I Tried a 4 Day Work Week for a Month
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- More and more people are talking about 4 day work weeks so I thought I would see what it would be like to try one for a month as someone who works for themselves and runs their own business! Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this video! Head to www.squarespac... to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain!
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Since filming this, Scotland just announced it'll be trialling a 4 day work week!!! Go Scotland!! www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-58403087
I’ve heard they just want us to work longer hours for the 4 days to not loose pay & still do same work load.. seems pointless if that is the case. We’ll see what actually happens here. 🏴
I don’t see the company I work for just letting us drop a day still at full pay 🙁
@@FavouriteMercy1 Any updates on how that’s going?
@@josefine635 unsurprisingly not heard another peep.
@@FavouriteMercy1 meh. :/
I had a job for a while where I only did 4 days a week for a while - it was totally flexible and I could take whichever day I liked off. Like you I stared with Fridays, because a three day weekend sounded great. But I found I often exhausted myself over the longer weekend, being tempted into weekends away, or bigger plans than I would normally make for a weekend, and then I was knackered on Monday. So I switched to usually taking a Wednesday off instead, designated life admin day, rather than a weekend. I did the housework, I went to the shops, I mowed the lawn, I phoned the bank. Whatever needed doing. If nothing needed doing I could go to the beach or whatever. But I actually found that system more valuable than the Friday off system, because the weekend then was just for weekend stuff and much more refreshing.
Same here. I love it
that seems like a great system
CGP Grey also advocates for Wednesdays off. I hope we'll all have the option in the future 🙏
I was thinking this while watching the video! It feels so valuable to have a life admin day where there is no guilt for putting life admin first instead of work or personal plans.
I did the same thing this year when I could. I used Wednesdays to clean my house, relax and stuff. In my home country, students have Wednesdays off (all day or half a day) and I think that's a great way to have a break mid-week.
Spicy opinion: companies that say they offer a 4-day work week but say employees must work 10 hour days to earn it are missing the point entirely.
Yes. I work 4 days on 4 days off. Just means I have to work 11.5 hour shifts
Yeah, I think some cultures (mine included in the US) are so stuck on 40 hours per week is full time. That’s the only way you’re going to get a full salary. They don’t want you to work fewer total hours. Like I have a flexible schedule where I’m off every other Friday, but I still hit 80 working hours over two weeks.
My job is like that. I kept forgetting, watching this video, that I have a 4 day work week because I still feel so drained, especially on my days off when I should be able to have fun.
Hannah: Iceland recently trialled a 4 day work week
Me: Thats nice for the employees at Iceland
Hannah: Spain is currently trialing them
Me: Oh you mean THAT Iceland
Hahahaha
I have a four day work week (I work 4 x 9 hours, which is the standard option at my employer), I'm off every wednesday, which is so good because I see it as like a mini weekend haha. People can choose their day off, so a lot of colleagues have fridays off. It's actually quite common in the Netherlands!
oh cool! I dunno if I would vibe with having a Wednesday off but happy for yoU!!
Loved this experiment! I have no structure in my work week at all which is so detrimental. I definitely need to get my shit together whether it’s a 4 or 5 day week!
Same! This inspired me to try to get my shit together and restrict myself to a FIVE day work week.
Took me years to get the mon-fri structure but I love it now and even more so loving Fridays off now 😂
I love a day of nothing. People put so much pressure on always being productive and constantly having plans and doing things. It’s important to just reset sometimes and be a potato for a while!
I feel like these conversations are only about people who work an office-type job. I'm a pharmacist and when I work, I'm behind a counter helping people. So it doesn't matter if I'm more productive if I work less hours, because I just need to be there to help people. Same with other people in healthcare and retail for example.
I actually have a 6-day work week with Thursday and Saturday being half days. It's nice having the Thursday afternoon off for life admin, but the 1,5 day weekend gets to me sometimes.
I read an old book about shorter work weeks (written in the 70s, if I remember well) and for these jobs, the 'solution' was to hire more people that would have a lighter workload.
it is different in terms of balancing work loads and tasks but i still think the 4 day work week is an important conversation for people in service industry jobs just for their own mental health and well being!
Sounds like your pharmacy needs to hire more people!
Exactly! And hiring more people would cut the hours/pay of workers who aren't salaried so it's not feasible the same way it is for salaried office-job people.
