[klue07]

It's a pity not more employers do this. I've always been a big proponent of 4-on-3-off work schedules. Traditional work 5 out of 7 was arbitrarily chosen. Regular 3-day weekends really rejuvenates you. If 40 hours of work a week is mandatory, spreading the 8 hours of the fifth day into the 4 days isn't so bad.

[toomuchtodo]

Underlying problem is that productivity increases are not tied to work hours per week. As the world gets more productive, we should be ratcheting work hours down. Kudos to those doing their parts to ensure employee quality of life.

[thfuran]

Why should we not increase total productivity where practical?

[toomuchtodo]

We should, but not at the expense of labor. We measure GDP; an excellent measure of how much productivity is being squeezed and consumed by capital owners/shareholders. We should be measuring for happiness/quality of life, and optimizing for that.

[st3v3r]

Because then we don't get to enjoy the benefits of that productivity. We are exponentially more productive than we were back 50 years ago. Yet, we still have to work 40+ hours a week. We could be working 20-30 hours a week, and still be far more productive than we were back then. But more productivity meant more profit for the company, so they didn't want to do it.

[protomyth]

We do 4 day 40 hours weeks in the summer. It isn't that bad but it does get a little long. Most do 4-3 but we were doing a two week cycle of 4 (MTWH) on, 4 off, 4 (TWHF) on, 2 off.

[dasmoth]

Given that 8 hour workdays generally seem to involve a fair amount of faffing, and a fair number of people report diminishing returns beyond about 6 hours, what are those 10 hour days like? Does the expectation of a long weekend get everyone fired up, or do the last couple of hours really drag?

[protomyth]

Weirdly, what time I eat lunch was the determinate of the day dragging. Noon or earlier and the day dragged. I'm off this week so I cannot give you a live feel today.

[maxxxxx]

I did that for a while but with a commute you do nothing but work during the 4 days. I found it pretty exhausting.

[protomyth]

Yeah, it's basically very little off time for 4 days, but multiple 4 day weekends for the summer was worth it. Difference in sunset times would make this problematic in winter.