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Comment by GordonS | Hacker News Reader

I'm in the UK, and was working for a medium-sized Norwegian-based company that has since been gobbled up by an enormous Indian outsourcing company. I'm not sure how easy it would be to negotiate at the new company, but at the time all I had to do was ask. I also doubt it would have been quite so easy at most companies in the UK.

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In the UK, employers are required by law to consider requests of flexible time arrangements like yours. They can refuse it, of course, but they have to do it in a reasonable manner and can be held accountable to a tribunal.

Legally, yes, but realistically I just can't see it being so easy in most companies. I'd like to think I was being too cynical though!

  I just can't see it being so easy in most companies.

At my employer, there are more new mothers working 2-3 days a week in the HR department than in any other department in the company - so making it easy is in their interests :)

My ex-wife went to a 4-day workweek (with longer hours per day) for a few years, when our kids were smaller. A friend of mine did the same for a bit (albeit, to be fair, in a pretty small company).

I'm sure there are plenty of people who were refused the chance (some companies can be atrociously dickensian even today...); but on average, flexible arrangements are less uncommon than you might think.

Good point, I was forgetting that not everyone may have the luxury that I had of dropping 20% of my salary without any real problem.

a similar arrangement is of great interest to me.

I've found one or two resources online [0] that discusses how to set up an arrangement like this, as it obviously requires some delicacy and evidence of competence, etc.

I am quite junior in the industry, but I am working in the direction of an official four-day work week.

I wonder if you might be able to share some resources that were useful to you, in working in this direction.

Thanks, /u/GordonS!

[0] https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/

I'd love to help, but honestly, the only resource I used was the company's 'employee handbook'! All I did was ask HR and my Norwegian manager if it was OK, and they said 'no problem!'.

There are 3 factors I think made it so easy for me:

1. I'd been with the company a long time, had a senior architect role, and at the time there had been something of an employee exodus - I think they were a bit afraid of losing me at an important time in various customer projects, and wanted to keep me happy!

2. The company was Norwegian, and the Norwegians are famously liberal on employee welfare

3. In the UK, employers legally must seriously consider requests for part-time working

Thanks for this extra information! It makes sense.

I'm in the US - there's a trend to over-work here, but I'm already comfortable pushing against that.

Now, I just have to get really really good at delivering value.

Then figure out some unique work arrangements!

Thanks again!

https://www.tssa.org.uk/en/Your-union/your-workplace/employm...

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