If you have/had a 40-hour week, would you rather do four 10-hour days, or five 8-hour days?
my parents own a really small cafe and most of the staff are young part timers (including myself). they have one full time employee and he does 4 days, he was doing 5 but it really wore him down and the 4 days has got him enjoying work again and being more productive.
I'm a high school teachers and I have Wednesdays off. So I have two pretty busy days on Monday and Tuesday, then a mini break in the middle of the week and then again two busy days on Thursday and Friday before the weekend. I love it. Sometimes I work on Wednesdays, prepare my lessons, grading tests and stuff, sometimes I don't. But whatever I choose to do, it allows me to recharge a little bit, which means I have the energy to give my students on Friday the same level of enthusiasm as my students on Monday, which is great!
I’ve heard a lot of offices doing “summer Friday” where they leave the office at 2pm instead of 5pm.
My office does summer Friday but it's all day. It's SOOOOO good.
I have a half day summer Friday but with the trade off of working an extra hour the other four days - honestly I kind of hate it.
Here in Germany especially in trades its still kind of common to get off at 12 or 1 on Fridays. My partner has to work until 12 for example and when I still worked in a trade I got off at 1pm. It was nice to only have to work half a day on that last day of the week.
Right out of university, I worked at a chiropractic clinic that wasn't open on Tuesdays, and I loved having that weekday off to run errands, chill out, and overall not have any expectations placed on me. It was also nice because it made Mondays just a little less dreadful by having a day off right after, then when we got back to work on Wednesday, it was only 3 more days until the weekend. It might not be for everyone, but I really liked it.
I’m starting a new job this month that operates a “7-Day fortnight” rather than a traditional five-day work week. So instead of working 8-hour shifts 5 days a week, you work 12-hour shifts 7 days in a fortnight (e.g. Monday Tuesday working, Wednesday Thursday off, Saturday Sunday Monday working, Tuesday Wednesday off, Thursday Friday working, Saturday Sunday off, repeat) So it’s the same hours and the same pay but you get an extra 6 full days off per month.
A lot of people I’ve told about it say it sounds super intense but I’m actually really excited for it, we did this 7-day fortnight thing once a month at my current job pre-covid and I actually always liked it, and I’ve always said I’d rather work more hours each day for more full days off
Ooooh interesting!!
As a PhD student, I am so bad at setting boundaries. I end up working on weekends and burnouts happen way too often! I am trying to change the routine but with all of productivity and hustle culture online, I struggle to strike a balance. Also, I love what I do and that makes the decisions even more difficult.
As of now I am very watchful of the content I consume and make it a point to do some self-care during the weekends. It is not the best right now but taking one step at a time. :)
I used to be on a 4 day work week for the last two years and loved it but recently started taking up Friday work to earn more money and catch up on big projects. I then found the happy medium of a 9 day fortnight (so every second Friday off) which is working perfectly for me now.
I would love a video like this structured to those who don’t have the 9-5 Mon-Fri lifestyle. A lot of people work weekends, and I would love to see that reflected more on social media.
If anyone has missed the news explainers over the last few months, just a heads up that it’s totally expected to feel tired and knocked about after a vaccine. When the body mounts an immune response (to the intentionally immunity-activating components of the vaccine), it can cause a few temporary effects- giving you a fever, making you feel tired, soreness in the arm, etc.
I like to think of it as channelling maximum power to immunity generation (like an overheating, slowed down computer when you accidentally open a huge data file)! This happens during the immune response for other vaccines and infections too.
Sorry if everyone already knows this! I did my degree in this area so I just wanted to super clarify for anyone curious/stressed about vaccine side effects. (They can sound pretty weird and confusing when you don’t have a background in immunology!)
I've been thinking about four day weeks for a long time and the pandemic really made it feel more necessary than usual. There has been weeks in which I took a single day off, on a friday as well, and it has been really nice having just more time to do other things and not feel like, then, the weekend is just cleaning cleaning cleaning and then it's sunday evening.
This was great! And I love that you were able to get medical and life admin in on Fridays. It's always so stressful to fit those appointments in around a normal workday.
