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A very liberal piece, but it’s nice to see this finally entering the mainstream discussion. Of course, we could go so much further than just a 4-day work week of 8 hour days:
by working 4 or 5 hours a day till the age of forty-five or fifty, man could easily produce all that is necessary to guarantee comfort to society.
— Kropotkin, The Conquest of BreadJust imagine how much we could do with the remaining time. We could dedicate ourselves to higher learning, to the creation of art and literature, to the building of community and betterment of all.
I have the good fortune to work for an employer that offers 80% schedule for 80% pay if you want it. We can also take unpaid leave of up to 3 months just by asking for it.
I’ve been on the 4 day schedule for some time now. Over a year. I wish I could say it’s a night and day difference but the truth is that 5 day was really grinding me down, and 4 day is letting me live.
But there are some added stresses too. Everyone thinks I’m probably forced to cram a full time job into 4 days and that’s really not it. My days are the same length as before. But they are busier, too, with fewer chunks of open time free from meetings to just get work done. Sometimes I think maybe I should go back to 100% but keep my Fridays blocked out on the schedule.
Because the truth is that 80% pay is pushing back the time that I’ll be able to say goodbye to all this. I’m well paid which is why we can make it work at all. But that 20% is also a big chunk of money as a result.
I thought folks might find it interesting to hear whether the grass is truly greener on the other side of this. Having that extra day is wonderful. Especially a week day where the kids are at school and I can wake up to an empty house, and go out shopping without facing a weekend rush. Or schedule an appointment or something. But it isn’t without its own challenges.
Of course when people talk about 4-day they usually mean with full pay, and with everyone doing it. That would definitely solve all my issues. Full pay would be full pay. And I would never have the situation of “sorry I can’t join you for that, that’s my day off.” And I wouldnt’ be accumulating unanswered emails on my day off, etc.
I find that I need one full day for cleaning and cooking and other life maintenance, one day to just decompress, and having a third day off means I can actually use to do things for me!
Of course, I feel like working 6 hour days, five days a week accomplishes something similar because it means I can do all my chores and such during the week. I had that schedule during the peak of the COVID pandemic due to reduced workload and it was amazing! During that time I wrote a novel, became acquainted with all the local neighborhood by doing daily walks, experimented with cooking, and so much more.
I know the reduced pay does potentially push back our retirement date, but I think I’d prefer to live well and work a little longer than to sacrifice most of my prime years just so I can stop working a few years earlier when I’m older.
4-day weeks always seem compelling to me because each day you work of a 5-day week gives you 0.4 weekend days, but each day you work out of a 4-day week gives you 0.75 weekend days.
you work 20% less, but you get almost twice as many rest days per non-rest day