4 ms·

I'd vote for everyone who has a reasonable plan of more scrutiny towards 40 hour work weeks. This may reduce salaries but oh God most of us make too much money

I'd vote for everyone who has a reasonable plan of more scrutiny towards 40 hour work weeks. This may reduce salaries but oh God most of us make too much money anyhow. Let's have a life now! When are you going to enjoy life, after retirement? Would you wait with sex till after retirement, too, if that offered a salary increase?

okr 7y ago
You can not reduce your 40 hour week? I know of at least two companies in Berlin, one of it is the one i work in, that are pretty flexible regarding the 40 hour week.
nolok 7y ago
This sounds crazy to me. If you're a funder / owner, sure, you don't count hours and it can get crazy. But if you're an employee... Most of my hires now are 30 hours a week, a few at 35h. I don't have anyone at 39h anymore, although that was still the norm a few years ago. Paid stayed the same, just reduced the hours. People are just way more productive that way, and they have two half day free on top of the normal Saturday Sunday. Probably doesn't work for all position, and in fact the worse the job the more likely it doesn't work for it, but uh yeah you can totally reduce to 40h... (France, 35h is the legal work time for a full time contract here, but you can absolutely have a contract with more or less hours, you just pay extra social charges for hours above the 35th)
- ChuckNorris89 7y ago
  In which country is the working week 30h? Or is it just your company?
  - nolok 7y ago
    My company only, working week by law is 35h hours here
mrep 7y ago
Is that a startup thing, because i've only worked for the big 5 (GAFAM) and I've always worked 40 hours a week. Add in the way higher comp, and I don't know why anyone outside of founders work at startups.
- nolok 7y ago
  "We're a team", "we're in this together", that kind of things. People buy into it.
  - jjeaff 7y ago
    There are a lot more factors in a successful and enjoyable career than salary and hours worked. I wouldn't take a job that pays double what I make now and has half as many hours if those hours were nothing but sitting in a dark room. You can get a lot of satisfaction from building something meaningful with a team that people enjoy using. Not that you can't do that in a big company, but all development jobs at big Corp are not that. I would tear my hair out if my only job every day was figuring out how to get more people to click on sidebar ads.
ChuckNorris89 7y ago
>but oh God most of us make too much money anyhow Nope, that's just in the USA, us in Europe not at all. And I'm not even comparing EU salaries vs US salaries just tech salaries/property prices ratios for each location. You're not overpaid, it's us that are severely underpaid in comparison.
- booboolayla 7y ago
  I'd wager that salaries in Europe are so small compared to USA precisely because of all the "protections" workers receive from the unions and the government, making it almost impossible to fire lousy workers.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  The lower salaries are probably due to the lack of VC funding, which in turn is rooted in a lack of really successful European tech companies. If you work for a European company, chances are it won't grow and be successful to the same extent as an American one, and therefore your work has less value.

okr 7y ago

You can not reduce your 40 hour week? I know of at least two companies in Berlin, one of it is the one i work in, that are pretty flexible regarding the 40 hour week.

nolok 7y ago

This sounds crazy to me. If you're a funder / owner, sure, you don't count hours and it can get crazy. But if you're an employee... Most of my hires now are 30 hours a week, a few at 35h. I don't have anyone at 39h anymore, although that was still the norm a few years ago. Paid stayed the same, just reduced the hours. People are just way more productive that way, and they have two half day free on top of the normal Saturday Sunday. Probably doesn't work for all position, and in fact the worse the job the more likely it doesn't work for it, but uh yeah you can totally reduce to 40h... (France, 35h is the legal work time for a full time contract here, but you can absolutely have a contract with more or less hours, you just pay extra social charges for hours above the 35th)

ChuckNorris89 7y ago
In which country is the working week 30h? Or is it just your company?
- nolok 7y ago
  My company only, working week by law is 35h hours here

mrep 7y ago

Is that a startup thing, because i've only worked for the big 5 (GAFAM) and I've always worked 40 hours a week. Add in the way higher comp, and I don't know why anyone outside of founders work at startups.

nolok 7y ago
"We're a team", "we're in this together", that kind of things. People buy into it.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  There are a lot more factors in a successful and enjoyable career than salary and hours worked. I wouldn't take a job that pays double what I make now and has half as many hours if those hours were nothing but sitting in a dark room. You can get a lot of satisfaction from building something meaningful with a team that people enjoy using. Not that you can't do that in a big company, but all development jobs at big Corp are not that. I would tear my hair out if my only job every day was figuring out how to get more people to click on sidebar ads.

ChuckNorris89 7y ago

>but oh God most of us make too much money anyhow Nope, that's just in the USA, us in Europe not at all. And I'm not even comparing EU salaries vs US salaries just tech salaries/property prices ratios for each location. You're not overpaid, it's us that are severely underpaid in comparison.

booboolayla 7y ago
I'd wager that salaries in Europe are so small compared to USA precisely because of all the "protections" workers receive from the unions and the government, making it almost impossible to fire lousy workers.
londons_explore 7y ago
The lower salaries are probably due to the lack of VC funding, which in turn is rooted in a lack of really successful European tech companies. If you work for a European company, chances are it won't grow and be successful to the same extent as an American one, and therefore your work has less value.