I would love a 6 month update on how your plan works out!
haha yea it really is stressful, I am changing my job soon and have 3 weeks in between the two, and I have like 5 different doctors appointments at different doctors scheduled for that time because I just didn't get around to this before lol
I'm so happy for you! I totally get that "I feel so alive" feeling. My employer isn't flexible enough to give us Fridays off. :/ I'd be so keen to try the 4-day work week. I did that in uni (when I was able to make my own schedule), and I definitely felt more alive! :D
Im also doing that at uni, first year i went with a 4 day week and fridays off! Worth it!
I find the 4 day work week interesting although I’d probably favour a midweek break as opposed to the long weekend (as mentioned in other comments).
One thing though is that you’re making points about the importance of rest and capitalism but you’re delegating your tasks to other people who I imagine are pretty busy already. There’s an interesting debate to be had about how you justify or work around that (points that may or may not apply to your example).
Do you reduce everyone’s working week? Do you then need to employ more people? Or alternatively does the reduced time available drive efficiency by forcing you to eliminate unnecessary tasks? We also know that if we designate a time for a task then the work will expand to fill the time allocated, so are there productivity gains from the shortened week?
Also the most common approach to a 4 day week is to work 4 10-hour days as opposed to 5 8-hour days. Is the benefit of a free day worth losing your limited free time on work days, especially with people who commute?
I'm always curious when companies/countries change the way the “traditional” work week is designed, mostly because I feel strongly in bettering work conditions for everyone however I’m nervous on the reasoning and motivation behind it. I’m worried that this isn’t a tool to fight against capitalism but a new way for it to become a more exploitative version of it. Like I think that a work week that improves the lives of the worker’s it a fantastic stepping off point in a re-imagining of how labour looks and functions, because that is desperately needed, but if the focus is still on the company’s health and not the worker’s then I don’t think it’s solving the whole issue.
Essentially this is me saying that we should value the experience of the people how work inside of these experiments rather than the company’s experience as a whole. I don’t care if they become more productive weeks, I want our lives better. That being said I’m glad that overall you enjoyed this experiment and I hope you can succeed in meeting your goals/requirements as well as feeling alive in the future. (Sorry if this doesn’t make sense it is 1:30am where I live)
I don't think these things necessarily need to be seen as mutually exclusive, it is possible to benefit both employees and employers.
overall, I think the problem (and thus the thing we should be fighting against) isn't just some vague notion of "capitalism" but rather the socio-economic and cultural systems and structures which lead to exploitative behaviour and attitudes
Omg I love this point!! Queen x
Loved this! We don't have 4 day work week but my company do "Wellbeing & Development" days every now and then where we're not allowed to schedule meetings or email anyone and have time to relax or focus on whatever we feel like - they're great but once a week would be even better!
We do a 4 day workweek in the summer at my job, though we do still work our mandatory 35 hours over 4 days which makes those days SO LONG. But having those Fridays to do my life admin and then STILL having two days to recharge fully does such amazing things for my brain and body. We are back at 5 day workweeks now that the summer is over and while I enjoy having shorter work days, I miss my third weekend day and I’m struggling to keep up with my personal life tasks like grocery shopping and meal planning.
For our 4 day schedule we have to do 1.75 hours more each day. So we usually either go in an hour early & stay 15 min later, or those who already go in early add 1.25 hours at the end of their day. Plus we take 30 min lunch breaks instead of 1 hour.
Doesn’t seem awful but NO ONE is productive in that extra time. Truly.
Oh my gosh only 35 hours! That sounds amazing! I have to work at least 40 per week but lunch hour doesn’t count so I am basically unavailable to do life stuff for 45 hours per week. 35 sounds like a dream.
@@mlynn998 That sounds like a nightmare! Sorry you have it so rough.
@@bethbcrafts that’s just the US for you…
@@mlynn998 to be fair, I'm in the US as well but I work for the state in a non-profit educational institution.
Loved this! And actually made me think how if you add up the hours, I probably do have a four day work week cause I do things like gym or life admin throughout my day. I also do this thing now where I don't turn on my phone until 11 am which means the first two hours of the day are for me and what I actually want to work on and not just responding to what everyone else needs from me xx
I would love a 4 day work week, 5 day weeks make me feel like I never have enough time for anything and Saturday is the only real day that feels like I get any rest! Been thinking about this a lot lately
I love how you called it Life Admin… makes so much sense!!
My male partner works 4 days a week, which was something he chose when he started a new job after a period of poor mental health.
He loves it and it really helps us get on top of household tasks and still have time off on the weekends.
If it's an option for you, it seems to be a winner!
