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It boggles the mind why half-time and three-quarter time employment isn't more popular. I guess UBI would allow that to happen instead of employers having to wo

It boggles the mind why half-time and three-quarter time employment isn't more popular. I guess UBI would allow that to happen instead of employers having to worry about benefits.

sokoloff 6y ago
The coordination and knowledge sharing costs go up at least linearly with number of people. Twice as many people each working half-time mean a lot more of that time is chewed up with communication/knowledge acquisition.
- beefield 6y ago
  That's the employer's problem. What I find weird is that more people working in high tax-progression countries do not realize that doubling your annual holidays[1] is actually dirt cheap - and require that as a perk instead of the slightly more expensive car or whatever they are spending that marginal income. [1] or 4 day work week or 6 hour work day or whatever suits your life at the moment
  - colinmhayes 6y ago
    And the employer solves the problem by only hiring developers full time...
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    Employers’ problems and employees’ problems are probably closer than you might think when it comes to sustainable business and employment practices.
  - laurent92 6y ago
    I had an employee who had a clear opinion that some stuff weren’t his duties and that arriving sleepy at work was ok. So, as I said, I “had” an employee. Let’s count in jobs. Basically a man fully dedicated to his job 37hrs/week creates about 1 new position a year, every year, because he makes the processes so efficient that we serve 2x more customers, so we can hire. That guy and another intern, they created -1 job in a year (his project brought literally no customer) and cost us 16k€ + his salary + the intern (I pay my interns, I give hefty bonuses to everyone). I’m not complaining, it’s my job to root out the weed and prune it, and I did a mistake, but you need to understand, as a nation, how many jobs don’t exist because employees live off their colleagues (as for my share, I have created 6 jobs myself so I’ll just collect the huge margins, I’m just vexated he doesn’t collect his margins too). In sectors where everyone thinks it’s not their jobs, people end up harassing each other for the remaining positions. In growing companies, it’s the American dream with free food. The correct middle ground is to own your product for 37 hrs a week, and not delegate questions to be solved by the employer.
    - tartoran 6y ago
      You fired your employee for being sleepy in the morning? I think he’s better off not working for you and I’d avoid such employers like you like the plague. Im productive after a coffee in the morning and do arive sleepy at work and thats not your damn business. Getting the job done is a better metric and if you want 100% consistency look to invest into robots. You can’t expect people to submit everything to you. What do you do for them beside paying for their work?
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    - beefield 6y ago
      Let's say doubling your holidays means roughly 10% reduction in work time. If a fully dedicated 37.5 h person creates one job per year, could you estimate how many jobs creates a) fully dedicated 41 h person b) fully dedicated 34 h person? Of course, people are different and this is just an anecdote, but from my personal experience (a couple of instances) I can push myself to "fully dedicate" more than 4 hours a day of mentally really hard work - for some months. After that I tell politely that sorry, it is time for me to do something else for a while. More often than not, I have been welcomed back later. Of course, those have been exceptional circumstances, typically there is no need to fully dedicate more than 4 hours of mentally really hard work, but there is some less demanding aspects of the job taking some time off.
    - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
      >Basically a man fully dedicated to his job 37hrs/week creates about 1 new position a year, every year, because he makes the processes so efficient that we serve 2x more customers For how long can an employee, ever year, double his efficiency and the amount of customers he serves? That just doesn't sound sustainable. >as a nation Which nation?
  - TulliusCicero 6y ago
    > That's the employer's problem. This is a lazy, cop-out answer.
PragmaticPulp 6y ago
I've tried hiring half-time in the past. It kind of works if the tasks can be neatly packaged and handed off for totally asynchronous work. It breaks down as soon as you need the part-time person to work with the rest of the team. You end up forcing the rest of the team to work around one person's schedule. You also end up with someone on your team doubling up on the part-time person's knowledge if you need someone available during normal hours to answer questions or debug something. It's not really about benefits. ACA doesn't require full benefits for someone working 20 hours a week. Let's be honest: Many remote work jobs are essentially becoming half-time jobs, with the other half of the work week comprised of simply being available on Slack if someone asks a question.
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  My remote job has been a 25% job for a decade, 75% being available on chat. Back when I worked in an office it was 25% work, 75% being available in person.
dheera 6y ago
Not even that. Even 10.5/12 to 11/12 time would be great. Why is it that senior employees with a $500K package are expected to take zero vacation time or are subject to disrespect? Why do people pride themselves in taking no vacation, guilting their peer-level leaders in the process? I'd gladly take 11/12 of that pay in return for being able to take a full 4-6 weeks off to myself to do things I want to do in life. Personal travel, personal project, and family time are important, and that has nothing to do with how much passion I have for the job.
- strokirk 6y ago
  I find it hard to find the right time to take vacation - I'm almost always doing something interesting at work, so it's always stimulating enough that I won't think too much about taking time off for extended personal projects.
  - valesco 6y ago
    I get it. It’s hard to eat well, to sleep enough, to exercise. Taking time off is one of those things in my opinion.

