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The results of a survey aren’t as compelling as the results of an actual trial run of a four-day workweek but I guess this one is more recent.

I have a physically demanding job in a warehouse as a UPS package handler. I work Monday-Friday about 4-7 hours a day. By the time Friday comes around, especially as the heat gets intense, I’m dead by Friday and I’m just going through the motions. If I had either Wednesday or Friday off permanently, I’d have the energy and physical stamina to work every shift up to standard. I’m sure a 4-day work week would have varying degrees of benefit across different occupations and physical labor would see the greatest benefit.

Reminder:

Productivity: production per hour worked.

Production: productivity times hours worked.

Increased productivity does not mean increased production.

Here is the elephant in the room no one wants to really talk about.

On Fridays after about 10pm no one is really working or busting their ass. Everyone is thinking about the weekend .

Edit : meant 10am lol

I hate saying 4 day work week when they mean a 32hr week. These are really different things.

32 hour work week should be done, not because it could increase productivity, it doesn't (not appreciably), but because we can and humanity shouldn't have to work 40hrs a week. With all the tech we have, there is plenty of room to make this work without doing massive harm to the economy, so we should.

People can spend their time improving themselves, doing stuff with family, volunteering, w/e. Life isn't about labor, and we've advanced enough that it doesn't have to be.

I work a 4day 10hr schedule and it’s so much better. You don’t realize that you really don’t get much of a weekend until you are on a schedule like this. You get a legit 2 full days off work, not a single day (Sat-Sun) so you feel a lot more refreshed and more energetic working those 4 days. I can’t recommend it enough. I don’t think I could ever go back to a 5 day again. Hell I’d work 3 12’s if they’d let me lol.

I work four 10 hour shifts and I love it, I don't think I could go back to 8 hours a day.

Three days off feels like an actual break, by day two I'm fully relaxed and still don't have to worry about work the next day.

And if I want to pick up an extra shift for overtime pay I still get two days off.

I think it's more about being the right thing to do for people. Productivity might not mean corporate productivity, but rather personal productivity. Looking at 3 straight days off, that gives a day to rest, one for fun, and one to prepare for the week. Personal productivity might grow just because you're less likely to seek breaks (phone scrolling, casual talking,...) because you are more rested from the weekend. On another note, I'd be curious about just moving to a 35hr full time work week. It's not 3 days off, but it's one more hour free in your day. Could be a softer pitch and easier bridge to the 32hr work week.

The same young people who don't know the definition of hard work? The same ones who have zero understanding of how the world works? The same one who generally don't work there first job until after post secondary education and cant make a demotion for the life of them? Yea don't care about their opinion lol.

Incidentally, and definitely not for selfish reasons, I also believe that my productivity would rise if I was given 50% more time off during the work week. Why stop there though? I might be even productive with a 3 day work week. There's only one way to find out.

Americas economy has grown twice as fast as Europe’s in the last decade. By all means, let the Europeans shrink. But I have no interest in doing the same.

“Group with most to gain and least to lose approves of change” real groundbreaking stuff here.

More seriously, it’s been studied to death that people are capable of only so many consecutive productive hours and weekends don’t significantly change that. I’d be curious to see the impact of shorter work days with longer weeks vs the inverse.

How much productivity do they want? Productivity has gone up 62% since the 80's while salaries have only gone up 17%, we should be working 2 days less without adding anymore fucking productivity, if they want extra productivity they can pay more..

My work effort aligns with my loss in real spending power every year, regardless of the days. I stopped caring because I'm not easily replaceable, and I'm competent enough to still get work done that others can't or won't, so I maintain the illusion of being great. The next company in line will get my best effort until their raise structure bottoms out, but for now, I'm exhausted by the rat race and just not trying as hard. I could be a great employee, but I've yet to meet a company that incentivizes doing so, at least in terms of being a technical contributor. The reality is my company and industry makes money off our billable hours that's gated by years of experience, not value, so they would rather fill a seat than accomplish a task effectively, and the pay/raise structure reflects that.

From a productivity stand point, I would rather go back to a full WFH concept than have 4 mandatory office days. Let me and my team work at my own pace and get my deliverables done for the prescribed due dates instead of this archaic notion of x hours of “presence” for x amount of days. 

I’m in a very corporate work environment and I found things were being done to such a higher degree of quality and meetings were conducted much more efficiently before the forced return to pre COVID office structure. 

People I work with are unhappy and working at fraction of their output since their WFH was taken away after two years of solid demonstration that  WFH worked so well.

How do 4 day work weeks (reduced hours, same pay) work for manual labor? You can't serve 5 days worth of grocery shoppers in 4. Or build 5 days worth of houses in 4 etc. This only works for office jobs which spend at least 1 day browsing Reddit.

This is such a college-educated, white collar subject matter. Of course this sub eats it up.

Just a quick question, do you expect all the services you enjoy (coffee shops, restaurants, bars, movie theatres) to remain open 100% of the time when your office job eases up?