4 day work weeks really only apply to office style environments/anyone self employed though. Idk I feel like anyone working in food/retail/care workers etc will just miss out on this change, especially anyone paid by the hour🤷♀️
Even my office jobs have been hourly 🙄 ugh
@@gwynneio oh that’s not great :/ employers really will take whatever they can get from us 🙂🙂🙂
I was thinking the same thing. I would love to work 4 days a week but that extra day off is me missing out on an entire day of pay and tips (I am a waitress).
You should definitely implement your reading into your schedule, much like in school with "independent reading time" haha! I also find scheduling reading really helps me personally too or I just wont do it !
I would love a 4-day week! In France it's very much a niche thing, but I'm so interested in it! My productivity can be so low during the week because I know I have 5 days to do my tasks and I don't like to schedule my life so either I get it done during the week normally or I do extra hours to get it done. With remote working I've been able to use my non-productive time as leisure or chore time but I still feel guilty because I'm not working. With 4-day weeks I think I would be less inclined to procrastinate because the incentive to have a fulfilling weekend that doesn't feel crammed would make me so much more motivated I think. And I think the flexible Friday is a good idea if you're self-employed but not for me, because I tend to work on the weekends anyway when I am not strict on my own rest, so I would end up working normally anyway.
My non-profit/social services job has a 5 day week but our Friday is dedicated internal time. We aren't expected to see/call/email clients on Fridays and that's when we do all our internal team/department meetings. We've also been doing hybrid office/remote schedules since COVID and outgrowing the building the organisation owns. I do 2.5 days in the office, and the other 2.5 at home. I'm quite liking it all!
This was a very interesting video! For myself I prefer working 5 days a week and less hours per day. (I feel like 6 hours a day is the sweet spot for me) This gives me time to prepare food on a daily basis. I have an intolerance for most carbs so I prepare pretty much all of my food myself and it does take up quite a bit of time.
Do you think it would have been harder to stick with "Fridays off" if you still worked out of your apartment, rather than the studio?
Also: PLAN! 💜
My dad worked four-10 hour days for many years. He would use the Friday to clean house and get groceries and tinker on home/auto projects which made our weekends as a family really nice and increased our together time outside of school and work.
Actually we used to have a 6-day "work week" only having Sundays off for religious purposes.
I was working 4-day weeks for quite a while...10 hour days so I got my 40/week...though I did not have all 3 days off in a row.
Sat + Sun + Wed...I really enjoyed that I could have the weekend off but also having Wednesday off made it very nice to schedule things not available on the weekend.
I'd like to see other 4 day work week equivalent trials. Like having two half work days or having Wednesday off instead of Friday.
I'm a freelance filmeditor and I regularly have weeks or months even where I have no work at all and then months where I work 5 days a week every week (those last ones sustain me). But since I'm still in my beginning stages of working and growing and getting new jobs, I imagine my life will quickly become full time work forever. When I get there, I'd love to implement a 4 day work week, but I just don't know if it'll be possible in the way that a film's schedule works... we can surely hope!
I live and work in the Netherlands and only ever was contracted to work 4 days a week and I love it! I don't really have anything to compare it to (because this is my first 'real' job), but I take a Wednesday off now (started with a Friday, but moved because of a clash and now don't want to move it back!) and I love it! It's so nice to think I only ever have to work 2 days in a row - makes everything seem much more manageable. I just do whatever I feel like doing on a Wednesday really - whether it be life admin, or relaxing, or meeting up with friends. It's also great to go shopping, because the shops are always much quieter because most people are at work then!
Would be super interesting to see this experiment again including your editor and assistant having 4 day work weeks (for their work for you that is)
they don't work full time for me so I dunno how that would logistically work!
I work in a retail environment, so it's different from working for yourself from home, but typically I have a three day weekend every other weekend. The other weekends, I work all weekend, and the exchange to make that schedule work out for my workplace is that on weekends when you work, you wind up working 8 days in a row. But I do feel like the three day weekends make it worth it. Three days off is surprisingly quite a bit better than two. It gives you one day when you can just rest and relax. Then there's still a day for chores and errands, and then you have your third day to prepare for the coming week (and in my case, half of Sunday is taken up by church, so having that extra weekend day is doubly helpful).
