Hacker News Reader

Comment by roughly | Hacker News Reader

The entire point of this is that productivity does not go down in a 4 day workweek and retention goes up. As an employer, you get the same amount of output, happier employees, and better retention. Everyone says they’re a data driven business until the data tells them something they don’t believe.

View on HN

One thing I learned working at a desk next to some marketing agency people is, if neither you nor your customer understand statistics, the data will just tell the story that makes both of you happy, and that keeps the money flowing.

And it does those two things in exactly that order, too. The myth of the rational actor is exactly that.

> The entire point of this is that productivity does not go down in a 4 day workweek

Just an anecdote, but: my productivity definitely took a huge hit when I reduced my hours to 4days/week. All of the "working harder/more efficiently/more focused" doesn't help if you already worked hard/efficiently/focused. If you have a job with a lot of slack/downtime/waiting time... Sure. But sometimes, working 20% less means that 20% less work gets done.

It's the same as working from home. Some people are way more productive at home, away from all the distractions in the office. Others barely get any work done at all at home.

Most people are nowhere close to working fully focused 8 hours a day, and may also benefit from more time to recharge. Others benefit less. The average probably matters more for the company (also shorter work hours will improve retention, or allow you to pay lower wages to compete etc).

It's nowhere near the same. Changing locations is a minimal effect compared to working a full day more than another person. There are many jobs where hours worked are almost equivalent to work performed. Think of any manager spending their week interviewing candidates for hiring. One less day means less candidates interviewed.

This is why people also talk about retention.

Personally I'd think of the extra day as rent paid on not having to hire and onboard someone new.

Why would retention change if everyone works 4 days a week? At that point it is no longer a perk, you get it everywhere, so retention should be as before and the advantages of 4 day weeks is now gone.

I am a little baffled by the idea that job satisfaction is comparative. Three days a week to do what one wants and needs to do is life enhancing for me, even if everyone else has it and retention is a function of happiness.

Because people that are happy at their job tend to stay. Your point is "so what if they are miserable right now? They will be miserable elsewhere, too". That might be, but people will still try to get away from you, hoping it is better elsewhere.

With that argument retention would already be great with 5 day workweek since it is so much better than 6, but you don't see that, retention is really horrible today.

Companies generally follow decision-driven data principles.

After having worked at a few companies I can tell you that they generally do not.

I think the issue here is, retention goes up because not everyone is doing it. ( so people have motivation to stay )

Also productivity does not go down, because not everyone is doing it. ( so people have motivation to not get fired )

In normal conditions, expected would be some drop in productivity but bigger gain in retention.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com