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'Trial of four-day working week an ‘unmitigated success’ for employees’ health'

[Deleted User]

Over on The Irish Times this afternoon is the result of a study in New Zealand that has worked out very well for the employer as well as the employeed. Well worth reading.

The Irish Times: Trial of four-day working week an ‘unmitigated success’ for employees’ health: Reduced hours for same pay cut stress levels and boosted commitment

The New Zealand company behind a landmark trial of a four-day working week has concluded it was an unmitigated success, with 78 per cent of employees feeling they were able to successfully manage their work-life balance, an increase of 24 per cent.

Two-hundred-and-forty staff at Perpetual Guardian, a company which manages trusts, wills and estate planning, trialled a four-day working week over March and April, working four, eight-hour days but getting paid for five.

Academics studied the trial before, during and after its implementation, collecting qualitative and quantitative data.

Perpetual Guardian founder Andrew Barnes came up with the idea in an attempt to give his employees better work-life balance, and help them focus on the business whilst in the office on company time, and manage life and home commitments on their extra day off...

Our two-day weekend is a relatively new phenomenon. According to this very informative article in The Atlantic, because workers in Britain towards the end of the 19th century frequently missed Mondays from work (due to overdoing things on Sunday), factory owners there compromised and gave them a half day on Saturday on condition they arrive in work every Monday. Furthermore, the same article says this 1.5 day weekend became a two-day weekend in the US in 1908 for the first time: Where the Five-Day Workweek Came From
It's a relatively new invention—is it time to shave another day off?

Can you see a four-day working week replacing the five-day working week? If so, how soon? I'd say within 20 years, although it could probably happen now in many jobs. Indeed the 3-day working week that Carlos Slim proposed could possibly happen now in some sectors.

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RayCon

FishOnABike wrote: »

I used to wok a five day week two shift, alternating 8am to 4pm and 4pm to midnight with the shift changeover mid week. Finishing at midnight and being back in for 8am wasn't great but loved the long changeover being off from 4pm one day to 4pm the next day. I could get so much family / personal things done in that 24 hours.

I'd happly work a 4 day x 10 hour week to have three family / personal days each week.

Chinese Restaurant ?

Thephantomsmask

Deleted User wrote: »

How many nurses approaching 50 sing the praises of their 13 hour days? They are burned out and have to take early retirement.

I wonder what percentage of nurses close to 50 are working a full week? Pretty much everyone I know is job sharing ie part time.

Greyfox

Balanadan wrote: »

I hope this won't be implemented. I'd be bored with an extra 3 days off. What would you even do?

There's about 5,000 things you could do including travel, hobbies you've never tried, endless interesting things to learn, new friends you could make and more films/tv/books/games than you can get through in your lifetime. Time is the most precious and valuable thing in the world.

I'd love a 4 day week and would gladly work an extra 2 hrs a day for it, I don't know how people could prefer working 5 days

_Dara_

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Shorter working hours work better, otherwise people dial down the effort because the work day is too long to keep working hard.

https://theweek.com/articles/454364/what-happened-sixhour-workday

That’s a good point.

And, another facet, I had a lab research job a few years ago where the odd time I had to pull 12-13 hour days in order to complete experiments. I found that once I got past ten hours, my concentration just dropped off a cliff. I was useless then.

_Dara_

Balanadan wrote: »

I hope this won't be implemented. I'd be bored with an extra 3 days off. What would you even do?

As someone who can’t work, the things I miss are the social interaction and the feeling of contributing to society. I really miss those things. Oh and the money, of course.

But I never have any problem filling my days. There are endless great films to watch and books to read. I kinda feel sorry for anyone who can’t think of how to fill their time if they aren’t working. I know many people say that they’d miss the problem-solving that goes with working but I still have plenty of problems to solve in my life, believe me.

Like, you’d really struggle with how to fill three days off a week? Seriously?

Balanadan

_Dara_ wrote: »

As someone who can’t work, the things I miss are the social interaction and the feeling of contributing to society. I really miss those things. Oh and the money, of course.

But I never have any problem filling my days. There are endless great films to watch and books to read. I kinda feel sorry for anyone who can’t think of how to fill their time if they aren’t working. I know many people say that they’d miss the problem-solving that goes with working but I still have plenty of problems to solve in my life, believe me.

Like, you’d really struggle with how to fill three days off a week? Seriously?

Yeah. I took a week off recently, got bored after three days and went back to work.

_Dara_

Balanadan wrote: »

Yeah. I took a week off recently, got bored after three days and went back to work.

That’s depressing.

Balanadan

Greyfox wrote: »

There's about 5,000 things you could do including travel, hobbies you've never tried, endless interesting things to learn, new friends you could make and more films/tv/books/games than you can get through in your lifetime. Time is the most precious and valuable thing in the world.

I'd love a 4 day week and would gladly work an extra 2 hrs a day for it, I don't know how people could prefer working 5 days

You can do 5000 things at work, meet new people, travel a bit, read books while you're travelling. I'm not bothered about films and tv, I don't own a tv.

Balanadan

_Dara_ wrote: »

That’s depressing.

