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Comment by askafriend | Hacker News Reader

I'd really like to do 4x10hrs versus 5x8hrs. I think that'd be a significant improvement for a lot of people.

I think stuffing 10 hours in a workday will have a diminishing rate of productivity return during the last couple of hours during the workday.

Wait, so do we want hours clocked or productivity?

32h week is about productivity.

I like 4*8 ==32 hrs productivity instead of hours being spend.

How about a compromise? 4x9 hours.

I think it depends on what kind of work is performed. For the manufacturing industry, this would be a very bad idea as workers will start losing focus during the last hours of the day which potentially would increase the volume of workplace injuries.

I like 4x9, because a lot of work is already 5x9 if you include mandatory lunch break.

I have a huge problem with the 5x9 expectation. 9-5 means 9-5 including a lunch. I promise any employer that demanding my presence from 8-5 (or any other 9 hours) will not result in greater productivity, and furthermore will leave me disgruntled.

There's only so much development that can be done in a day before I'm in a haze from all the abstract thought, and that productivity asymptote comes well under 8 hours.

It's 4 hours for me. Doesn't matter how long the day is, maximum concentration tops out at 4 hours. The rest of the time is just admin work, emails and house keeping.

Mandatory or "mandatory"?

The great thing about 4x10s is if employees are given the choice of Monday or Friday off you suddenly have a 40% reduction in time for meetings where everyone must attend. It cuts down on wasted time and frankly your fourth day is usually more lightly loaded, letting you get more actual work done.

This is terrible if you have a long commute. During the 4 days you only commute, work and sleep. Now as a remote worker I could do this.

True, but you'll spend less of your life commuting, because you spend less days at work.

True. But you completely lose these 4 days. That’s at least my experience.

If you are trying to kill 40 hours that works. Why not 14-14-12 or 20-20 where you take 4 hours from each day to get the 8 hours for sleep.

I remember going to an interview somewhere and during the summers they came in at 8:30am each day (instead of 9) so they could get off at 2:30pm on a Friday. That sounded like hell for no big gain.

We need to go down to 20 hours.

I've pulled a 140hr work week twice in nearly three decades of my career. Those weeks were... not sustainable.

Fortunately, I was paid hourly both times, so I was compensated, and the project did get completed.

Ok. Honestly? The first time I was quite young, working with other employees on a fun project with an insane deadline, and it was a blast. But having 4 hours to drive home, eat, sleep, shower, return? Not the greatest.

These days, I'd love to have a 4x8 (or even a 4x10, since I'm pulling 5x10 to 5x12s already).

There's not enough money in the world to convince me to work 140h in a week.

Why not 4x8 hours

May work for exempt workers. For hourly white collar workers who usually earn less anyway it would be less income.

Hourly white collar workers? Where are you from?

I bet you'd like 4x8 even more.

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