Iceland’s 4 day a week ( work related)

[Hushmental]

Just want to know what everyone’s opinion is on this one. They have proved that working just 4 days a week resulted in increased productivity and happy employees. I would love if that’s implemented but I know it’s far from happening anytime soon. So my poll is Yabu if you don’t support it and yanbu if you think it will work.

We’ve talked about it before with our business as I was trying to find out if it would help the work/life balance for our employees. I’m all for finding other ways to work that would help everyone.

However we work in the building trade and in order for them to work only 4 days a week we would have to increase our charges to customers as our income would drop and I’m not sure any would be happy with that…

So you think that part-timers are going to be happy doing the same hours, for the same money, when their full-time colleagues have just had an effective 20% pay rise and a 20% reduction in hours? Dream on!

I do agree. I wonder if this was something encountered with the Iceland case and how it was handled.

@snotf

Now the part-timer is still earning £20/hour but the full-timer is earning £24/hour.

But who said the f/t wouldn't work longer days?

The OP is about the Iceland experiment, which was about reducing hours, rather than just compressing them.

@snotf

Plus none of us earn the same anyway. We are earn different amounts & the f/t workers are more senior with more responsibility & already get paid a higher hourly rate.

You're just evading the point. If you have a full-time colleague who is on the same rate as you now, are you really telling me you'd be happy for them to get a 20% pay increase while your pay stays the same? Because I don't believe you.

I work both reduced and compressed hours - I work 4.5 days over 4 - and love it. I do still do exactly the same workload as I did full-time in 90% of the time and for 90% of the pay, but for me I'm happy with that trade-off because I value my day off so much. I will admit though that if my organisation adopted a four day week for full-time pay as standard I'd definitely want the rest of my pay back!

The OP is about the Iceland experiment, which was about reducing hours, rather than just compressing them.

But it doesn't mean we have to copy the Iceland experiment, it would be interesting to know how they handle p/t workers.

You're just evading the point. If you have a full-time colleague who is on the same rate as you now, are you really telling me you'd be happy for them to get a 20% pay increase while your pay stays the same? Because I don't believe you.

It's not evasion, it's true & I have never worked anywhere with everyone on the same salary. You keep saying pay rise but I don't see it is getting a pay rise, their pay is staying the same.

Perhaps I'm unusual as currently if I increase my hours I will get a pay raise as I will be able to take on my responsibility. However I like my balance & don't want more responsibility & hours.

I work 4 days, and would never ever change. I’m sure that I wouldn’t get more done if I did 5 days.

But there are different kinds of jobs. Some jobs have a direct link between time worked and productivity. Some jobs are about making sure there’s always a person there, e.g. on reception, at the checkout. Not every job can be condensed into less time.

If my whole workplace dropped to 30 hours over 4 days (same as I am currently) I would expect to get a payrise or see the full timers get a pay cut, no way I would expect to be paid less for working the same hours!

MissLucy is spot on. The resentment would be incredible. Wouldn't make me as a part time nurse want to be more productive, quite the opposite. The 'invest in more staff' argument is flawed.They can't plug the gaps now in primary care.

I would assume that part time workers would also get a relative pay rise, or work fewer hours. If you currently work 50% of the week (2.5 days), you'll earn half of what someone doing the same role full time earns.

If your work goes to a 4-day week, then either you work 2 days for the same pay as before, or you're now working more than 50% of the week so you'd get a pay rise.

The 'invest in more staff' argument is flawed. They can't plug the gaps now in primary care.

They could probably get more staff if they invested more in staff in terms of wages. Care staff and healthcare staff are paid a pittance as it is.

@JingsMahBucket

The 'invest in more staff' argument is flawed. They can't plug the gaps now in primary care.

They could probably get more staff if they invested more in staff in terms of wages. Care staff and healthcare staff are paid a pittance as it is.

I'm sure they could, but we would need a willingness on behalf of the government and taxpayers to fund this. We would also need consumers to be willing to absorb the increased costs of services, retail, transport etc. I don't see any evidence of willingness to do so. I would also note that the burden of increased costs for essential goods will fall disproportionately on the poorest people.

Lots of people would like Friday off, but not many people want to pay 20% more for goods and services.