Man I've just been working at a job where I did crazy hours Mon-Thurs but ended up with a three day weekend so I understand the benefits of having the extra day, but EIGHT DAYS IN A ROW I take my hat off to you because I sure couldn't manage that
@@kimleahb6635 It's not so bad. You are definitely ready for those three days off when you get to the end, but it's doable.
I loved this video and relate to it so much! Especially the bit about feeling ‘nourished’.
This year I moved to working ‘5 in 4’ so I’m working full time hours over 4 days with Thursdays off. I can honestly say it’s been life changing ! I now spend my Thursday mornings doing housey/life admin bits, making a nice breakfast and spending time with my dog. It’s such a nice change of pace. And then in the afternoons I always make sure I spend time doing something good for me - pop into town, get a coffee and read my book at the cafe, go for a walk, catch up with friends/family, explore local garden centres and gardens, retail therapy or discover small local businesses 🙌
I’d recommend anyone who has the option to try 4 day weeks gives it a go and see how it can enrich your day to day life ☺️
I am curious to see the beanbag! :D
Having a flexi-Friday or extra off day in a week is great. It is important to eat something and take a breather, during your work day.
We have health care rights in RSA, it is part of the labour law, so we have approximately 5-10 dedicated days for paid sick leave in a year, these are for doctor's visits or if you fall ill.
I have a friend that works at a company which is set on self-care, so all employees have one day off every month to do self-care activities and prior to the pandemic the company had additional relaxation and team-building events for staff.
I work for a company that has a really good flexible working policy. We can do a 4 day week if we'd like to, and I might do it at some point, but for now it's nice knowing that I can dissappear if needs be, or take as much annual leave as I need too! It's much easier on the old brain knowing you can do what you need to!
Before maternity leave I did a 40 hour week in a nursery across 4 days. It would be different most weeks although it was usually Fridays because that's the quietest nursery day generally speaking. But my favourite was Wednesday because it was a little break in the middle of the week, loved it.
I have just finished working at a preschool with the same hours, and my day off happened to be a Friday (not by my choosing though). I did love the longer weekend but I am so looking forward to having EVERY AFTERNOON from 3:30 onwards to myself in my new job - even if it does mean I have to work the extra day. I'm hoping it'll be less exhausting on working days where I couldn't get anything done in the evening because I was so tired! Definitely pros and cons to the 4 day week - depends on what works for you :)
As someone who just moved from full time in my busienss to a full time job I can confirm you’re more productive working alone. I am more productive in the 1.5 hours of work I do for my business before I start work than I am in my entire workday from 9-5. Meetings ruin productivity! I usually only get an hour or so of focused work done a day!
My parents and teachers have always worked 4 days a week (Netherlands) and I can't imagine how my mum would cope without her Friday off!! Like she's busy with work 7am-8pm there'd be no time for life
I'd love to hear an update in a few months or the end of the year about how making yourself unavailable to others has worked out for you!
I think you've inspired me to try a 4 day work week for September - I'm currently doing my PhD and living in Sydney in a pretty strict lockdown and have been feeling very stressed and tired and unfocused for a couple of months now. I looked into going part time until the end of the year but the government would terminate my stipend scholarship, which is not an option. I think taking the Wednesday off, or even just taking the afternoon off would really help my mental health at the moment, and I think I'd get just as much done!
I’d love to see a follow up on the post experiment plans and what you have kept from the experiment.
I work for myself and swapped to a four day week last year. It was one of the best things I've ever done for myself, especially as a chronically ill person! During really busy work periods I do have some longer days, but they even out in quieter periods. One of the things that had to go along with the four day week was stronger boundaries with clients around calls / meetings / communication systems. Systemising and delegating is really key for those of us that work for ourselves I think!
Due to the pandemic and working in travel company I actually had to lower my hours and sign a new contract to work four days a week instead of five. I miss that extra money from a five day week is but it means I still have a job (as no travel has meant no money in the company work for!) and having a three day weekend is rather nice!!!!
The flex schedule for Fridays sounds like a great idea. I wish I could have more flexibility; unfortunately I am subject to an hourly wage and less than flexible corporations that insist that less than 40 hours, five days per week is unacceptable.
I get very frustrated at times that capitalism dictates we have to be so structured, especially as I am often not the most productive during traditional "office hours". If I had the freedom to just get my work done by a deadline during whatever hours suit me, and be generally available for urgent matters during office hours, I would get a lot more done. It would just be getting done at dinnertime, or in the wee hours of the morning.
