Four day working week

Coach Steve said:
I work at Teesside Airport and do the 4 on 4 off shift pattern and dont get me wrong the 4 off is nice but the 4 in are brutal. I think its mainly due to the start times and the hours which is.
4-4 then 5-5 then 10-10 and lastly a 8-8
By the time that 8-8 rolls around im like a zombie after sometimes finishing after 10 the night b4 then beimg straight back into work for another 12 hours
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You’re misunderstanding the idea. It’s a 20% reduction in hours, not 5 days of hours in 4 days to get an extra day off.
 
Coach Steve said:
I work at Teesside Airport and do the 4 on 4 off shift pattern and dont get me wrong the 4 off is nice but the 4 in are brutal. I think its mainly due to the start times and the hours which is.
4-4 then 5-5 then 10-10 and lastly a 8-8
By the time that 8-8 rolls around im like a zombie after sometimes finishing after 10 the night b4 then beimg straight back into work for another 12 hours
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Leaving aside the fact that you are missing the point. Why are your hours in a sequence 4-4, 5-5, 10-10 then 8-8 it make no sense at all as you say you finish at 10 one night then are straight back on at 8 the following morning. Why not 4-4, 5-5, 8-8 then 10-10? I can't understand how those mesh with someone on the matching pattern. I assume occupancy/cover is 4:00am-10:00pm
 
GingerTravel said:
There are a number of companies, many private, trialling this concept at the moment. The Government are only able to stick their nose in because it's public sector. But surely the concept of local Government is that you take the right decisions at a local level.

I imagine a public sector job in Cambridge doesn't offer a great standard of living given the cost of housing is astronomical there. The private sector and proximity to London would likely mean good staff leaving for better pay. So a four day week for a full weeks pay might very well be an incentive to those staff to stay when they would otherwise leave. It works in Germany, where the average worker does 27 hours and you don't hear too many complaints about lack of productivity there!

For what it's worth, my personal view is that any company would get a short term boost from a four day week as it's a massive incentive for employees to be productive during those days for the benefit of an extra day off. I'm more sceptical if it would work longer term in every industry as it becomes 'the norm'. But that is precisely why it should be allowed to be decided by the people in charge (and I don't mean central government, who don't seem to be in charge of anything!!)
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Not so - just over 34 hours on average with full time employees averaging 40 hours
 
Stocko said:
I’m assuming there are no business owners on this thread endorsing this idea 😜
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You will always struggle to convince people who are successfully managing a business in one way that it will work better with a completely different way. Paying the same money for less hours seems ridiculous but if it can be proven by a few businesses, people will eventually catch on. AI has been mentioned previously and its advances like this that have previously been used solely to increase profits and productivity but it has the potential to significantly benefit the employee too if it can give them more time away from work.
 
SilentProf said:
You will always struggle to convince people who are successfully managing a business in one way that it will work better with a completely different way. Paying the same money for less hours seems ridiculous but if it can be proven by a few businesses, people will eventually catch on. AI has been mentioned previously and its advances like this that have previously been used solely to increase profits and productivity but it has the potential to significantly benefit the employee too if it can give them more time away from work.
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Yep, It's a story as old as time, adapt or die.

Successful businesses now will not be successful for much longer if they start haemorrhageing existing staff and potential new talent to companies who embrace new ways of working.
 
My employer used to be office based, four major sites, dozens smaller sites, big company.

Customer facing staff can't really change roles but everyone else is now flexible. Work from home unless key meeting - I've been in 3 times since lockdown for about 2 hours apiece and happy to keep it that way, saves me a 1.5 hour commute each day to the office - each way as well.

Our start and end times are fairly flexible, again you can just mug off a meeting but I can sleep in until 09:30 and work extra, or finish early etc without getting approval or anything like that. As long as you do your work no one cares.

Staff morale is great, work life balance is excellent.

The biggest opponents of this will be people who didn't get to do in their day, just like working from home.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
My employer used to be office based, four major sites, dozens smaller sites, big company.

Customer facing staff can't really change roles but everyone else is now flexible. Work from home unless key meeting - I've been in 3 times since lockdown for about 2 hours apiece and happy to keep it that way, saves me a 1.5 hour commute each day to the office - each way as well.

Our start and end times are fairly flexible, again you can just mug off a meeting but I can sleep in until 09:30 and work extra, or finish early etc without getting approval or anything like that. As long as you do your work no one cares.

Staff morale is great, work life balance is excellent.

The biggest opponents of this will be people who didn't get to do in their day, just like working from home.
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And people who own office space. There must be thousands of big office spaces sat empty with owners having to pay high rates for them in prime locations.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for working at home, why travel ex amount of miles to do the same thing you can do in your home office? Obviously, it impacts the sandwich shop, the office owners, bus travel, et al but working this way is the future and improves people's work/life balance.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
And people who own office space. There must be thousands of big office spaces sat empty with owners having to pay high rates for them in prime locations.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for working at home, why travel ex amount of miles to do the same thing you can do in your home office? Obviously, it impacts the sandwich shop, the office owners, bus travel, et al but working this way is the future and improves people's work/life balance.
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I don’t know anyone desperate to get back to the office, it’s such a better work life experience now, it’s a real life improvement
 
Norman_Conquest said:
And people who own office space. There must be thousands of big office spaces sat empty with owners having to pay high rates for them in prime locations.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for working at home, why travel ex amount of miles to do the same thing you can do in your home office? Obviously, it impacts the sandwich shop, the office owners, bus travel, et al but working this way is the future and improves people's work/life balance.
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It hurts the food and coffee shops in prime town centre locations but the smaller shops on the estates get a fair bit of that business. That’s generally money that circulates more among the local community too.
 
Would love to know what roles allow you to literally just do your contracted hours . I can’t remember ever working for a company where I’ve just done my contracted hours and as I have progressed up the ladder the hours have just increased . I work for a global company that employs over 1000 on Teesside and I would hazard that very of the top 200 staff never work their contracted hours only . I suspect it’s operational or on the clock folks but Monthly paid folks that don’t get paid overtime, i very much doubt
 
Johnnyweetabix said:
Would love to know what roles allow you to literally just do your contracted hours . I can’t remember ever working for a company where I’ve just done my contracted hours and as I have progressed up the ladder the hours have just increased . I work for a global company that employs over 1000 on Teesside and I would hazard that very of the top 200 staff never work their contracted hours only . I suspect it’s operational or on the clock folks but Monthly paid folks that don’t get paid overtime, i very much doubt
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What do you do?
 
Johnnyweetabix said:
Would love to know what roles allow you to literally just do your contracted hours . I can’t remember ever working for a company where I’ve just done my contracted hours and as I have progressed up the ladder the hours have just increased . I work for a global company that employs over 1000 on Teesside and I would hazard that very of the top 200 staff never work their contracted hours only . I suspect it’s operational or on the clock folks but Monthly paid folks that don’t get paid overtime, i very much doubt
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You feel ok about working for nothing?
 
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