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Comment by after_care | Hacker News Reader

If we adopted a four day work week do you think people would feel a burned out feeling at Thursday at 11am? I honestly _don’t know_ and think some long term experimentation is needed

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Who cares. Even if I feel just as bad during the week, I have more weekend time. That's worth it.

We don't have a worldwide labor shortage (!). Productivity going up and work hours not going is a travesty.

There's a labor shortage in US right now. You can feel it everywhere: from having to book car mechanic appointment weeks in advance to construction projects going to standstill.

And there's also millions of people that could be working but aren't:

https://rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/RI...

Further, low labor productivity and bad on the job training pipelines directly result from squashing uppity labor

https://phenomenalworld.org/analysis/construction-labor-shor...

Everyone I've ever known has loved working 4 10's and honestly 4 8's would be even better. They never complain about burnout and a 3-day weekend every week leaves them energized and recharged for the next weeks' work. I only ever hear complaints from people working 4 12's which at that point you'd hear the usual complaints of anyone working 8 hours of overtime a week.

The fact I've never once heard a complaint about 4 10's from anyone I've ever known to work them says a lot compared to the usual 5 8's which I hear complaints from about everyone (including myself).

n = 19~21 people or so

Possibly, but at some point it has to stop, right? Take the extreme example of working 4 hours, one day a week. If you are even marginally interested in what you’re doing, I can’t imagine anyone feeling burned out by that. I just don’t know what the threshold is (and it’s certainly different for different people). A lot of it probably has to do with how busy people’s lives are outside of work, and if they feel like they’re able to manage their lives at least somewhat stress free.

Yeah it would have to stop obviously. But let’s take it the other way! Do you think working 20 hours a day 7 days a week is optional efficiency? We need to find the right balance!

I honestly don't think I would. I am exhausted by Friday and then the weekend is basically just Saturday so there's hardly any time to recharge during it.

I'm not burnt out on Thursdays. I feel empowered. That said, I've only been on a 4-day work week for a month and half now.

Not nearly enough time to adjust. Any job switch the first month is like the honeymoon phase.

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