Maybe I enjoy work! Some of the people I work with have to be FORCED to take holidays.

Greyfox

Balanadan wrote: »

You can do 5000 things at work, meet new people, travel a bit, read books while you're travelling. I'm not bothered about films and tv, I don't own a tv.

Nonsense, you can't do this. ultimately you have to do what you boss tells you or do something that's going to make a profit. Even those people I know that love there job say that there not spending there time the way they would like too. When your on work time the travel and meeting people is limited to what your company wants. With no film/tv your missing out on some of the greatest story's ever told

_Dara_

Balanadan wrote: »

Maybe I enjoy work! Some of the people I work with have to be FORCED to take holidays.

People who love lots of downtime don’t necessarily not enjoy their work though. Oh well, to each their own, I guess.

YFlyer

Alot more is done with 8 hours a day 5 days a week compare to 10 hours a day 4 days a week.

Balanadan

Greyfox wrote: »

Nonsense, you can't do this. ultimately you have to do what you boss tells you or do something that's going to make a profit. Even those people I know that love there job say that there not spending there time the way they would like too. When your on work time the travel and meeting people is limited to what your company wants. With no film/tv your missing out on some of the greatest story's ever told

I can do what I want at work. I enjoy it. I find most tv and film to be boring.

Captain Red Beard

Balanadan wrote: »

I can do what I
want at work. I enjoy it. I find most tv and film to be boring.

What is your line of work?

Balanadan

Captain Red Beard wrote: »

What is your line of work?

I'm a biznizman

Mrs OBumble

Greyfox wrote: »

With no film/tv your missing out on some of the greatest story's ever told

Rubbish. The greatest ones slways start out as books.

I've worked with a number if people who genuinely loved their jobs and always wanted to be doing more.

AllForIt

I'm

Balanadan

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Rubbish. The greatest ones slways start out as books.

I've worked with a number if people who genuinely loved their jobs and always wanted to be doing more.

At least someone gets it!

_Dara_

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Rubbish. The greatest ones slways start out as books.

I've worked with a number if people who genuinely loved their jobs and always wanted to be doing more.

Aaaah, no. There are many original screenplays amongst the best films ever made. Many books make terrible films. And the same with TV shows. Did The Sopranos need a book as source material?

oceanman

Balanadan wrote: »

Yeah. I took a week off recently, got bored after three days and went back to work.

god but your life must be empty...why don't you take up a hobbie?

Water John

'British people work some of the longest hours in Europe, but are among the least productive. Now some companies are shortening the working week to increase efficiency, health and happiness'

Update on some adopters:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/05/firms-switched-four-day-week-increase-efficiency-health-happiness

Guy:Incognito

Water John wrote: »

'British people work some of the longest hours in Europe, but are among the least productive. Now some companies are shortening the working week to increase efficiency, health and happiness'

Update on some adopters:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/05/firms-switched-four-day-week-increase-efficiency-health-happiness

So the trick is for everyone to be lazy ****ers for a while till employers go "well we're taking a stand now,. If youre not going to work properly we're going to let you come in less"

Genius.

[Deleted User]

Very interesting experiment in this firm in Australia:The Australian company that banned work on Wednesday

To be honest it's mildly annoying that the 3rd day off a week is Wednesday- I was thinking it would be great to have a 3-day weekend. However, there seems to be much more sense in that article making Wednesday the 3rd day as productivity increased and stress decreased - the "Monday feeling" of greater productivity came twice a week now. I can easily imagine many people feeling aggrieved after a while that they cannot swap the Wednesday for a Friday or Monday so they can make a long weekend of it.

Interestingly, while the article says evidence is building in favour of a 4-day week it notes that in some sectors it doesn't work:

However, not all reduced hour trials have proven unmitigated successes. An experiment with six-hour days at state-run nursing homes in Gothenburg, Sweden, found that while sick day and productivity rates improved, staff costs rose considerably as more people needed to be hired to fill in the gaps.

Is there any EU-wide position or consensus yet on moving towards a 4-day week? Does any country look like it will become the first to have a 4-day working week as normal?

The Rape of Lucretia

Deleted User wrote: »

Is there any EU-wide position or consensus yet on moving towards a 4-day week? Does any country look like it will become the first to have a 4-day working week as normal?

Its a push from the elite to further increase their advantage over the weaker and lower paid in society. White colour workers, with imprecisely monitored productivity, can claim they feel better, prefer it, and even that they are producing no less. But those in manual work, factories, retail or service counters, call centres, cannot but reduce their productivity if they were to work fewer hours. The consequence would be that the earn less, or do not reduce their hours. While their managers, administrators, etc, get an extra day off. Nice for some.

Thelonious Monk

Most people could work a lot less hours, even those on front line public services if we employed more people for them. I think we would have to slow the economy down a little though, and slow everything down really. Shops open less, take aways open less, that kind of thing, if we wanted it across the board. I have a feeling low paid people would still be working long hours and working all the time.
Would people gladly go back to nothing being open on Sundays for example? Wouldn't bother me. We're too obsessed with business and making money. Free time and family etc are more important. Life is too short.