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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

In Spain:

"Under the plans, an estimated 200 to 400 Spanish companies will voluntarily take part in the project by reducing their employees’ working week to 32 hours while keeping their salaries the same. The government will compensate participating businesses for any higher costs incurred by the changes, such as the need to hire additional staff or to reorganize scheduling and shift patterns. That investment will be financed through Spain’s share of the EU Coronavirus Recovery Fund."

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/spain-four-day-work-week-n...

(check out the graph "Annual working hours per worker" and see which country has the fewest working hours annually; you might be surprised)

And Microsoft Japan:

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-say...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26495933

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21919721

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> The government will compensate participating businesses for any higher costs incurred by the changes, such as the need to hire additional staff

This is strange. They're paying companies to hire extra workers so everyone can work fewer hours? Sounds more like a jobs program than anything.

Sounds like a reasonable accommodation to help pilot a labor regulation to substantially boost everyone's quality of life. Most people work to live, not live to work.

Two birds with one stone? Unemployment in Spain is crazy high.

Isn’t that the justification France used when they went to 37 hours and aren’t they down to 35 now? Fewer hours means a couple more positions to keep an eye on things, even if productivity doesn’t drop for everyone else.

In France this didn't really work, in corporate jobs anyways, people would just work their old hours anyway, which they then take off as 'vacation days' - typically in the vacation periods where there's downtime anyways. Doesn't seem like it's worked to help increase total employment.

Interacting with companies in several countries, my impression is that many companies in France will hire more people and share knowledge so that the higher-than-average 'vacations days' do not impact business continuity. It's certainly the case in companies that I've worked for.

I haven't seen any studies but I'd not be surprised if this translates into an increase in total employment.

Another benefit I perceive is that by assuming that people will be absent, companies have higher bus factors by default and the increased resilience that goes with it. And of course, the reduced efficiency that comes hand in hand. I've lived through enough crises to favour resilience.

The protection racket so many of my fellow American programmers euphemistically refer to as job security, - or just unselfconsciously don’t refer to or think about at all - has always left me cold. Occasionally it rises to the level of disgust.

One of the important currencies in our industry is trust, and people only trust That Guy grudgingly. Sharing info is often reciprocated, and you have a clearer picture of the whole project. Something very necessary if you ever hope to be in leadership.

Isn't everything a job program?

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