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4 hour work-week ain't happening. 1) Due to AI advancements, companies and business models are going to be disrupted. The last thing a firm wants is to work 4

4 hour work-week ain't happening. 1) Due to AI advancements, companies and business models are going to be disrupted. The last thing a firm wants is to work 4 day / week when competition can do 60 hour per week and leap frog them (including crushing them) at a crucial period. tl ; dr -- we are entering a crunch mode for many firms (vs stability where we can think of these luxuries) 2) US is already facing labor shortage in many critical fields esp human services. A 4-day work week faces massive inflationary pressures. Again, when we enter deflation we can think of 4-day work week. A classic example would have been 2008/09 when unemployment touched 10% 3) AI will make people who work 70 hour per week even more productive. So in knowledge work roles, firms may opt to have one 70 hr extreme workaholic vs 2 32 hour people I know sensitive topic to HNers who downvote just because they don't like the message

jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
The article is about a 4 day work week, which is commonly 32 or 40 hours depending on context. Not sure why you had to make this about AI.
- deltree7 3y ago
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Syonyk 3y ago
> 4 hour work-week ain't happening. Four hour or four day? Both are terms that have been tossed around, though this is discussing four day (which you then discuss as 32h weeks later). > AI will make people who work 70 hour per week even more productive. So in knowledge work roles, firms may opt to have one 70 hr extreme workaholic vs 2 32 hour people Have you ever had to debug code from people at the wrong end of a 60-70 hour week? For a while, I had a coworker who tended to to this sort of thing, and I eventually started looking at the relevant commit messages. If they were incoherent, expect the code to be "not even wrong" grade interesting - you basically had to re-write it to get it do what it was supposed to. The sort of people who enjoy 70h grinds also seem to not particularly enjoy writing tests.
- deltree7 3y ago
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RandomLensman 3y ago
1) Firms are happily wasting away a sizeable fraction of their resources now. 2) That would mean more competition for labor, i.e, if 4-day week is all you can get as an employer you take it. 3) Firms in knowledge roles want certain skills and profiles, if those want a 4-day week, then that is what will happen.
kredd 3y ago
Supermajority of people would probably enjoy 4-day work week, but there needs to be a giant push from the labour side. All the needs of "big companies" and such theoretically could be ignored, if such supermajority stuck together, and pushed through legislations. But I fear, this push will resonate with the word "unionization", killing all the efforts, since there is a hate towards such movements.
standardUser 3y ago
> when we enter deflation There was a survey showing that a lot of Americans believe the recent inflation will be over once prices go back down to where they were in 2020. They, and you, are in for an unpleasant surprise.

jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago

The article is about a 4 day work week, which is commonly 32 or 40 hours depending on context. Not sure why you had to make this about AI.

deltree7 3y ago
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Syonyk 3y ago

> 4 hour work-week ain't happening. Four hour or four day? Both are terms that have been tossed around, though this is discussing four day (which you then discuss as 32h weeks later). > AI will make people who work 70 hour per week even more productive. So in knowledge work roles, firms may opt to have one 70 hr extreme workaholic vs 2 32 hour people Have you ever had to debug code from people at the wrong end of a 60-70 hour week? For a while, I had a coworker who tended to to this sort of thing, and I eventually started looking at the relevant commit messages. If they were incoherent, expect the code to be "not even wrong" grade interesting - you basically had to re-write it to get it do what it was supposed to. The sort of people who enjoy 70h grinds also seem to not particularly enjoy writing tests.

deltree7 3y ago
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RandomLensman 3y ago

1) Firms are happily wasting away a sizeable fraction of their resources now. 2) That would mean more competition for labor, i.e, if 4-day week is all you can get as an employer you take it. 3) Firms in knowledge roles want certain skills and profiles, if those want a 4-day week, then that is what will happen.

kredd 3y ago

Supermajority of people would probably enjoy 4-day work week, but there needs to be a giant push from the labour side. All the needs of "big companies" and such theoretically could be ignored, if such supermajority stuck together, and pushed through legislations. But I fear, this push will resonate with the word "unionization", killing all the efforts, since there is a hate towards such movements.

standardUser 3y ago

> when we enter deflation There was a survey showing that a lot of Americans believe the recent inflation will be over once prices go back down to where they were in 2020. They, and you, are in for an unpleasant surprise.