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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday August 12 2020, @04:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the 4-tens? dept.

It's time to implement a 4-day workweek

In May, Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur and former Democratic presidential candidate, floated the idea of implementing a four-day workweek to better accommodate working Americans in a time of uncertainty, saying a shorter workweek could have mental-health benefits for employees.

There's not one overarching definition of a four-day workweek. "There are different models for the shortened week, some of which envision the same output condensed into fewer hours while others simply imagine longer hours spread over fewer days," a Washington Post report said.

Some involve a three-day weekend, while others mean a day off midweek.

[...] "It would help get us off of this hamster wheel that we're on right now, where we're all sort of racing against the clock in service of this giant capital-efficiency machine," Yang said. "And the race is driving us all crazy."

In a Harris poll conducted in late May, 82% of employed US respondents said they would prefer to have a shorter workweek, even if it meant longer workdays.

The idea of a shorter workweek has become so popular in Finland that Prime Minister Sanna Marin has called for employers to allow employees to work only six hours a day, four days a week. In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern proposed the policy as part of a coronavirus economic recovery effort.

Andrew Barnes, the CEO of Perpetual Guardian, introduced a four-day workweek at his company in New Zealand in 2018.
Barnes, a cofounder of the nonprofit platform 4 Day Week Global and the author of "The 4 Day Week," said he found that "stress levels drop, creativity goes up, team cohesion goes up" under such a policy.

[...] Microsoft experimented with a four-day workweek last year at a subsidiary in Japan as part of its "Work-Life Choice Challenge." The subsidiary closed every Friday in August and said it saw productivity jump by 40% compared with the previous year.

I'm somehow attracted to the idea, be it only for the reason the weekends are the most productive time for me, with no meeting interruptions (large grin)


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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday August 12 2020, @11:29PM (6 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday August 12 2020, @11:29PM (#1035867)

    What you think is your business. The way you choose to treat other people might, however, get you into trouble.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @12:05AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @12:05AM (#1035880)

    Or, you know, merely vocalising an opinion.

    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday August 13 2020, @01:42AM (4 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday August 13 2020, @01:42AM (#1035930)

      Nobody is going to protect you from the consequences of all that free speech now, are they?

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 13 2020, @01:57AM (3 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 13 2020, @01:57AM (#1035938) Journal
        Unless, of course, the cancel culture gets canceled. Free speech isn't the only behavior with consequences.
        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday August 13 2020, @02:59AM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday August 13 2020, @02:59AM (#1035958)

          True.

          Of course if you choose to be an arsehole, people might not want to be around you.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @08:16AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @08:16AM (#1036046)

          Hey, I'm all down with not firing people for their freedom of speech. The world will become so much better once employees are free to expose their bosses bullshit with the security of knowing they can sue the pricks for everything they have.

          Fucking SUPER SWEET! This could be the greatest ideological coup, conservatives finally figure out why freedom and democracy are important.

          Well, except for the fascists like Runaway, they want to nuke their enemies and remain winning forever.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 13 2020, @01:14PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 13 2020, @01:14PM (#1036110) Journal

            Fucking SUPER SWEET! This could be the greatest ideological coup, conservatives finally figure out why freedom and democracy are important.

            I'll note that libertarians, who are often lumped with conservatives, already have this figured out.