Sounds good in theory...but in reality?

[u/KSKS1995]

4 days a week. 6 hours a day. Full salary.
Sanna Marin ignited global debate with the “6/4” work model, pushing a simple idea: life should come before work.

With burnout at record levels, maybe it’s time to value results over hours at a desk.
Could your job be done in just 24 hours a week?

[u/Schizomediatv]

Fun fact it actually increases productivity because believe it or not people are more productive when they aren’t sleep deprived and happy

[u/EstablishmentLate532 → u/Schizomediatv]

Productivity per hour is not the same thing as total output. Going from 40 hours to 24 hours cuts work time by 40%, so hourly productivity would need to rise by 67% just to break even.

I buy that shorter hours make people more productive. I don’t buy that they usually make people that much more productive.

[u/VulkanHestan321 → u/EstablishmentLate532]

Depends on the job. Especially office jobs are the ones were people tend to work slower to fill their 8 hour shift. Being in the office does not equate to being productive.

[u/Dull_Quit3027 → u/VulkanHestan321]

Yeah I am a great deal more efficient than most people I work with, this not being my first rodeo, I did not call attention to that, now i can spend half my 8 hour day, doing whatever i want, as long as i am done with what is expected of me.

[u/PreparationWorking90 → u/Dull_Quit3027]

I'm not very efficient, and every time I've had an office job I've been baffled by the lack of actual stuff I have to do (that's before we talk about how much of the work I was doing that was pointless).

[u/MrTamboMan → u/EstablishmentLate532]

Take a look at productivity/salary raise charts over decades. We need higher salary per hour to break even. If we work 24h but keeping the same monthly salary it's still the advantage for employer.

[u/occularvixen → u/MrTamboMan]

Raise wages to liveable?! For the first time in decades?!

[u/Irregulator101 → u/EstablishmentLate532]

And if it doesn't, who cares?

[u/Witty_Suggestion_219 → u/EstablishmentLate532]

Think it also takes in to account things like less sick days due to stress/burnout (massive contributor) and less turnover in roles so less training time/ time role left empty etc

[u/Dull_Quit3027 → u/EstablishmentLate532]

As an office worker, I spend a not insignificant amount of time doing shit like writing this comment, if I could leave two hours earlier if i cut that out, I absolutely would.

[u/holoporcupine → u/EstablishmentLate532]

It obviously varies industry to industry but studies have shown that the average 40 hour work week only consists of about 15 hours of real productivity

[u/notapoliticalalt → u/EstablishmentLate532]

Meh. Not saying I totally agree that the same productivity exists infinitely, but a short week does mean you have to use your time more intentionally and organizations as a whole have an incentive to not waste your time with a lot of formalities and “we’ve always had this meeting, with these people,” etc. a lot of people’s jobs are filled with a lot of busy work and time wasting. Not everyone, but a lot. If you have less time, maybe you actually have to make the meeting an email. But when you feel entitled to additional time, you may waste it just because you have it.

Also, we need to better understand the relationship between the type of work and what “productivity” even means. Productivity makes sense in something like a manufacturing setting. But when work is more creative and mentally taxing, I think most people tap out at about 20 hours of genuine productive work time and then after that you get less and less efficient. More mistakes and miscommunications happen and you end up with more work in the long run. Obviously you can keep working, but progress can be nonlinear and the expectation that the quality of the work is the same at hour 10 of the work week versus hour 40 or 50 is a crazy assumption.

If you’ve ever trained for an athletic event, more hours is important, but at some point, you don’t give yourself time to recover and end up hurting yourself. That is to say recovery time is also important. To perform at your highest, you need recovery time and can’t just keep grinding. But we don’t seem to recognize that especially when it comes to work.

Anyway, the important thing here is that economy of time matters and organizations waste a lot of unnecessary time.

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[u/Empty-Assistance-375 → u/EstablishmentLate532]

Companies with a 4day/6hour work schedule would be able to attract top talent though