Workers might have to ditch the 9-5 for the 6-2 because of climate change | Hacker News Reader

Workers might have to ditch the 9-5 for the 6-2 because of climate change

fortune.com

28 pointsBrajeshwar30 comments

In the 1970s, I worked a couple of summers on landscape crews for the Colorado Highway Department. The second summer they shifted us from 8 to 4:30 to 6 to 2:30. The dry heat in Colorado really wasn't that bad then, even with long jeans, a reflective vest, and a hardhat. Still, I didn't mind going home, cleaning up, and napping before dinner.

The context you're missing and likely are reacting to a clickbait headline is that this applies to workers where hot conditions can cause serious injury or harm. Not really related to office work that has A/C.

https://archive.li/XPZQs

Although you may be working in an office, it is highly likely that any job functions associated with industries undergoing such shifts will be affected, even within the office environment. It wouldn't be surprising if businesses implemented company-wide changes, particularly in departments dealing with construction or building, regardless of whether an individual's job function is directly related to those areas. Some companies might see this as a cost-cutting measure, such as reducing prolonged use of air conditioning.

Personally, I would be deeply disappointed if this were to become the norm. However, it is unlikely to happen unless one is closely connected to industries undergoing these shifts. I must admit, as someone who is not a morning person, I am not looking forward to such changes myself!

(Also, article does point out potential effect on people working in AC-ed building, too.)

Waking up early to work alongside offshore teams helped ruin my ability to sleep in. So it would only be a small stretch for me to start work at 6am, especially for WFH days. And for in-office days a <6am commute would probably be lovely.

I might avoid this over in the UK to some degree, but I've got some colleagues who work over in Arizona. They all pretty much do this, or working in split shifts so they can avoid the Summer heat. If even the Europeans are going to be doing this soon (they sort of already do on the Iberian peninsula with their siestas), I'm pretty sure Arizona is going to become unlivable in a short amount of time.

We moved my retirement-age parents out of Arizona about 4 years ago, and I'm very glad we did. The neighborhood they used to live in recently ran out of water. The county does not have anything to supply the residential areas with, so if you want drinking water, you need to ship it in yourself. They would not have been physically capable of doing so, and if they were still living there, we would have needed to literally evacuate them.

I still remember visiting them, driving through mile after mile of pre-construction housing lots with nothing but dry, flat, arid land as far as the eye can see. It doesn't seem like a sustainable place on Earth for the standard American suburban sprawl.

>It doesn't seem like a sustainable place on Earth for the standard American suburban sprawl.

No such place.

> they sort of already do on the Iberian peninsula with their siestas

They don’t really do this any more. In spite of the stereotype, only a tiny proportion of Spanish workers still takes a siesta, while otherwise the tradition has died out and schedules are just like in any other European country. It would be interesting to see if climate change eventually restores the tradition to life.

I was living in the south west of Spain a couple of years ago, in a city with ~100k population, and they had a split day. Shops were open until 1pm, then they closed and everyone went to eat, by 3pm everything was closed and the streets were silent.

In the evening everything would reopen. We had a pizzeria we liked, and it opened at 8pm and usually we were the only ones there at that time, as everyone else ate later :D

Another interesting thing is during the summer it would reach 40C / 100F there, but AC in homes was very rare.

I'm barely awake at 9am and now I need to be awake at 6am?

Yeah, that's not happening...

6pm to 2am

My employer (construction) did something akin to this during the nasty california wildfires of a couple years ago. The standard shift moved from 06:00-16:30 to 02:30-"Whenever the Safety Dept shut us down for poor air quality", which was typically between 12:00 and 14:00.

It sucked.

> It sucked.

In what way did it suck?

> In what way did it suck?

>> The standard shift moved from 06:00-16:30 to 02:30-

2:30 in this case means 2:30 am so you are a completely off of a normal schedule to your family, and the number of hours you are getting is presumably lessened and irregular.

It was this. Sleep aids were my saving grace, I think it was generic benadryl but it was about the only thing that let me actually fall asleep and get a half decent night's rest while the rest of the world was making all their usual evening racket.

Had no time to see my partner or friends, tip toeing around in the 'morning' when I'm getting ready so as to not wake others in the house, all the fun stuff.

I’ve worked 6-2 for the last decade - starting as a way to beat traffic, continued because it’s a vastly better schedule. I get off in time to walk the dogs, run for a couple of hours, make a real dinner, and relax before bed at 9-10pm. All that and I get two hours of uninterrupted time in the morning to actually work.

I recognize that I’m lucky to be able to choose my schedule, and recognize that not everyone can, but I would never go back. I suppose if everyone else starts coming in at 6, though, I might have to wake up at 4, instead.

Don't threaten me with a good time. Getting work done and over with and still having so much left of my day for time with the family and leisure sounds amazing.

I think out of the ~15 developers at my company, only 2 willingly do 8 to 4, and no one does 9-5 or 10-6. Most people who have a choice do either 6-2 or 7-3.

Edit to add: one of my coworkers who does 6-2 video calls her kid on mornings because she leaves the house hours before he wakes up (I think she leaves at 3:30). I think the whole situation is heartbreaking.

This is pretty common for field work where I'm from (Portugal) since my grand parents were kids (I'm assuming it goes further down generations).

Maybe this will expand to other types of work, but during summer people avoid going outside in the afternoons, unless it's necessary.

I'm up at 5:25 anyway (even when not working), works for me! I've never had a job that worked from 9am-5pm anyway. Instead of I've worked 6am-2pm, 7am-3:30pm, 7:30amm-4:00pm, 7pm-4am, and then all the random retail hours.

Hear me out: what if office workers were allowed to work from home when possible?

I know it sounds like a crazy idea, but let's try it out one or two years and see how it goes.

Maybe you're joking but we did this during COVID. Productivity went up and everyone had time to live. Now we're returning to office. The data doesn't matter when your boss wants to see your ass in a chair rather than caring about what you're delivering.

At the office I have to pretend to be busy for a few hours a day. At home I can get my work done. After that as long as I am available should anyone need to get a hold of me during work hours, I can do whatever I need.

Employers hate that.

I already wake up at 5 for a 9-5 and if I clock in an hour early, my employer treats it as overtime.

what is a 9-5? that relic from before covid times?

Let's be clear...it's because of the heat, not because of "climate change".

Let's not be pedantic. The article is clearly talking about severe weather (ie. heat) driven by climate change.

Do you think maybe that if global warming were true, it would result in more heat?

When many parts of the earth start experiencing abnormally high sustained temperatures, what should we call it if not climate change?

Maybe we need a new term? International heating? Planetary barbecue? Wait, I know! How about "global warming"?

Officer, let's be clear. This noise pollution comes from vibrations in the air, it's not because of "my awesome sound system". And surely he died from a bullet, not because of "my smokin' gun".

Let's be clear, this mile-long crack in the earth was because of an earthquake, not because the tectonic plates were slowly shifting in that direction anyway.

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