

Why A Four-Day Work Week Doesn't Work - swombat
http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/18/careers-leadership-work-leadership-cx_tw_0818workweek_print.html

======
jrsims
This article starts off assuming that a four-day workweek entails cramming the
usual 40 hour workweek into 4 days instead of 5. I stopped reading right
there, because the idea of "Four Tens" or "Power Shifts" aren't new ideas and
really only work for certain types of people in certain roles.

People aren't robots. Just because you're getting the same amount of time per
week from them doesn't mean you're the getting the same efficiency too. 37S
has already expanded on this topic and I fully agree.

I get frustrated with these kinds of articles where the author demonstrates
their lack of willingness to think outside the box or attempt to grasp some
counter-intuitive ideas on this topic.

A workweek of four, eight-hour workdays with the option to work into your
3-day weekend on occasion is the way to go for a lot of traditional 9-5 office
jobs, IMO. Your "Four Tens" and "Power Shifts" are going to burn out a lot of
people unnecessarily. What I fear is that some companies will start
experimenting with a 4-day workweek by compressing more human time into fewer
days and will be unhappy with the results they get, thus returning to the
standard 5-day workweek with the claim that their experiment failed and 4-day
workweeks "don't actually work". The State of California is experimenting in
this exact same manner now (Yes, the State of California - the gold standard
in efficiency, right?).

As for those of us who have been bitten by the entrepreneurship bug, I think
many of us actually can be more productive in working long hours - maybe even
as much as 7 days a week - but that's because we are energized and driven by
our vision. And ultimately, it's our choice anyway.

Not to be an ass, but wake me when we're ready to talk some sense here.

------
krschultz
You can't argue with 37signals being able to produce a lot of results with
their 4 day work week. . .

BUT does anyone else see the irony of them always posting blog posts
responding to Hacker News stories? I thought with the 4 day work week everyone
spent less time distracted and more time doing?

I think working from home/allowing any hours as long as results are produced
is great for some jobs like hacking and design - but it utterly fails for
other jobs. If you need to communicate with other businesses, you have to be
there everyday during business hours. What happens if a big customer calls on
friday and everyone is gone, 40 hours doesn't help much if it isn't on those
days.

~~~
mechanical_fish
_I thought with the 4 day work week everyone spent less time distracted and
more time doing?_

Do you really think that the 37signals strategy of fostering a dialogue with
HN readers is a _distraction_ from their business plan? Given that the
customer base for products like Basecamp consists of small businesspeople with
a slight technical bent?

37signals, like Spolsky and the ArsDigita of yore and (ahem) YCombinator,
fosters discussions about hacking because such discussions are a very
effective marketing tool. Which is not to say that the company doesn't also do
it because it's fun, and because it's good for their profession and for the
world. It's one of those win-win-win situations.

------
Goladus
* As for saving on the cost of commuting, it likely isn't true.*

It likely is. And it seems like the author is really just reaching for
something else to talk about.

 _There's no guarantee that employees will save on commuting costs. In many
cases, employees will travel even farther because they'll use the extra day
for vacations they wouldn't have taken or run errands that they would
otherwise do while at work._

The whole point of saving on commute costs is so you can spend that time and
money doing something less stressful and mind-numbing, like taking a vacation.
So yes, if you only commute 4 times a week instead of 5 you're saving on
commute costs, period.

~~~
froo
_if you only commute 4 times a week instead of 5 you're saving on commute
costs, period._

The problem with your reasoning is that you're using regular mathematics and
not (as is the case of this article) Journalist Maths.

It's one of those downfalls of us technical types, we only use real
mathematics to prove points.

I for one am ashamed of myself.

------
pierrefar
They have a flaw. This quote says it all:

"Packing 40 hours into four days isn't necessarily an efficient way to work."

Why pack 40 instead of 32? The point of a 4-day week IMHO is not doing the
same work-time in fewer days but to work more efficiently and so do the same
work in less work-time, which in turn requires fewer days.

It's all about efficiency for both machines and people. Tell that to Forbes.

~~~
Tamerlin
I think Forbes also missed the point that hours aren't the criterion that
people should care about, but rather results.

~~~
tstegart
I agree with Goladus, some people don't have room to manage time poorly. When
you work in a factory it is hours that matter because the results don't vary
greatly by the amount of time you work. Sure, extremely long hours will make a
difference, but if you put 16 doors on 4 cars per hour on a line, working two
more hours doesn't really decrease that. You don't have time to goof off and
be unproductive. If you just went by results, your whole assembly line would
be screwed up, because its, well, a line.

------
mattmaroon
Wait, I thought we were already on the 4 hour work week. Get with the program
Forbes.

------
sabat
For once I whole-heartedly agree with a 37signals post.

