5 ms·

A history of the two-day weekend

58 points by mgiannopoulos 9y ago

swsieber 9y ago
Hmm... Reading this article about the transition from a 6 to 5 day work week makes me think it's possible to transition to 4.
- AndrewOMartin 9y ago
  4 days no 3 days off makes a hell of a lot more sense than 5 days on 2 days off.
- vinceguidry 9y ago
  I'd love to see an 8 day week with three days off. The five day workweek is a great rhythm. Four days on, three days off just seems too decadent. I think the ideal would be 5 on, three off with 6 hour workdays.
  - ajuc 9y ago
    For a few months I worked 3 days a week. It's decadent, maybe, but it's awesome. By the time Monday came I was thirsty to get back to work. The only problem was - it's harder to keep in mind what you worked on the last week when you get back, but it's not a big deal (just make more notes, commit more often, and hibernate computer instead of shutting it down).
    - swsieber 9y ago
      I'd be fine breaking up the work days with a break day in between - I'd probably avoid it some weeks for a longer weekend event, but I think I could do 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 2 days off...
    - vinceguidry 9y ago
      If I had that I think I'd wind up working at least a half day or so just to keep from getting too bored. You're talking to a guy that spent half of a 2 month vacation in Colombia learning web development.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- goblin89 9y ago
  Basecamp works 4 days per week from May to August[0]. The variation could be part of why it works. I’d like to see more tech companies experiment with their schedules this way. [0] https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-we-only-work-4-days-a-week-during-summer-d69631b0b8fc https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-we-only-work-4-days-a-week-du...
sandworm101 9y ago
Weekends were never a universal thing. They were for very specific people, while a huge number of us were expected to work them regardless. Setting aside the historical male/female devides (no weekends for moms) we just expect certain jobs to be there. Priests and nuns work weekends, have done for centuries. Cops, food service, health care providers, prisons and the entertainment industry to name a few. The sat-sun weekend has always been a luxury. Those that lament its passing as some sort of societal shift show thier colours. I write this as a i sit on a monday morning waiting for the work i did over the weekend to be read and evaluated by clients worth far more than i will ever be. They dont work weekends.
- AlexAltea 9y ago
  > Priests and nuns work weekends, have done for centuries. Cops, food service, health care providers, prisons and the entertainment industry to name a few. While such jobs require indeed people working on weekends, it doesn't mean that the workers themselves need to be present 7 days a week. It's possible to uniformly distribute 2 free days per week among workers and still guaranteeing 24/7 service. > Those that lament its passing as some sort of societal shift show thier colours. Not sure what "their colours" mean. Why should we lower our expectations to the lowest working conditions? Instead, why don't we all aspire to redistributing our working ours to ensure a fair share of free time.
  - sandworm101 9y ago
    If you arent getting sat-sun off then i seriously doubt you have any stable 2day weekend. These are shift workers. By "colours" i mean that they are from a background where sat-sun weekends are a thing. Thier parents were not shift workers. They expect to have sundays off. Many, possibly most in many areas, no not have such expectations and envy those who do.
    - tdb7893 9y ago
      My girlfriend is a shift worker and while she doesn't always get stable 2 day weekend (she gets every other weekend off and generally Tuesday and Thursday the other week) but her schedule is reasonably stable. If you are a shift worker and your schedule isn't stable at all then that means your schedule is bad even as shift workers go
jjgreen 9y ago
When I started school, I misheard the hours as 2 days on, 5 days off. Come the Wednesday, I was rather put out (and remain so).
- teh_klev 9y ago
  Reminds me of what a mate's kid said after he got home from the first day at primary school - he genuinely thought it was for one day only. Then there was the dismayed look on his face after it was explained that this routine was now for the next eighteen years of his life :)
bryan11 9y ago
This quote seems key: “Time is now currency: It is not passed but spent,” wrote historian E. P. Thompson.
sdiq 9y ago
"But the week is man-made, arbitrary, a substance not found in nature." One thing that occasionally makes me wonder is the universality of the day of the week. Everywhere you go - with the possible exception of the people living on either sides of the imaginary International Date Line - people are in agreement on which day of the week it is. Just imagine the white Christian colonialist coming to Africa, or some other part of the world, and finding native Muslim populations and yet both agree on what day of the week it is.

