Back when the economy was soaring, a lot of companies were doing stuff like this. I think it goes along with casual dress, bennies for non-married SO’s and other non-salary perks that companies use to entice employees during good times.
What I am wondering is if the economy, particularly the high tech sector continues to weaken, will the small amount of perks that employees come to take for granted actually diminish over time? I can see it now: Shirts and ties instead of casual days. Less vacation time and bennies.
As it is, with people competing for jobs that are scarce, the employers have no reason to give such a bennefit. Employees are willing to work 5 10 hour days rather than be laid off.
shrug
Maybe if things get better, some politician will give the state workers fridays off. Then companies would follow suit. It may be enough of a platform to get a president elected!
Not applicable to me, but the only real possibility that I can see to argue against it is child care issues.
Unless everyone converts to 4 10’s, you’d probably be hard pressed to find a place you could drop the kids off at so early, and that would keep them so late.
But for the childless dopers such as myself…I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
I was able to work a 9/80 schedule for 3 years (every other Friday off, you work 9 hour days, and the Friday on is an 8 hour day) and really enjoyed it. I was able to run errands on the Friday (when places were less crowded), and still enjoy 2 weekend days.
When I was a retail store manager and made my own schedule, I often opted for 4 ten hour days in the week. I usually ended up coming in an extra day or two anyways, though, to deal with emergencies.
I think a 10 hour day is great – I usually managed to get at least twice as much done, as it fit more with my natural pace of work. During a regular 8 hour day, I’m usually rushing the last hour or so to pull together any loose ends so I don’t have to deal with them the next morning. Also, after an 8 hour day, there’s not much of the evening left when I get home to enjoy anyways, so I’d rather get work out of the way and enjoy a nice long weekend.
I work for a Fortune 500 company and employees here had the option of working a 4 day work week (or compressed week as we called it here). Our CEO has since taken this away because it became difficult to compete in the business world that worked on a 5+ day work week and scheduling meetings became harder because most had to be done in the Tuesday-Thursday window. So those were the disadvantages cited for its stop.
One argument I have heard against it is that parents need the time each evening to be with their kids and help them with homework, etc. since their kids can’t puch all of their homework and other needs to the weekend as well as adults can.
Not every job type would need to change. If a trial period determined that certain jobs had quality/worker conflicts then that position(s) could stay 5x8. I think many of these jobs you are thinking of may be salaried and the workers are already working longer than the eight hours.
On the downside:
The percentage of your week that is (defacto) Monday increases by 5 percent.
Upside:
As does the percentage of your week that is Friday.
I think as long as the actual place of business was open 5 days a week, it would be okay. But most businesses need the flexibility of being open 5 days a week, as many things that happen in the business world - making decisions, shipping stuff, etc - happens based on a number of days, and not a number of hours. Eg, someone tells you “I’ll get back to you in two days”, not “I’ll get back to you in 16 work hours.”
Personally, though, I love the 4/10 schedule. Used to work it, and Fridays were pure heaven. It was even better, since most people are still at work. It felt like cheating.
Jeff
I’m currently doing the 10-hr a day grind (Mon-Thur). I have no complaints and think all (well most any way) should adopt this.
The great thing about this is when I take off, say like Thursday, I have four days’ off!
FYI: For the parents helping their kids with homework, that’s what teachers and studyhall are for. But really, I doubt 2-hrs will infringe on a childs education each night.
I’m all for it. But I wanted to tell you guys about an experimant that’s getting more and more recognition here. Of course, you must remember that we all get five weeks of paid vacation so the following might not work in the US.
It started in a small rural community. There nurses at the small hospital was offered to work 3/3 off. That is - three 8 hour days at work. And three days off. And for the same pay.
What? No employers would go for that?
In fact, it’s worked out splendidly.
It comes out to 182 work days a year, as compared to 225 days with the old five days a week program (365 minus vacation, minus public holidays, minus weekends). On the other hand, the nurses don’t get extra pay for Saturday and Sunday. I think they get some for Christmas and stuff, but the schedule is rotated, so someone working Christmas this year, won’t the next. It has cut back considerably on sick leave and after doing this for a couple of years, it pretty muych turns out that the employer (The Town) pays a little less for the same amount of work being done. More people are employed (less wellfare) and everybody is happy. Some private industries are trying it now, from what I hear from the news.
It’s still uncertain if it’ll fly in the long run. Many employers are sceptic, to say the least, while unions love it.
On an unrelated topic which should be a different thread.
To respond to your FYI -
It is not the teachers job to help the students with their homework. The parents need to accept a role in the students education. This means spending time with them at home. The teacher can`t possibly find the time to help 25 kids with their homework and provide individual attention to each one. That is where the parents step in. The most successful students (in general) have input and direct support from their parents.
You`ve just stated the biggest obstacle, in my opinion. One that is not insurmountable. The other problem lies in all the employee management software that uses a five day work week, but that too is changeable.
If I were running a company, I’d probably have my workers on a 4/10 schedule. But they wouldn’t all get the same day off. In fact, I’d probably have 20% of them off on each day of the week. I might even have the day off change from one week to the next, just so someone isn’t stuck with always having Tuesdays off and never getting a 3-day weekend.
Allowing a 4/10 week on a non-permanent, as-needed basis is a good idea, too. That way, if you are sick on a Monday (or have to care for a sick family member), you can make up the time without having to eat up your sick leave or take the time off without pay.
I think that California changed its labor laws around 1995 to give companies the ability to institute 4/10 schedules and not have to pay hourly employees bonus time for anything above 8 hours in a day. But Gray Davis reversed that shortly after he took office.