It boggles the mind why half-time and three-quarter time employment isn't more popular. I guess UBI would allow that to happen instead of employers having to worry about benefits.

sokoloff 6y ago

The coordination and knowledge sharing costs go up at least linearly with number of people. Twice as many people each working half-time mean a lot more of that time is chewed up with communication/knowledge acquisition.

beefield 6y ago
That's the employer's problem. What I find weird is that more people working in high tax-progression countries do not realize that doubling your annual holidays[1] is actually dirt cheap - and require that as a perk instead of the slightly more expensive car or whatever they are spending that marginal income. [1] or 4 day work week or 6 hour work day or whatever suits your life at the moment
- colinmhayes 6y ago
  And the employer solves the problem by only hiring developers full time...
- sokoloff 6y ago
  Employers’ problems and employees’ problems are probably closer than you might think when it comes to sustainable business and employment practices.
- laurent92 6y ago
  I had an employee who had a clear opinion that some stuff weren’t his duties and that arriving sleepy at work was ok. So, as I said, I “had” an employee. Let’s count in jobs. Basically a man fully dedicated to his job 37hrs/week creates about 1 new position a year, every year, because he makes the processes so efficient that we serve 2x more customers, so we can hire. That guy and another intern, they created -1 job in a year (his project brought literally no customer) and cost us 16k€ + his salary + the intern (I pay my interns, I give hefty bonuses to everyone). I’m not complaining, it’s my job to root out the weed and prune it, and I did a mistake, but you need to understand, as a nation, how many jobs don’t exist because employees live off their colleagues (as for my share, I have created 6 jobs myself so I’ll just collect the huge margins, I’m just vexated he doesn’t collect his margins too). In sectors where everyone thinks it’s not their jobs, people end up harassing each other for the remaining positions. In growing companies, it’s the American dream with free food. The correct middle ground is to own your product for 37 hrs a week, and not delegate questions to be solved by the employer.
  - tartoran 6y ago
    You fired your employee for being sleepy in the morning? I think he’s better off not working for you and I’d avoid such employers like you like the plague. Im productive after a coffee in the morning and do arive sleepy at work and thats not your damn business. Getting the job done is a better metric and if you want 100% consistency look to invest into robots. You can’t expect people to submit everything to you. What do you do for them beside paying for their work?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - beefield 6y ago
    Let's say doubling your holidays means roughly 10% reduction in work time. If a fully dedicated 37.5 h person creates one job per year, could you estimate how many jobs creates a) fully dedicated 41 h person b) fully dedicated 34 h person? Of course, people are different and this is just an anecdote, but from my personal experience (a couple of instances) I can push myself to "fully dedicate" more than 4 hours a day of mentally really hard work - for some months. After that I tell politely that sorry, it is time for me to do something else for a while. More often than not, I have been welcomed back later. Of course, those have been exceptional circumstances, typically there is no need to fully dedicate more than 4 hours of mentally really hard work, but there is some less demanding aspects of the job taking some time off.
  - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
    >Basically a man fully dedicated to his job 37hrs/week creates about 1 new position a year, every year, because he makes the processes so efficient that we serve 2x more customers For how long can an employee, ever year, double his efficiency and the amount of customers he serves? That just doesn't sound sustainable. >as a nation Which nation?
- TulliusCicero 6y ago
  > That's the employer's problem. This is a lazy, cop-out answer.

PragmaticPulp 6y ago

I've tried hiring half-time in the past. It kind of works if the tasks can be neatly packaged and handed off for totally asynchronous work. It breaks down as soon as you need the part-time person to work with the rest of the team. You end up forcing the rest of the team to work around one person's schedule. You also end up with someone on your team doubling up on the part-time person's knowledge if you need someone available during normal hours to answer questions or debug something. It's not really about benefits. ACA doesn't require full benefits for someone working 20 hours a week. Let's be honest: Many remote work jobs are essentially becoming half-time jobs, with the other half of the work week comprised of simply being available on Slack if someone asks a question.

Consultant32452 6y ago
My remote job has been a 25% job for a decade, 75% being available on chat. Back when I worked in an office it was 25% work, 75% being available in person.

dheera 6y ago

Not even that. Even 10.5/12 to 11/12 time would be great. Why is it that senior employees with a $500K package are expected to take zero vacation time or are subject to disrespect? Why do people pride themselves in taking no vacation, guilting their peer-level leaders in the process? I'd gladly take 11/12 of that pay in return for being able to take a full 4-6 weeks off to myself to do things I want to do in life. Personal travel, personal project, and family time are important, and that has nothing to do with how much passion I have for the job.

strokirk 6y ago
I find it hard to find the right time to take vacation - I'm almost always doing something interesting at work, so it's always stimulating enough that I won't think too much about taking time off for extended personal projects.
- valesco 6y ago
  I get it. It’s hard to eat well, to sleep enough, to exercise. Taking time off is one of those things in my opinion.