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by close04 2562 days ago
Was this a US specific survey? 10h of work, 1+h of break, and at least 1h of commute means you leave home at 8 in the morning and come back after 8 in the evening. I doubt this would be very popular in Europe with anybody in a non-managerial position or at least very high on the pay grade. But it sort of makes sense because it improves the ratio of productive time (work) to unproductive time (the commute), and results in getting a full extra free day.

On the other hand it's possible that a 10h work day becomes less productive than an 8h one if applied long term. Of course it depends on the actual job but it wouldn't leave much time for anything personal. For a lot of jobs 10h shifts sounds like looking for trouble.
2 comments
thrower123 2562 days ago
I was pretty great when working a blue-collar industrial job. I'd work 6:30-5 (unpaid half hour lunch) monday-thursday one week, then tuesday-friday the next. So you'd get a four-day weekend every other week, and if there was extra work, you'd get time-and-a-half for it. A ten hour day wasn't bad, because you went until 9, had a half hour break, went to noon, ate lunch, went until 3 and had another break, then closed out the day until 5. It was almost an extended pomodoro.

Even now, programming on salary, I'd rather do 4 tens, 7-5. The overhead of commuting is what kills me, and it'd actually be less traffic if I went in earlier. Besides, those two hours before everybody else gets there could be more productive than the whole rest of the day.

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matwood 2562 days ago
> The overhead of commuting is what kills me

Even a short commute just kills me. This is why WFH is so effective IMO. Up between 5am and 6am. Workout, then work. Those few hours in the morning before anyone else gets in is when I do most of my 'work' for the day. The rest of the day is meetings, answering questions, etc...

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kwhitefoot 2562 days ago
Her in Norway most people work 37.5 hours (40 hours present with an unpaid half hour lunch break). And if you are salaried then you can pretty much come and go as you please. I read somewhere (VG perhaps) that about 100k people work a four day week (same total time) here (out of a total 5.5 million population). It's especially attractive for people who have a long or stressful commute.
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