5 ms·

In Norway there are also suggestions to shorten the working time to 6 hours. But why not to give an extra day-of instend? Petsonally i strongly prefer the latte

In Norway there are also suggestions to shorten the working time to 6 hours. But why not to give an extra day-of instend? Petsonally i strongly prefer the latter as with 6 working hours one still spends substantial time to get to/from work. In Moscow where some people spends over 4 hours just to get to work companies started to offer 10 hours of work time in return to extra day off.

derefr 8y ago
Because the point isn't to give people more free time; it's to let people go home when they run out of mental energy and wouldn't be doing anything useful for the rest of their workday anyway. Even if you were only working one day a week, you wouldn't be able to do 8 hours of contiguous useful information-work.
- fpoling 8y ago
  With 30 hours per week I would really prefer to work for 10 hours 3 days. This way after each work day I will have a day off. This way I can recharge myself sufficiently to have productive 10 hours. As for productivity then I noticed when debugging hard bugs times really fly.
wlll 8y ago
> companies started to offer 10 hours of work time in return to extra day off. That would equate to 18 hour days. Give yourself 2 hours of time spread across the morning and evening to wash, dress, eat etc. you'd be looking at 4 hours sleep a night for 4 nights and no relaxation time. That seems unsustainable.
- fjsolwmv 8y ago
  14hr days.
  - wlll 8y ago
    "4 hours just to get to work" means it takes 4 hours to get to work, not it takes 2 hours to get to work and 2 hours back. If the parent commenter meant it takes 2 hours to get to work and 2 hours to get back that would have been better said like that, or "4 hours total commute time per day", or similar.
- fpoling 8y ago
  I meant above 4 hours in total on average spend to get to and back from work.
knodi123 8y ago
Imagine you worked only two days a week, but 18 hours a day. Assume you're young and flexible enough to survive that, and you have a cot in the office. Would you want to do that? How much dread would you feel the day before your shift started? I think the point of the linked article is that the same reason that makes you recoil at that, and the same reasons that would make these coming hell-days so dread-inducing- those same reasons apply to an 8-hour day, just to a lesser degree. It's not about extending the weekend as much as possible, it's about shortening the part of each workday that you're "working", and reducing the mental burden of each individual workday.
- prestonh 8y ago
  There won't be a universally appealing solution. I have had this discussion with colleagues and most agree a 4x10 week is preferable to the 5x8 work week.
  - Shaanie 8y ago
    For employees, sure. For productivity? Very very doubtful.
    - prestonh 8y ago
      No, I mean for productivity as well. 10 hour days (for many) aren't all that taxing.
- fpoling 8y ago
  18 hours does not work. But 10-11 is ok, as long as it is not 5 days per week. The trick is to have a long pause in the middle, like 1 hour for lunch and small walk (perhaps to a nice restaurant nearby). This is how it works in Moscow. A person comes to work at 9, has a long lunch/pause from 2 to 3 and then leave at 8. As an added bonus late in the evening traffic jams are reduced and the underground is no longer overcrowded so it is faster to get home.
  - tonyedgecombe 8y ago
kwhitefoot 8y ago
Here in Norway most salaried workers have flexitime and many people take Fridays off to get a long weekend and reduce the amount of time spent commuting.

derefr 8y ago

Because the point isn't to give people more free time; it's to let people go home when they run out of mental energy and wouldn't be doing anything useful for the rest of their workday anyway. Even if you were only working one day a week, you wouldn't be able to do 8 hours of contiguous useful information-work.

fpoling 8y ago
With 30 hours per week I would really prefer to work for 10 hours 3 days. This way after each work day I will have a day off. This way I can recharge myself sufficiently to have productive 10 hours. As for productivity then I noticed when debugging hard bugs times really fly.

wlll 8y ago

> companies started to offer 10 hours of work time in return to extra day off. That would equate to 18 hour days. Give yourself 2 hours of time spread across the morning and evening to wash, dress, eat etc. you'd be looking at 4 hours sleep a night for 4 nights and no relaxation time. That seems unsustainable.

fjsolwmv 8y ago
14hr days.
- wlll 8y ago
  "4 hours just to get to work" means it takes 4 hours to get to work, not it takes 2 hours to get to work and 2 hours back. If the parent commenter meant it takes 2 hours to get to work and 2 hours to get back that would have been better said like that, or "4 hours total commute time per day", or similar.
fpoling 8y ago
I meant above 4 hours in total on average spend to get to and back from work.

knodi123 8y ago

Imagine you worked only two days a week, but 18 hours a day. Assume you're young and flexible enough to survive that, and you have a cot in the office. Would you want to do that? How much dread would you feel the day before your shift started? I think the point of the linked article is that the same reason that makes you recoil at that, and the same reasons that would make these coming hell-days so dread-inducing- those same reasons apply to an 8-hour day, just to a lesser degree. It's not about extending the weekend as much as possible, it's about shortening the part of each workday that you're "working", and reducing the mental burden of each individual workday.

prestonh 8y ago
There won't be a universally appealing solution. I have had this discussion with colleagues and most agree a 4x10 week is preferable to the 5x8 work week.
- Shaanie 8y ago
  For employees, sure. For productivity? Very very doubtful.
  - prestonh 8y ago
    No, I mean for productivity as well. 10 hour days (for many) aren't all that taxing.
fpoling 8y ago
18 hours does not work. But 10-11 is ok, as long as it is not 5 days per week. The trick is to have a long pause in the middle, like 1 hour for lunch and small walk (perhaps to a nice restaurant nearby). This is how it works in Moscow. A person comes to work at 9, has a long lunch/pause from 2 to 3 and then leave at 8. As an added bonus late in the evening traffic jams are reduced and the underground is no longer overcrowded so it is faster to get home.
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago

kwhitefoot 8y ago

Here in Norway most salaried workers have flexitime and many people take Fridays off to get a long weekend and reduce the amount of time spent commuting.