Hey people! Would love to hear your views/experiences about 4-day-work-week here🤔

In my opinion, I'd say, five day work week is better than four day. Just with the temptation of getting 3 days of rest, you'll have to work for 10 hours a day in 4-day work week. That doesn't leave any space for family time, or experiencing life. And we'll go back to square one, where we've come down to flexible work and work life balance, with four day work week, the same balance would be tossed out of the window. So I think, five day work week is the right solution for now.

I have no intention of working 12 hrs per day just to get one day free 🙂

As per another report by reputed media, the productivity of employees had increased for people in Japan. And I remember reading similar report about Microsoft employees as well. Any thoughts on productivity angle?

For me , currently I am working 10-11 hours a day , so a 4 week work day would be great for me , with 1 day giving time to my hobbies and side projects .

@billowy-potato-52514 Japan has one of the longest working hours across the globe. There have been cases where employees died due to work exhaustion after working overtime. To tackle such situations, Japan has introduced strict policies. For instance, you can't work overtime (i.e. more than 40 hrs a week) without taking government approval. 4-day work week is another initiative to help support this. Also, studies have shown that employees in Japan tend NOT to take leaves. Having a 4-week workday will improve this. Hence, an improvement in productivity.

We should be talking about 4 day weeks of 8 hours. So ~ 30 hour weeks and not 48 hour weeks. That is absurd if people think you will be productive for "12 hours" 😕 Luckily, as a tech remote worker, you have more options.

In my line of work, it's important to stay active 5 days a week. It's because the customer market demands it. I cant afford to stay active for just 4 days a week.

I think I'm happier with daily schedule that's limited and fixed to 8 hours for 5 days instead of odd expectations for 4 days. Plus can I actually utilise the extra free day when everyone I know would be at work? Netflix for a day is worse for me. Another thing I feel is that we can't compare with other cultures, particular those like Japanese. Their work ethics are of alien standards to us.

I'm trying to do

no-meeting

Fridays. It is amazing how much you can get done when you don't have a block of time interrupting real work. So I think it'd work for me if I decided to do it. Besides having a weekday to run chores in empty malls, markets, banks sounds great. Most EU countries are trying out 4 day weeks by reducing #hours to ~35.

I agree to having

no-meeting

days @helpful-gigabyte-47939. My current org started this as a pilot program to see it's effect, and needless to say it has been effective. So, now we have 1-2 days each month as

no-meeting

days.

Does a 4 day work week translate to working 12 hours a day? I remember there was a time around 2019-2020 where a lot of public holidays were on Wednesday. Those weeks even though it was a 8 hour work day, it was a more productive week than the rest. I feel that having a mid week holiday and a 4 day work week would take out the stress and increase the productivity! 😁

Does a 4 day work week translate to working 12 hours a day?

Yes. The max requirement is to work for 48 hrs a week. Hence, you see 9 hrs for 5 days (45 hrs - work week) is what most companies opt for. However, if it is reduced from 5 to 4 working days, then to meet the quota of 48 hrs, one needs to work for 12 hrs a day (+/- a few hrs depending upon the firm).

@quick-judge-84214 😲 What?! 48 hrs is minimum requirement where? In India? TIL. I work more than that because I own the business, but I don't expect employees to work beyond 40 hrs a week. I think this 4 day work-week definition of doing the same number of hours in fewer days is a bit warped IMO. Most studies showing productivity improvements are getting them by reducing working hours, not by working fewer but longer days.

Yes, in India. I think it is mentioned under the Factories Act, 1948

I believe that's the maximum number of work hours

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 also specifies about the working hours under the rules 20 to 25 that the number of work hours in a day should not exceed 9 hours for an adult.

Wow, thanks, this really gave me good insights over the debate.

@average-vr-74305 Yes, that is correct. Apologies!! But the interpretation remains the same. The 4-day work week would definitely increase the number of working hours per day to meet the said standard.