58 points by mgiannopoulos 9y ago

Hmm... Reading this article about the transition from a 6 to 5 day work week makes me think it's possible to transition to 4.

AndrewOMartin 9y ago
4 days no 3 days off makes a hell of a lot more sense than 5 days on 2 days off.
vinceguidry 9y ago
I'd love to see an 8 day week with three days off. The five day workweek is a great rhythm. Four days on, three days off just seems too decadent. I think the ideal would be 5 on, three off with 6 hour workdays.
- ajuc 9y ago
  For a few months I worked 3 days a week. It's decadent, maybe, but it's awesome. By the time Monday came I was thirsty to get back to work. The only problem was - it's harder to keep in mind what you worked on the last week when you get back, but it's not a big deal (just make more notes, commit more often, and hibernate computer instead of shutting it down).
  - swsieber 9y ago
    I'd be fine breaking up the work days with a break day in between - I'd probably avoid it some weeks for a longer weekend event, but I think I could do 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 2 days off...
  - vinceguidry 9y ago
    If I had that I think I'd wind up working at least a half day or so just to keep from getting too bored. You're talking to a guy that spent half of a 2 month vacation in Colombia learning web development.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
goblin89 9y ago
Basecamp works 4 days per week from May to August[0]. The variation could be part of why it works. I’d like to see more tech companies experiment with their schedules this way. [0] https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-we-only-work-4-days-a-week-during-summer-d69631b0b8fc https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-we-only-work-4-days-a-week-du...

sandworm101 9y ago

Weekends were never a universal thing. They were for very specific people, while a huge number of us were expected to work them regardless. Setting aside the historical male/female devides (no weekends for moms) we just expect certain jobs to be there. Priests and nuns work weekends, have done for centuries. Cops, food service, health care providers, prisons and the entertainment industry to name a few. The sat-sun weekend has always been a luxury. Those that lament its passing as some sort of societal shift show thier colours. I write this as a i sit on a monday morning waiting for the work i did over the weekend to be read and evaluated by clients worth far more than i will ever be. They dont work weekends.

AlexAltea 9y ago
> Priests and nuns work weekends, have done for centuries. Cops, food service, health care providers, prisons and the entertainment industry to name a few. While such jobs require indeed people working on weekends, it doesn't mean that the workers themselves need to be present 7 days a week. It's possible to uniformly distribute 2 free days per week among workers and still guaranteeing 24/7 service. > Those that lament its passing as some sort of societal shift show thier colours. Not sure what "their colours" mean. Why should we lower our expectations to the lowest working conditions? Instead, why don't we all aspire to redistributing our working ours to ensure a fair share of free time.
- sandworm101 9y ago
  If you arent getting sat-sun off then i seriously doubt you have any stable 2day weekend. These are shift workers. By "colours" i mean that they are from a background where sat-sun weekends are a thing. Thier parents were not shift workers. They expect to have sundays off. Many, possibly most in many areas, no not have such expectations and envy those who do.
  - tdb7893 9y ago
    My girlfriend is a shift worker and while she doesn't always get stable 2 day weekend (she gets every other weekend off and generally Tuesday and Thursday the other week) but her schedule is reasonably stable. If you are a shift worker and your schedule isn't stable at all then that means your schedule is bad even as shift workers go

jjgreen 9y ago

When I started school, I misheard the hours as 2 days on, 5 days off. Come the Wednesday, I was rather put out (and remain so).

teh_klev 9y ago
Reminds me of what a mate's kid said after he got home from the first day at primary school - he genuinely thought it was for one day only. Then there was the dismayed look on his face after it was explained that this routine was now for the next eighteen years of his life :)

bryan11 9y ago

This quote seems key: “Time is now currency: It is not passed but spent,” wrote historian E. P. Thompson.

sdiq 9y ago

"But the week is man-made, arbitrary, a substance not found in nature." One thing that occasionally makes me wonder is the universality of the day of the week. Everywhere you go - with the possible exception of the people living on either sides of the imaginary International Date Line - people are in agreement on which day of the week it is. Just imagine the white Christian colonialist coming to Africa, or some other part of the world, and finding native Muslim populations and yet both agree on what day of the week it is.