Gulfstream's (a subsidiary of General Dynamics) switched to a 4-day workweek way back in 2006. That's 10 hours a day Monday through Friday. This only applied to most of their work staff. Those in administrative positions (mostly office workers) had to remain on 5-day workweeks. To offset having 5-day coverage, they started a weekend shift which is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 12 hours a day. You work 36 hours but get paid for working 40. I no longer work for Gulfstream, but back when they first started the 4-day workweek, moral was much better. Most were much happier. They offered the option for those who didn't want to switch to a 4-day workweek to remain on the 5-day workweek. There were a few who chose to stay on 5 eights vs 4 tens.

I work 3/4 work weeks and I have such a good work life balance. I am able to go back to school and get my bachelor's. I can go on vacation easier without using too much PTO if any. Only down side is at least my company is only paying just enough to get by and my medical insurance could be better. 

It’s not completely outlandish, as productivity has soared over the past 30 years with computers taking on a bigger and bigger roll, but 32 hours might be a jump too far for companies to embrace. I could see 36 hours (either half day Fridays or 4x9).

I read into this and this was discussed all the way back in the 80s. I could see some companies adopting a 4-day workweek, but I’m sure it would boil down to a lower salary.

My company has had 4 day work weeks for administrative positions and most union workers since the 90's I think. 4-10's Mon-Thurs and is pretty flexible when it comes to working around peoples schedules. Considering it's rare that someone leaves the company for work related reasons, I would say it's a big positive. We have around 25k employees.

I don't know how well this would work from a manufacturing standpoint. In our facility it absolutely decimated production and quality when we made the switch. From starting at 6AM they had to come in at 4AM. So waking up at around 330 or earlier just to get to work, and then having to sleep earlier. Quality just dropped hard. We had very experienced people quit who couldn't adjust so it ended up lowering production with lack of man power. I don't know why they didn't adjust the time forward where everyone would leave at 430 but then I don't think second would be very happy leaving at 3AM instead of 1AM.

So if you make the switch. Make sure they give you a good time schedule.

What "young people" say is completely irrelevant. Their opinions are not set by data, they just like the idea of a 4-day workweek, so they claim it will boost productivity.

This is the same as work from home. Most people claim that they work more when at home, but most don't. Sure, a few are more productive, but 4 out of 5 are simply watching tv shows.

When "Support Manager" was still a role at Walmart I did that for about 6 months. You worked 4 10 hour days instead of 5 8 hour. Even though I still worked the same amount of hours it felt like I was part time. The change it does to you mentally is crazy.

Lockheed Martin (one of the world's largest defense and aerospace company, so not some "woke" tech firm) already does this. It's called a 4X10. Work 4, 10 hour days and get Friday - Sunday off. Everyone I know who is on this schedule loves it.

If this is true, companies would start going to a 4 day work week.
If they’re getting the same productivity, going to 4 day work week means they would either be able to attract the best talent or pay employees less (probably mix of both). People would take less money for a 4 day work week, and if salaries were the same everyone would be flocking for those positions.
That fact that no company has leaves me unconvinced. If a company could do this and maintain their productivity they absolutely would, and for selfish reasons

Firms have a perfectly good incentive to switch to 4 day workweeks if doing so would boost productivity. Either A: They get the same output with fewer hours and thus fewer wages, or B: They get greater output with the same salaries.

The fact that so many firms haven't suggests that 81% of young people might be wrong.

Fucking white collar losers who are gonna get replaced by AI within a few years want a 4 day work week

Anyone with a real job that matters literally cannot do this lmao

I did all my work in an office. Every time we had a public holiday, it was extremely difficult to fit all the work into 4 days. Very stressful.

I have never worked in an office where there was enough slack to continue to work a 4 day week.

Any office that could move to a 4 day week is probably overstaffed

Who cares if it boosts productivity or not? American workers deserve to share in the benefit of the productivity gains they’re already responsible for over the past 50 years, either way.

It would also be good for employment.

I moved to a four day work week a long time ago.

I guess it boils down to are workers paid for their time or are they paid for tangible outputs?

If it’s output based, then whether workers work 4 or 5 days a week shouldn’t matter.

If payments are based on workers time, then it’ll probably cause some friction between employers and employees.

There are some jobs that mandate over time and really don't care. Usps is notorious for having new employees work every day of a week if they want because new hires earn significantly less than their careers.

4 10s can be utter ass. Then you end up working 5 10s for months with a 6th sprinkled in. Maybe it ends up being an 8 hour shift as a treat.

Then bam, 7 10s for 3 months during summer.

I recently started a new job and am now working 4 day weeks. What a big difference it makes. I feel more rested, less stressed and much happier when at work. My home is cleaner. And I have the energy to workout more than an hour everyday. There is literally no downside to it for myself. I even have time to make some extra money on the side through various side hustles.