a week which is probably what they would end up doing which I am fine with. I personally don't care either way just as long as I'm getting 3 days off instead of 2.
If an employer's business requires 320 man-hours of labor per week and you are working 40 hours/week. then the employer needs 8 employees. If you are working 32 hours per week. the labor requirement doesn't change, so the employer now needs 10 employees. So where do they get the money to hire two more employees?
That's true. That's something that congress would have to work out if they come to pass it.
In other words, you have no answer to the question because you never thought about it, right?
The solution would probably be working 10 hours instead of 8 hours so that it's still 40 hours a week and therefore there wouldn't be a need to hire extra people.
Right. I have worked 10 hour work days, 4 days per week, between 45-50 years ago, and it was a great schedule for a single man. But if I had been married and had children, that schedule would have put more of the burden on my wife. I'm not there in the early evenings for family meals and to help with the children, and probably too tired to do much when I came home. True, I got Fridays off from work, but the kids would be in school so that doesn't really compensate for the decreased time I spend with them Monday through Thursday.
Well I think it benefits a lot more Americans today than it did then because many are single.
My work day generally starts before 0700 and runs till 1800, often later, except on Friday. Friday I end at 1700 unless a client needs something ASAP, in which case I work till it is done, often going into Saturday.
A four day work week woul;d collapse my company.
The 4/10s work week is ideal for me. I can get by on 4/8s, but it’s good to have the extra spending money with that extra day off work! Ell oh ell!
I wish that was even possible. I work 6 days most weeks, with only had 3 weeks leave during the last 3.5 years.
I'm self-employed so work 7 days
4-days is a move to hide overpopulation so will be 3 days with 2 sets of staff working Monday to Wednesday and then Thursday to Saturday
I'm salaried, so I'd not lose pay. So 4-8hr days would be lovely.
I prefer a 4 day work week; but nobody is going to pay you more to work less hours.
It what I do I Thursday’s -Sunday’s as a bartender.
You work 4 I'll work 5. Much better then the 6 or 7 I worked most of my life. Thats why im the idiot son of an asshole that's achieved middle class with an 8th grade education
32 hours not enough hours
It is for me. I could use an extra day off.
Yes if the pay increases for it
Those all look like dream hours!
I work in an NGO it is 4 days a week
I'm happy not working at all thanks 🙂
4x10 is fine with me.
I think it's a great idea.
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