[kule]

I see a lot of people go for Monday or Friday when going down to 4 days a week. There's definitely some advantages to that, however as an alternative suggestion I prefer Wednesdays off.

I find even in the best jobs, there's a general level of stress that builds up at work over consecutive days. There's a great feeling being a bit stressed on Tuesday and thinking "ah it's ok I've got tomorrow off". It's like that "Friday Feeling" twice a week.

[shawabawa3]

I opted for monday off when i worked 4 days a week, i tried wednesdays a few times but didn't like it as much

I preferred the large block of time off, I found that I enjoyed Friday-Sunday more knowing I had a bonus day on Monday to relax - I could really pack in stuff over the weekend without worrying about being exhausted back at work. And I found the Wednesday off just felt... wasted. Nobody else was free, nobody really wants to do things on Wednesday, and I wasn't tired enough to want a day of doing nothing.

[r_c_a_d]

I thought the same, but tried it for a month and it didn't work for me. Just as you get two Fridays a week (Tuesday and Friday) it also felt like I had two Mondays (Monday and Thursday). I just ended up hating Thursdays as much or more than Mondays, maybe because I was the only one doing it.

Also, sometimes I need a few days momentum to get something over the line and two days is often not enough. Anyway, just my 2p, more to the point I would totally jump at the chance to have a 4 day week permanently.

[kwhitefoot]

Shops in the UK used to have a half day on Wednesdays.

[tomatocracy]

Traditionally so did many schools (sports fixtures were then usually on a Weds afternoon). A few still do this.

[basisword]

I know some GP practices that still do this (quite astounding given the current issues in the NHS).

[stna]

I actually think it's quite astounding that they haven't been forced to give this up, and I hope they never have to.

Specifically, when I go to my GP, the staff are always busy, don't appear to get much of a break at all. I doubt a half day on a Wednesday makes up for extra hours put into their job just to get through the week.

[basisword]

I mean to me it makes sense that they would be less busy if they worked a full week like everyone else. When we have a shortage of GP's and it's impacting people across the country (and having a knock on effect on hospital A&E usage) disallowing 4.5 day weeks would probably help. There are obviously much bigger issues at play (e.g. recruiting GP's) but that doesn't mean we should ignore things that could impact immediately in a smaller way.

[kwhitefoot]

The odd thing is that you have about as many GPs per capita as Norway yet GPs in Norway don't seem to be anything like as busy and they are also much easier to get appointments with. I do realize this is anecdotal evidence though.

[closewith]

I think it would likely increase the exodus of GPs and exacerbate the problem rather than ease it.

[KineticLensman]

When I did a three day week I worked M, Tue and W and took Thursdays and Fridays off. This gave me a long contiguous block, and meant that I was contactable on Mondays, when various start-the-week activities were scheduled.

The downside of the two day (Th and F) block when I wasn't around was that it was hard to contribute to projects that needed high levels of ad-hoc customer interaction. This actually meant I had to walk away from a couple of projects that were technically appealing, but I was at the point in my career (hence three-day week) where life-work balance was a higher priority, so this wasn't a hard decision.

Part of my decision on the timing was also influenced by discussion with women in the company who came back to a three day week after maternity leave. They pointed out the pros and cons of the various options and made it easier for me to pick the right option from the outset.

[DocTomoe]

A short exploration of that concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALaTm6VzTBw