I love how excited you are about Fridays off! Im someone who would do 4x10 hour days over 5x8hours anytime to have a whole day off. I think it’s so worth it and you get proper recovery time to switch off from work before Monday
We've had a four-day work week at my work place (environmental non-profit) since May 2020 and I LOVE it. At first I filled my Fridays with freelance consulting and then I gave that up and just enjoyed the time off and it's amazing.
Last year I negotiating to shuffle my 35hr/wk schedule to have a half day on Tuesdays and it's been fantastic. This video was very interesting. I think there is an adjustment period around stepping away "on schedule", but the more you know your role and responsibilities the easier it is to prioritize tasks.
Would love to see a video comparing working in your new office vs at home? Wonder if its led to a change of mind as you can compartmentalise where you work and where you live
Love the idea of Fridays as chill reading/research/exploration days!
I work as a teaching assistant and during february lockdown i worked 4 day weeks and it felt so much more manageable and less overwhelming, it made me enjoy my job more and be able to give more of myself to work when i was there i think 4 to 3 is a mucb healthier ratio than 5 to 2 even in a job that you lovd
For anyone thinking they could make it work/negotiate it with their employer - I recently started a 9 day fortnight, and it's a GAME CHANGER! It's such a good in between, highly recommend if you possibly can.
I work a four day week at my "day job " which allows me one day a week for creative self employment. It's wonderful. It allows me to have more energy for creative work by actually allocating time for personal admin tasks and rest.
With most of my roles being lower banded NHS jobs, they wouldn’t have been able to do it, as they’d have just had to have someone else for the extra day. However, now I’m at a higher level, you can do condensed days (same amount of work load/time but across 4 days e.g. 07:30 - 17:30 during Monday - Wednesday and 07:30 - 17:00 on Thursday or something like that).
They also do flexi leave, where if you work extra, you get it back in time off
I was worried that you would feel pressure to do useful things on your day off, because of the way you framed it at the beginning, but I'm happy to hear you enjoyed yourself without feeling the pressure of needing to do useful things.
Seems like you've found a better way to work during the summer! And then you can have a more regular schedule when the weather is worse ;)
I almost do a four day work week. I work part time at three jobs, one of which is a church so I have to be there Sunday morning. So my weekend is 2.5 days from Friday-Sunday. I’ve found it to be super helpful in getting errands/stuff I want to do on Fridays , not taking up time with my partner and friends out of their weekend days sat/sun. Also my third job is dependent on theatre shows/schedules and sometimes that lands on a Friday or Saturday, and I feel less guilty taking those shifts when I think about how many extra weekend days I’ve given myself. In reality I’ve always have a really flexible schedule but I think coming back to work after the pandemic has helped me set some good boundaries, and do the work I want to do in my schedule.
i truly believe in working only 4 days a week. the amount of personal stuff that needs to get done on a weekly basis just cant be crammed into 2 days imo. my schedule for my last job was actually working for 3 days on, 1 day off, 1 day on, 2 days off. and it ended up being a good rhythm for my brain and energy!
I work 3 days a week due to childcare costs but it has made me enjoy my work more. I'm a science teacher in a secondary school and working full time was so full on and stressful and after 7 years I was starting to not enjoy it anymore but after ha ing my son and going back part time I am loving teaching again. I feel like I have enough time at work to feel like myself and I'm making a difference but with slightly less work so I don't lose my mind and I get to spend more time with my son while he's so little 😊
I have been so excited for you to upload this since you said you were filming it. As someone really struggling with fatigue and Crohn’s disease, I was hoping that a 4 day week may help with this. Thanks so much for the video!
I’m super fortunate that right now between my four jobs I can schedule myself at least one full day of every week and it has been glorious. I think i had…. 3 days off in September so one full day a week is brilliant. Also i fully agree that Wednesdays off make the whole week better because it’s just a quick trip to the weekend and you actually feel energized to get stuff done. It’s not for everyone, and not always financially possible, but if you have a flexible enough situation that you can, I highly recommend a fire day work week.
Last year in May because of pandemic there was less work (less orders from clients) in company that I work for. So the firm decided to accept governmental help and because of it, everyone in the office worked for 4 days a week in May (only for this one month) but also was only paid for 4 days (so we were paid 80% of the usual salary in May), but I LOVED my free fridays. So I hope that one day Poland will switch to 4 day work week.
