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Comment by simonswords82 | Hacker News Reader

This is part of a wider scheme in the UK whereby 60 firms and 3000 employees are piloting 4 day weeks.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/04/thousands-o...

From the article:

Employees from a wide range of businesses and charities are expected to take part in the scheme, which will run initially from June to December, including the Royal Society of Biology, the London-based brewing company Pressure Drop, a Manchester-based medical devices firm, and a fish and chip shop in Norfolk.

It comes as the push for companies to adopt a shorter working week – crucially with no loss of pay while aiming for higher productivity – gains momentum as a way of improving working conditions.

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"Which country and city governments have a four-day work week?": https://buildremote.co/four-day-week/4-day-work-week-countri...

I am surprised the lack of mention of Denmark, Sweden or the Netherlands. Most business persons I contact, normally only work 4 days a week.

I live in Sweden and have never hard of any company doing a four day week. The closest I get is one of my first jobs which had a 37.5 hour week (rather than the customary 40 hours) but again, spread out over five days.

That said, some of the last few weeks at the time of writing have in practise turned out to be four day weeks due to public holidays. Could this be what causes the confusion?

In Sweden, a significant number of parents with young children who work 80% so maybe that has caused the confusion.

That describes also myself -- yet I didn't think about that possibility!

I live in the Netherlands, here it depends completely on the "cao" that is used within the 'branche' (type of industry). There are industries that use 32, 36, or 40 hours as full-time work weeks. Most goverment jobs for example are either 36 or 32 hours.

I work in SWE, which is almost always 40 hours in my experience YMMV.

In the Netherlands you're legally allowed to work parttime for the same hourly pay. This has resulted in a lot of people working 32 hours (or less).

This, however, is not the same as an entire company working 4 day weeks.

I understood that the UK trial is without paycut. So full pay for 32 hours assuming hourly workers.

Whereas in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Scandinavian countries, etc. they typically accept 32 or 24 hours but with a proportional pay cut.

A company could even be staffed 24/7 and yet nobody work more than 32 hrs a week.

What we really should be trying to normalize is most everything shutting down an extra day where possible.

I live in Denmark. The normal is still five days a week, although I do know people who work four days a week.

Belgium is missing as well, by law you are allowed to choose a 4d work-week and many, many people do it, including myself :-).

Except the latest is working 120% the day you’re working - so, not a true 4 days/week.

Or you can have a true 4 days/week. With the pay cut. As for half time and so on… taxes though start to rise, because why not.

I hate so very much my government for this kind of shit.

If you can choose to work %20 fewer hours dor the same pay, who doesn't choose to do so?

It obviously comes with a 20% paycut.

The pay is not the same

I've worked in offices before (engineering, architectural) that have one day a week where they don't answer the phone except for emergencies, and lets say friday is 'catch up and do paperwork day'.

Externally it might seem like 4 days a week, but its actually 5 with one where you can't reach them.

But do they get paid for 5 days? Are their pension contributions the same as for someone who worked 5 days? What about their holiday allowance(s)? Their bonuses?

Isn't this worse for people who rely on government services? (Without knowing the details)?

As with every time these tests are run, I would like to see results longer than the initial few months honeymoon when people's productivity is being closely monitored

I want to know if 1-2 years down the line, the productivity is still running at 125%

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