Ask HN: Will a 4-day work-week lead to better work-life balance or more stress?
I see more and more countries and companies experimenting with a four-day work-week. What are your thoughts or experiences?
Critics warn of more stress from squeezing more work into fewer hours.
6 comments
I've done both 5-day and 4-day workweeks, both as an employee and as a manager.
As an employee it felt great because 3-day weekends were awesome when I was young and single. However, my coworkers with kids and families had mixed feelings about it because it was difficult to coordinate with daycare, school, and other activities.
As a manager, 4-day workweeks felt like a minefield. It turns out that a lot of people can't really produce more than a few hours of work per day. A lot of people also struggle to get going on Mondays and tend to leave early on the last day of the week, so in some cases people became significantly less productive even if they were at the office (or online) for 10 whole hours each day. Some people treated it like a slippery slope, trying to casually move down to 4 x 8 hour days or less. Some people wanted to work 5-day weeks, which turns out to be difficult to mix with other people working 4-day weeks but longer hours.
I think 4-day weeks make sense for jobs that have a lot of dead time anyway. There are a lot of companies out there with way more staff than they need, so going to 4-day weeks doesn't change much. However, 5-day workweeks will still better for productivity, collaboration, and keeping people fresh each day. Unpopular opinion, I'm sure, but that's my experience.
As an employee it felt great because 3-day weekends were awesome when I was young and single. However, my coworkers with kids and families had mixed feelings about it because it was difficult to coordinate with daycare, school, and other activities.
As a manager, 4-day workweeks felt like a minefield. It turns out that a lot of people can't really produce more than a few hours of work per day. A lot of people also struggle to get going on Mondays and tend to leave early on the last day of the week, so in some cases people became significantly less productive even if they were at the office (or online) for 10 whole hours each day. Some people treated it like a slippery slope, trying to casually move down to 4 x 8 hour days or less. Some people wanted to work 5-day weeks, which turns out to be difficult to mix with other people working 4-day weeks but longer hours.
I think 4-day weeks make sense for jobs that have a lot of dead time anyway. There are a lot of companies out there with way more staff than they need, so going to 4-day weeks doesn't change much. However, 5-day workweeks will still better for productivity, collaboration, and keeping people fresh each day. Unpopular opinion, I'm sure, but that's my experience.
You seem to be talking about 4x10, instead of 32h weeks. Which is a totally different story. Imagine your 5x8 but 4x8. You get the good long weekends and the productivity of 8hs
I am not sure which country you are from, but here in France, people who are advocating for 4 days workweek are not trying to replace
5x8 by 4x10 (indeed I don’t imagine myself being able to produce code for 10 hours)
Well France is on 35h workweek anyway.
But we are advocating for a 4x7 = 28 workweek (likely with a paycut of course)
I feel this would be a net positive for a company.
Or it could be 5*5 = 25 workweek for that matter. Because when the task is complicated and creative, I don’t think I can work 7 hours most of the time
5x8 by 4x10 (indeed I don’t imagine myself being able to produce code for 10 hours)
Well France is on 35h workweek anyway.
But we are advocating for a 4x7 = 28 workweek (likely with a paycut of course)
I feel this would be a net positive for a company.
Or it could be 5*5 = 25 workweek for that matter. Because when the task is complicated and creative, I don’t think I can work 7 hours most of the time
All depends on yourself and your circumstances. I'm on a 3-and-1/2-day work-week and it is awesome. Spending time with my daughter grounds me and keeps me away from tech for at least two days a week. Being with her is healthy in more than one way, because usually we go for a walk and keep moving much instead of sitting in a chair.
What I can think of is, that if you have deadlines and you mentally can't get away from tech-problems - just having a day that is free without something else to do might be not as fullfilling.
What I can think of is, that if you have deadlines and you mentally can't get away from tech-problems - just having a day that is free without something else to do might be not as fullfilling.
The expectation to do more work at home/off-the-clock would worry me more than squeezing more work into fewer hours. Americans have a hard time separating from work and companies exploit that to no end.
Remote + 4-day would make more efficient worker + happy person