In Poland in 1981 people started working for 5 days instead of 6, so I remember that my grandmother used to say that I live in easy times because I have to work/go to school only 5 days a week instead of 6 like she had to.
As a student, just graduated undergrad and starting a masters, I have done my best to not have classes on Friday and really pushed to not have any meetings and if they were needed I insisted they happened before lunch. As someone who is Jewish it allowed me to prepare for Shabbat and set up a weekend I was excited for
I'm a nurse who works full time hours which for me means I work 152hrs/4week roster. However, because I work mostly 12 hour shifts I only work 13 days (12×12 + 1×8) on a 28 day roster.
While it means I don't have much of a life on my work week, but I get to take a week off every month plus have heaps of other days off! Definitely works great for me :)
I also theoretically work 4 day weeks. I work 4 10 hour days, and unfortunately frequently end up working overtime lately since work is so so busy. But before covid, I really loved having 3 days off even though I still worked 40 hours. I felt so much more well rested, I got to schedule appointments without worrying about it interfering with work.
I live in Germany and worked 5 Days a week for half of my "working life" wich just left me with zero energy left on the weekends and then a year 4 Days wich was pretty nice but my mentall health declined so ich got to a Year 3 Days a week and now i've found my sweet spot with a flexible 3 1/2 day week. I know that I'm super lucky to have the possibility to change and do that at my work (money depends on it a little bit but my employer never said no when i asked for a little bit more because my rent went up or stuff like that.)
So with all of that i can highly reccoment a 4 Day week. I have time to do the household an still enjoy my weekend and i'm way more motivatet to go to work and don't just feel like i have to.
I’m very fortunate that although I work 5 days a week I get flexi time. Plus where I work have a bloody good disabilities policy .... very different from my previous jobs in retail and catering and I am grateful everyday :)
I would bloody love to have a four day work week. Especially now since the pandemic my department have decided to work from home full time, it would be so nice to have Fridays off. I think I'd do similar to yourself no one expects anything from me today. But also get all the life admin done on a Friday and then have Saturday and Sunday as truly off and time to unwind. Viva la revolution!
I definitely think one of the best things of working for yourself is you have the freedom to work whichever days you want (within reason) - thinking this when you were talking about turning down opportunities that could be lack of time.
Also time is a social construct so you do you.
I generally treat the weekends like proper time off where I don't have to answer to people so I'm generally fine with the 5 days of working (also work freelance so it ends up being a bit more messy some weeks). I've taken a few days off in a row before and felt that boredom feeling that you talked about on the last week - just laying on the couch not doing much.
sidenote, your general audio for talking in studio set seems way lower than the vlogging studio bits and the general sound effects for transitions and "pops" also strike very harsh compared to the rest of the audio IMO.
I love the idea of a 4 day work week. I think it would be great motivation to be productive during the week and then good for mental and physical health in that you have more time to do things and see people outside of work
I’d love to do a 4 day work week. Currently a PhD student spinning many plates so I don’t feel like I have enough hours in the day for a 5 day week right now but it’s certainly something I want to aspire to have! I do WFH one day a week and rarely check my emails so I can get admin and desk stuff done, it never happens when I’m in the lab. I also like what I do so I struggle to switch off 😬 I’m a PhD student cliche I’m aware. Really interesting video Hannah!
A thing that is (maybe unexpectedly) interesting in your video is that in order to achieve your 4 days week you delegate your job. I don't think it's a bad thing but I DO think it's important to consider when we talk about 4 days week : aren't we just delegating our work to someone who can't afford to delegate it themselves and so creating a new level of privilege. I am not saying it's what you're doing ! It's just a reflection.
I can see that to some extent, but honestly most of the time some stuff just gets cut entirely and that compensates for anything that gets delegated. For example, prior to cutting our hours my former company have once weekly hour long check ins- that could in fact, be an email
whenever i watch your work/productivity/organizational content i rlly wish you'd made a series organizing a week's schedule for a random person every week so i could binge re-watch it
I changed my schedule to a 4 day week about 3 years ago and honestly would never go back. I work in healthcare with a rotating roster so obviously rarely actually work 4 days on and 3 days off but overall it is amazing and works out with more rest time every week. I accepted the pay cut for this decision it is definitely worth it, I adjusted so quickly and could never work full time again lol.
