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Comment by rawtxapp | Hacker News Reader

I think more companies should (and probably will consider) 4-day maybe even 3-day workweeks as technology makes us more productive. Especially in industries that require deep thinking, the output doesn't necessarily scale with # of hours a worker puts in, not every hour is the same. I think 10 hours of highly productive work is much better than 40 hours of busy work.

Anecdotally, I managed to accumulate almost 300 hours of vacation time and now switched over to 3-day weeks at a big tech company for a while and even though I really enjoy my work, I feel much better this way and roughly at the same productivity, but a lot happier.

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> Especially in industries that require deep thinking, the output doesn't necessarily scale with # of hours a worker puts in, not every hour is the same.

Its not about the number of days per week, it's also about the frequency of the thinking you put into it. If you do a 4 days break between two work days, I'd be very surprised if you remember anything in detail of your previous work period.

Not all "weekends" have to be at the end of the week. You can have a weekend Wednesday and be able to recharge every 2 days without having to wait for 4 full days before your next weekend.

This is the way. I did this for a few months to burn through some of my leave budget. It was great Wednesday became my chores day. Get the house in order, go to the bank whatever. Then the weekend was entirely spent on luxury and entertainment.

My overall output was reasonably similar to that of a 5 day week because I came at work with a waay better attitude. It also made it easier to plan 2 days of work instead of 5. I also spent a chunk of my Wednesday thinking about work and how to tackle the next two days.

That meant I could without guilt take the weekend entirely off and not even think about work at all.

I get what you are saying.

Just want to point out that Ideally you shouldn't feel the need to think about work on either of your free days. Wednesday or weekend.

Then it should not be called a 4-days week in the first place. It's confusing.

This is part of why I prefer the opposite of the 4-day workweek trend. I typically do some work 6 or 7 days a week, but a workday might be only 2 or 3 hours, on some of those days. I don't feel like a workaholic, and am not doing 60-hour weeks or anything. I average maybe 30-35 hours depending on the week, but those hours are spread over more days. Outside of the occasional "in the zone" hacking session or paper deadline a handful of times a year, there's no way I can work 8 hours in a single day on a regular basis! But working on a problem for a few hours a day in a regular cadence, not long enough each day to get burned out, but frequently enough that I still remember what I'm doing – that I like.

I think this could be a very effective use of your time. I always find the break from Friday to Monday very disruptive if I've got to carry work across, especially if I've had a busy/fun weekend. Being able to do 3-4 hours per day for a 7 or 8 day week, then taking 4 -5 days off would make for very effective work focus.

Many companies would agree if you offered them to work 3 days a week for 60% of your salary. I've done it.

I'm quoting the GP:

> Especially in industries that require deep thinking, the output doesn't necessarily scale with # of hours a worker puts in, not every hour is the same. I think 10 hours of highly productive work is much better than 40 hours of busy work.

I absolutely agree with this, but I'm skeptical of a model that allows someone to come to work for only 10 hours and have those hours be the productive time. Especially for deep thinking work. My experience is that to push forward in work that requires creativity and deep thought, one needs to be immersed in it, while at the same time not pressured to come up with something on the spot. The immersion (often) requires a full time commitment to the work, even if some of that time is actually spent chatting with colleagues or wasting time on HN or whatever. Providing the needed freedom from pressure, but still enough pressure to get results, is a question of management, either personal or from good manager.

I so agree with your point but I don’t see this ever happening in a corp type of employment. Maybe in a tightknit smallish company, working alongside likeminded people that could be the norm.

Heh. I did it too, as 'transition to retirement'. Liked it so much the transition bit didn't last too long.

You're getting shafted

> Many companies would agree if you offered them to work 3 days a week for 60% of your salary. I've done it.

My last employer refused to even accept 4 days a week for 80%. Manager brought up how much the company had invested in training me as a grad (which, to be fair, they did), and that cutting my hours would have meant that investment had gone to waste.

I now work for them 0 days a week. Funny how that works.

I'll never understand that concept that certain management types think they can keep you perpetually under a feeling of obligation alone.

Knowing the manager, he was extremely devoted to his work, the company and the craft. He was just holding holding me to his own standards.

I'm assuming this is a problem in a lot of organisations; the people who rise to the top are the ones who lean more towards work on the work-life balance scale.

It can also just be an HR challenge in some organizations. It shouldn’t be, but sometimes organizations can get pretty rigid on how they define jobs and roles.

It is weird sometimes. Took me about ten recruiters reaching out before I finally found a company that was even willing to negotiate on vacation days. I have 23 vacation days a year, no thanks, I’m not going back to 15 until I work at your company for five years. Just accepted a new position with a 15% pay raise and 20 days, which when I do the math 23x=20x*1.15, which is funny because I came up with the number right on the spot and somehow did the math so I’d be getting equivalent monetary value benefits for my PTO.

And I am here complaining about my 30 vacation days. Good to get some perspective sometimes.

> Knowing the manager, he was extremely devoted to his work, the company and the craft. He was just holding holding me to his own standards.

He doesn't seem to have attained a high level of proficiency in the craft of people management and employee retention, though :)

I'm sure mine would too but whenever I think about the trade, I'd rather have more money and work the full time. Then I can buy an investment property and relax on the gains on the land.

Just remember: having a “later” is not guaranteed. Too much can happen between now and then.

My advice is to also enjoy the time you know you have: now. Even if it postpones the “later” for a bit.

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