Switch to a 4-day week?
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Until recently, I was working a 4-day week, each day being 10 hours long to make up the standard 40-hour week. I completed all my projects on time and no loss of productivity ensued. Actually, since I invariably made dentist, doctors, etc. appointments always on my days off there was less unscheduled time off. I am now working a 34-hour week which counts a full-time or part-time depending upon who you ask. However, the days are 7, 7, 7, 7 and 6 hours (on Friday) and I was thinking of seeing if I can change this to four 8.5-hour days - unlikely to happen as it is the government and they have pretty fixed rules. This makes me wonder how many organisations could switch to four day weeks without any loss of productivity, and perhaps an increase? Even those who work from home may benefit from an extra day they are not required to answer the telephone. How would you feel about such a change to your schedule?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Until recently, I was working a 4-day week, each day being 10 hours long to make up the standard 40-hour week. I completed all my projects on time and no loss of productivity ensued. Actually, since I invariably made dentist, doctors, etc. appointments always on my days off there was less unscheduled time off. I am now working a 34-hour week which counts a full-time or part-time depending upon who you ask. However, the days are 7, 7, 7, 7 and 6 hours (on Friday) and I was thinking of seeing if I can change this to four 8.5-hour days - unlikely to happen as it is the government and they have pretty fixed rules. This makes me wonder how many organisations could switch to four day weeks without any loss of productivity, and perhaps an increase? Even those who work from home may benefit from an extra day they are not required to answer the telephone. How would you feel about such a change to your schedule?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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10 hours a day is not good, especially by the time you've added two journeys and lunch to it (if you're lucky enough to get a lunch break). I used to do it 7 days a week and quite frankly, it was a living hell: Wake up Quick splash Catch train Program bloody computers for 10 hours Catch train Pray off-license would still be open by the time the train arrived so you could have half-an-hour of beer-time Go to sleep Repeat ad nauseum until burn-out Monumentally unproductive! Now, granted, it would feel a little different if there was three day weekend coming rather than no weekend at all, but to be honest the last two or three hours of the shift would rarely produce anything useful. I'd be tired, my head would screaming through eyestrain and I'd pretty much lost the will to live by then. Assuming your actually working flat out, 7 hours is about the max for a genuinely productive day's coding.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. - Mark Twain
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One employer I had in the early 90s changed to a two-week schedule consisting of 9 hours on Monday through Thursday, plus an 8-hour Friday and a Friday off. Scheduling was such that they ensured that they had essential tasks covered every Friday. (e.g. there were two of us doing System Management of OpenVMS systems, and we couldn't have the same Fridays off.)
PIEBALDconsult wrote:
two-week schedule consisting of 9 hours on Monday through Thursday, plus an 8-hour Friday and a Friday off
This is similar to my work schedule; Tuesdays through Friday have an extra hour added, and I have every other Monday off. There are others whose day is Friday. Either way, such is a WONDERFUL schedule: that extra "rest" day is very recuperative and it gives you a day to schedule all of those activities that MUST be during your normal work hours (doctor, dentist, automotive maintenance, home service personnel, etc.).
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The cynic in me wants to say that 4x10 hours can easily turn into 5x10 hours.
My experience has been that the "normal" 5x8 tends to turn into 5x10 anyway (or 4x8 + 1x24, or 5xuntil-you-can't-see-straight, or something like that). Point is, once I'm "in the zone," I tend to want to keep going as long as I can, rather than stop at a particular point on the clock and have to reboot my brain the next morning. Plus, with all the typical interruptions during business hours, I often don't really start being productive until 4 or 5pm anyway. Having three days a week off would almost have to be a positive.
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Until recently, I was working a 4-day week, each day being 10 hours long to make up the standard 40-hour week. I completed all my projects on time and no loss of productivity ensued. Actually, since I invariably made dentist, doctors, etc. appointments always on my days off there was less unscheduled time off. I am now working a 34-hour week which counts a full-time or part-time depending upon who you ask. However, the days are 7, 7, 7, 7 and 6 hours (on Friday) and I was thinking of seeing if I can change this to four 8.5-hour days - unlikely to happen as it is the government and they have pretty fixed rules. This makes me wonder how many organisations could switch to four day weeks without any loss of productivity, and perhaps an increase? Even those who work from home may benefit from an extra day they are not required to answer the telephone. How would you feel about such a change to your schedule?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
I got fed up in January. Said kiss my a$$ and retired. Less disposable income now, but I have never been happier in my life.
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Until recently, I was working a 4-day week, each day being 10 hours long to make up the standard 40-hour week. I completed all my projects on time and no loss of productivity ensued. Actually, since I invariably made dentist, doctors, etc. appointments always on my days off there was less unscheduled time off. I am now working a 34-hour week which counts a full-time or part-time depending upon who you ask. However, the days are 7, 7, 7, 7 and 6 hours (on Friday) and I was thinking of seeing if I can change this to four 8.5-hour days - unlikely to happen as it is the government and they have pretty fixed rules. This makes me wonder how many organisations could switch to four day weeks without any loss of productivity, and perhaps an increase? Even those who work from home may benefit from an extra day they are not required to answer the telephone. How would you feel about such a change to your schedule?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
Our office allows 9 days (80 hours) worked over 2 weeks ( 1 pay period) in addition to the 4x10 schedule. For groups that require a lot of coverage, individuals are assigned days throughout the week that rotate throughout the year. They are staffed at 90% on every work day. For groups that don't require as much coverage most people take Friday off, so every Friday only 50% of the staff is present. The 50% that is there has a lot of uninterrupted time on Fridays to really crank out projects, plus they usually leave an hour early so as to cap at 80 hours.
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I got fed up in January. Said kiss my a$$ and retired. Less disposable income now, but I have never been happier in my life.
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Until recently, I was working a 4-day week, each day being 10 hours long to make up the standard 40-hour week. I completed all my projects on time and no loss of productivity ensued. Actually, since I invariably made dentist, doctors, etc. appointments always on my days off there was less unscheduled time off. I am now working a 34-hour week which counts a full-time or part-time depending upon who you ask. However, the days are 7, 7, 7, 7 and 6 hours (on Friday) and I was thinking of seeing if I can change this to four 8.5-hour days - unlikely to happen as it is the government and they have pretty fixed rules. This makes me wonder how many organisations could switch to four day weeks without any loss of productivity, and perhaps an increase? Even those who work from home may benefit from an extra day they are not required to answer the telephone. How would you feel about such a change to your schedule?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
I had a 9 x 4 week. Had Fridays off was great. I took two weeks of vacation one day at time, every Monday for July and August and Friday to Monday off, for the summer and I living neat the ocean. I used my vacation budget on front row concert tickets and sine short travel. Was a summer to remember
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Until recently, I was working a 4-day week, each day being 10 hours long to make up the standard 40-hour week. I completed all my projects on time and no loss of productivity ensued. Actually, since I invariably made dentist, doctors, etc. appointments always on my days off there was less unscheduled time off. I am now working a 34-hour week which counts a full-time or part-time depending upon who you ask. However, the days are 7, 7, 7, 7 and 6 hours (on Friday) and I was thinking of seeing if I can change this to four 8.5-hour days - unlikely to happen as it is the government and they have pretty fixed rules. This makes me wonder how many organisations could switch to four day weeks without any loss of productivity, and perhaps an increase? Even those who work from home may benefit from an extra day they are not required to answer the telephone. How would you feel about such a change to your schedule?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.