Iceland is a much richer country than the UK. Their per capita GDP is 21% higher than ours.

Again, I don't think the obstacles to a 4 day week in the UK are unsurmountable. But they are formidable, and would require a root and branch reform of our entire tax system, and a major shift in the attitude of taxpayers/voters. It's not as simple as "What's the issue, because no one gets any work done on Fridays?", as some PPs have implied.

It's not 4 days, most unions have reduced working hours for the same pay but people who worked 5 days still work 5 days. They are just a bit shorter.
It's brilliant, who wouldn't want shorter hours for the same pay. I work 75% so I didn't need the reduction in hours, but now I can go up to 80 or 85% without any significant change to my working day so it's essentially a pay rise for me.

I haven't changed it yet, though, so I'm still 75% for now and of course my hours have been reduced. People working 100% aren't suddenly making proportionally more than me per hour, that makes no sense. The extra time is nice, but as I say since I was already not full time I don't really need it and I'll change my contract to get the extra money instead.

I live in Iceland and the reality is not quite what is reported in the media. The 4 day a week thing was a trial scheme for direct employees of Reykjavik council (maybe 1000 people) so not a universal whole-country initiative. I’m sure it is popular amongst those who have it, but it is not the case for most of us.

Rather than the four day a week initiative, I think there are compelling arguments to look at other aspects of Icelandic society that mean we have a much better work-life balance than the U.K. These mainly come down to a strong union presence and generally socialist outlook. Some examples:

• everyone can have full weeks of time off, no matter what their job. A friend is a nurse and will not be working at all for the month of July (and will still have plenty of flexibility to take the odd day off throughout the rest of the year too).
• I am a teacher, we have agreed numbers of teaching periods (26x40 minutes a week) which allows for plenty of time to mark, plan and form positive relationships with parents and the children themselves. Any extras are paid.
• Childcare is very cheap and excellent.

I could go on but these are more embedded positives than the headline grabbing 4 days a week.

Of course it’s not great for everyone, there are unscrupulous employers who flout labour rules and take advantage of foreigners who are desperate for work.

DH does condensed hours so works a full time job in 4 days, has been doing it for about 6 years and it is brilliant. When he was working across 5 days, he always seemed to work several hours unpaid overtime a week but now because he's in the office for about 9.5 hours a day, the perception is that he's doing overtime even when he isn't!

He rarely had time off sick anyway, but can't remember having a sick day in the last 6 years. Stuff like car MOT and dentist appts are all made for his day off and it means we have a 'long weekend' every week - work/life balance has improved immeasurably.

Would have to stop everyone wanting Friday off though - DH thinks that part of the reason his request was approved was that he wanted Mondays off, not Fridays!

Doesn’t it only work it literally everyone in the country does it at the same time? Because otherwise can’t see how it isn’t just doing the same job for presumably 80% of the pay. Which I could do now. But…. Can’t.

I agree with it If production stays same then salary should stay same

I'd support a slightly longer working day and a day off too.

I work In hospitality at a VERY popular tourist attraction. It's the top in the uk. It's open all year and weekends except Xmas day and Boxing Day.

We are allowed to choose 40 hour 32 hour 24 hour or 16 hour contracts and can up or decrease as we require every two years. We get 6 weeks holiday a year.

I can tell you that the people in the shorter hours are happier more proactive with customers less bitching and have a good work life balance than those on the 5
40 hour contracts. I will NEVER go on 40 hours.

However in my situation the money will change so you have to be able to afford it.

Essentially I think some people are looking at it in an odd way, if you are talking about what is happening in Iceland with the shortening of the working week. 40 hours = 100% is arbitrary. They just changed it so 100% = 36 hours instead (or my union did).
There have always been people who work over 100% and that won't change but they may be slightly fewer now. More part timers will be able to work 100% or closer to that. And a lot of people will have a better work life balance.

I’m sure it is popular amongst those who have it, but it is not the case for most of us.

But it is true that most unions have negotiated a shorter working week and that covers the majority of workers in Iceland, though not all. Although of course the foreign media have distorted it as they always do.

Sounds great in theory but so many industries it wouldn't work in