Working 2.5 days a week with the option to add more if I want this year. Taking a pay cut but I think it'll be good for my physical and mental health! Loved the vid. Very interesting points and cool to see :)
My mum recently got a separate phone for work so she has started turning it off at the end of thursday and turning it back on on Monday. I think it was a bit of a shock for her at first, but it has helped her set boundaries and avoid working on Friday when she isn't supposed to be.
20 years ago I used a Bean Bag and everything was great. The Bean Bag tore and instead of replacing it I just sat on the carpet thereafter. I now have bad sciatica-type pain on my left side butt. So I vote YES on using a Bean Bag!
I found at Uni when my lecture schedule gave me Wednesday off I had a boost to my end of week productivity. I did find it helpful that a bunch of things I wanted to do were on Wednesdays and so I could now attend them and get a social boost as well 😁
We have a five day week, but only 6hr days, so full time is a 30hr week. I very much enjoy the extra time every morning to either get stuff done, or sleep in.
This was such an interesting video! I hope that you update us in a few months about how the 'whatever I want' Fridays work.
@cgpgrey has a video on this idea though he favors Wednesday off to break up the week. I work 5 days but one day off is Friday and a weekday day off is great for life admin!
Such an interesting topic, I really love this one! I'm a tutor (when I'm not studying) and work for myself so I make my schedule (and it's pretty much all over the place because I can work with students in the evening, on the weekends, in the morning, etc.) Last year I worked 3-5 hours a day 6 days a week. This summer, I was getting really stressed out by my job and decided to work 4 days a week, but with 3 days off scattered throughout the week, so I had a break on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. I loved it so much! I could work more hours during my day and had more breaks. Maybe if it was in the long run I would prefer to have my off days all in one place like a 3 day weekend, but for this one, I loved it because almost everyday I could tell myself that I had the day off the next day (I love my job but right now it's really stressful with demanding parents and covid and things like that).
I've been working 4 days a week for a few months and I love it!
I currently work "part time" doing 4 days a week. I love it but it's retail and I work Thursday to Sunday.
In an ideal world if inwas working a normal office job. I'd love to have Friday and Monday as half days
Finish early Friday off sat and Sunday. And work Monday after lunch.
Or id mix it up and have a Wednesday off or have Tuesday and Thursdays as half days as this allows time for general house work or my own chores midweek
I've also been thinking of trying a 4 day work week, because I think more rest time would be really beneficial for my productivity. The things to consider for me are economy, because if I say to my employer that I want to work 80% I will also only get 80% pay, and then the biggest thing is whether they will let me do it on a trial basis to see if it works for me - essentially will I be able to get the 20% back if I decide it's not working. Also I'm hoping they don't tell me I have to go on 20% sick leave in order to test this out... Going to speak to my manager about it next week, fingers crossed!
As long as the workdays don't get extended the days you are working, I think a 4 day workweek is brilliant, as well as what's been up for discussion a lot on Sweden the past few years which is a 6 hour workday instead of 8 hours. I am neurodivergent and a full 40 hour work week isn't really possible for me (at the moment, possibly ever) or a lot of ND folks. So having the option to work full time but less hours a day or fewer days a week would be so helpful for people who can't work the traditional workweek/workday.
Actually I think you found that having a more free/flexible Friday can lead to surprise inspiration ☺️ you could continue having Fridays off even half day according to your work load and your personal admin needs ☺️
I work as an RN and the majority of the nurses I work with only work 0.8 is the equivalent of 4 shifts a week. Working full time 1FTE is considered way to stressful especially working in mental health 🙃
I work between 8 and 12 hour shifts 3 days a week. When I work 12 hours I can't do more than 2 days in a row or I will be tired (to the point of not enjoying my days off). Problem imo is that people want to work 4 days, 8 hours, but still get paid 40 hours. If you work 32 hours, you get paid 32 hours not 40. 36 hours workweek means a new routine, including setting up lunches and diner time.
Boredom is underrated. It's really good for your brain! Attested by what you said about the ideas you had.
I used to work 4 day work weeks. 10 hours from 11pm to 9am. Yes I worked nights. It was amazing apart from hating my job at the time.
I am going to start asking for this when I get close to senior level at work, and in the meantime I am planning to take every Friday off for 2 months next spring to pilot this myself! I chose spring because there’s so much gardening to do