The four day work week: sixteen reasons why - Page 2

Moongirl · June 18th, 2008, 08:45 PM

I've been working 4/10's for about 4 years now, and love it. I'm fortunate in that I get to have the same day off every week (I used to be off every Friday, my regular day off is Monday now). I have co-worker's who ask if I don't get tired of being at work so long, but it's really not much longer than if I had a regular 8 hour workday. I would say, though, that some of the points made in the article are not really valid, particularly those about less gas/car usage. I usually use that day off to run errands, schedule appts. for that day, etc., so if anything, I'm in my car more on those days than if I were at work.

**Tati** · June 19th, 2008, 09:51 AM

I too feel that this can be a good idea, but this article uses a lot of weird and weak examples, imo. There are a lot of good arguments in favor of a 4-day week though. Obviously not every industry can work with it, but a lot can, or with other forms of flex time.

I'm a big fan of flex time in general. It seems to eliminate so many inequities in the workplace. Nobody at my workplace gets upset when someone stays home with their sick child, for example, because they know that will come out of the person's flex bank and that they can take the same time out of their own flex bank if they want to run errands, take a personal day or extend their vacation. You can use also the flex system here to work 4 days x 10 hours and take a day off if you want to, although it's not the norm.

AliceInWonderland · June 19th, 2008, 12:48 PM

man, i'd do it for sure!

Beefy McWoof · July 1st, 2008, 05:45 PM

This article is also an argument for telecommuting. There's few things as nice as working in my living room, looking out of my 19th floor apartment while cooking my own meals.

AliceInWonderland · July 1st, 2008, 05:53 PM

damn i would kill for a weekday off though; theres too much to do and not enough time on saturday

tee-ha-ha · July 3rd, 2008, 04:55 PM

I don't want to work 10 hours a day. What I do requires intense concentration and after 8 hours I'm exhausted. If I did 2 extra hours they wouldn't be worth anything.

I'd rather work from home 1-2 times a week.

ariesallover · July 5th, 2008, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefy McWoof

This article is also an argument for telecommuting. There's few things as nice as working in my living room, looking out of my 19th floor apartment while cooking my own meals.

That's how I interpreted it too. I would love - and sometimes can arrange - 2-3 office days with the rest at home, which means that all 7 days of the week might involve work, but it doesn't feel overwhelming because it's simply integrated into my life without a commute.

Novice · July 6th, 2008, 09:07 AM

I work from home with 1 day in the office once a week (having said that it's a 150 mile round trip).
I've also works all sort of weird & wonderful shift patterns (earlies, lates, out of hours cover, etc etc) and going from that to working a straigh 9-5 m-f was both strange and frustrating esp when I had to commute in rush hour!

However, there is also a downside to working at home all the time, and one of the things for me is that I miss the socialisation that normally happens at work.

AliceInWonderland · July 8th, 2008, 06:12 PM

^ you're not missing much Novice; im so sick of other ppl's shit i swear! im no one's mom and sick of taking care of ppl like one.

Novice · July 8th, 2008, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AliceInWonderland

^ you're not missing much Novice; im so sick of other ppl's shit i swear! im no one's mom and sick of taking care of ppl like one.

Not after today - of back-to-back meetings!

Sasha · July 8th, 2008, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novice

I work from home with 1 day in the office once a week (having said that it's a 150 mile round trip).
I've also works all sort of weird & wonderful shift patterns (earlies, lates, out of hours cover, etc etc) and going from that to working a straigh 9-5 m-f was both strange and frustrating esp when I had to commute in rush hour!

However, there is also a downside to working at home all the time, and one of the things for me is that I miss the socialisation that normally happens at work.

I quite my job six months ago in order to run my husbands' side business here at home-he was working too hard.

But I love it! I see and talk to people all the time and the business is running much more smoothly and profitably. At the same time, a huge load is off my husband and he's a much happier camper.

I loved my work but my office was boring and when it wasn't boring it was so stressful I felt like killing myself.

Novice · July 9th, 2008, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasha

I quite my job six months ago in order to run my husbands' side business here at home-he was working too hard.

But I love it! I see and talk to people all the time and the business is running much more smoothly and profitably. At the same time, a huge load is off my husband and he's a much happier camper.

I loved my work but my office was boring and when it wasn't boring it was so stressful I felt like killing myself.

LOL! Yeah, I get to do a job I love without all the office politics, so there is an up side I guess.
I do a lot of my Mr's paperwork too, but untill I can actually fix lorries I'm not really going to be able to help much more.... oh, he did say that he'd put me through my HGV licence but I'm not sure how good an idea that is....

Sasha · July 9th, 2008, 08:15 AM

^^Fix lorries? Is that anything like being an auto mechanic? Because that is what my husband does! He works full time at a dealership and on the side he/we buy and sell cars. We buy one that needs work as cheap as possible, he fixes them, and we sell them for a profit.

Since I've come on board all my husband has to do is the mechanical work. I pour over the ads and find the cars, haggle with the owners, and then do the actual purchasing. Once he's checked it out, I order and fetch the parts. When the car is ready to go, I place the ads and deal with all of the respondents and take care of the transaction.

I've always kept his books, but I'm in a whole new world now. It's actually fun!

HGV License?

Novice · July 9th, 2008, 10:02 AM

LOL! I used to work in a dealership many moons ago, but my Mr has a haulage business so when the drivers run into things or the tyres need changing - that's him! Legally the vehicles has inspections every 6 weeks so he has to make sure that they're ready for those.

HGV Licence - Heavy Goods Vehicle Licence - to drive a truck.....