Scotland to trial 4-day working week

[MyBadHabitsLeadToYou]

With no consequential pay reduction.

I couldn’t find a thread on this. Apologies if I have missed one.

I’m not sure what to make of this. I already work a four-day week (so that my four year old isn’t in full time nursery) and it’s a nice balance. But sometimes a bit stressful because my workload is heavy so it’s one less day in which to get things done. However, soooo many people are so overworked and stressed and it would be good for mental health etc.

But I’m not entirely clear on how this will work in practice e.g small private businesses. Twitter views are very mixed. How will it benefit retail staff etc, will it only benefit the office workers…

Just wondering what the consensus is.

In terms of the Public Sector, 4 days a week sounds ideal, the NHS, Police, Fire and Ambulance Services already work 24/7, as well as Airport, Hotel and Social Workers, for example.

The 5 day week with weekends off is a working 'pattern' that mostly only relates to office-based workers; and many of these don't need to only do their 'papers' within the trad M-F working week.

Imagine how much more efficient many office-based workers, even more so all those Council Workers, could be if they shuffled their paperwork 24/7?

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

That’s what the whole policy is about though. Dave worked a 35 hour week and was paid £30k. Dave now works 28 hours a week and is still paid £30k. The only way this isn’t 25% more expensive for whoever pays Dave is if Dave was slacking off.

Or Dave was working extra hours any day anyway and the extra day brings him back to normal?

There's nothing stopping people from working a 4 day week now. Companies just need to cough up. If this forces them to some may well go out of business

@Whycangirlsbesonasty
The only way this isn’t 25% more expensive for whoever pays Dave is if Dave was slacking off

Not necessarily slacking off - but being paid X to do a job in five hours which could have been done in four. In many jobs there’s only Y amount of work to be done - it just gets spread across some guys “five days and eight hours” for shits and giggles IE because “that’s what a grownup works”. I’m self employed and could spread my job across a 5 day week, 9-5 if I really wanted to. I don’t do that because I can do it in 15 hours spread over 4 days.

As a self employed person, how would you feel employing someone to do 4 days work for 5 days pay?

I'd rather do a '4 on, 4 off' tbh. Twice the time off for a few more hours each day.

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

As a self employed person, how would you feel employing someone to do 4 days work for 5 days pay?

Could you stop introducing more fake scenarios and just answer some of the questions about the other ones you’ve floated?

@ChaneySays

I'd rather do a '4 on, 4 off' tbh. Twice the time off for a few more hours each day.

I think most people would. And I think it could only increase productivity for those four days too.

Let me put it another way, @Whycangirlsbesonasty?

As a parent, how would you feel about paying for five days of nursery fees but only being able to bring your child in for four?

Exactly. Cause I know for sure my employer would be able to employ me to work a 4 day week and pay me for 5, so I don’t know where the nursery think I would get the money.

Chaney, the policy isn’t asking you work to extra hours though, you just get the same current pay for working 5 days instead of 4.

With all the productivity improvements over the last 100 years we should have been working a four day week decades ago. Instead all of those gains have been eaten up by those at the top and we are kept artificially busy so that we don’t have time to think about why this might be.

But how can a security guard or shop assistant improve their productivity and shorten their week, when a principle requirement is just to be there? Likewise, how does a tradesman work faster when he's already grafting 10 hours a day mon-fri, or a trucker who does 5x12 hour shifts (put some nitro in the tank?🤔)

@EYProvider

Let me put it another way, *@Whycangirlsbesonasty*?

As a parent, how would you feel about paying for five days of nursery fees but only being able to bring your child in for four?

Why would this be the case though?

@ChaneySays

With all the productivity improvements over the last 100 years we should have been working a four day week decades ago. Instead all of those gains have been eaten up by those at the top and we are kept artificially busy so that we don’t have time to think about why this might be.

But how can a security guard or shop assistant improve their productivity and shorten their week, when a principle requirement is just to be there? Likewise, how does a tradesman work faster when he's already grafting 10 hours a day mon-fri, or a trucker who does 5x12 hour shifts (put some nitro in the tank?🤔)

Again. Again again again, nobody is saying it’ll work for every person in every sector.

Because that is the whole policy Pumper! The nursery is operating the 4 day week policy but still needs to pay the same so still needs to charge the parents the same, ie for 5 days!

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

Exactly. Cause I know for sure my employer would be able to employ me to work a 4 day week and pay me for 5, so I don’t know where the nursery think I would get the money.

None of that would change though! You wouldn’t be earning less, or paying more to a nursery!

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

Because that is the whole policy Pumper! The nursery is operating the 4 day week policy but still needs to pay the same so still needs to charge the parents the same, ie for 5 days!

Why?! If you want to send your kid in on your day off, fair enough but why would they charge more unless you increased their days?

Funny how you could read that post and not the others you’re incapable of answering though.

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

Chaney, the policy isn’t asking you work to extra hours though, you just get the same current pay for working 5 days instead of 4.

I get that. I was more referring to the fact that 4on, 4 off is typically a compressed week. I meant I'd rather do 48 hours followed by four days off than do 32 hours and only have two days off. If that makes sense.

But tbh, although I don't like presenteeism, office workers don't do many hours in the whole scheme of things anyway. Eight hours a day would be a dream to me (10 is the norm but often becomes 12 with travelling time and traffic jams etc).

So you’d give your company ‘unpaid’ overtime. It’s fair enough though if they are paying you the same for fewer hours and you want to do that.

I wouldn’t get a day off. My company could not afford to have me work 4 days but pay me for 5. It’s not how it works in the private sector.

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

So you’d give your company ‘unpaid’ overtime. It’s fair enough though if they are paying you the same for fewer hours and you want to do that.

You’d probably waste less time if you went back a few pages and answered some questions. What do you mean by slacking off?

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

I wouldn’t get a day off. My company could not afford to have me work 4 days but pay me for 5. It’s not how it works in the private sector.

Where specifically?

Again, again and again and again: it wouldn’t work for every person in every sector.

Is your public sector job part of the trial?

Is your kids’ school in Edinburgh part of the trial?

Are the bin men of Edinburgh part of the trial?

Please read this carefully. If you have a job to do that takes 35 hours, how can you get that work done in 28 hours?

@Whycangirlsbesonasty

Please read this carefully. If you have a job to do that takes 35 hours, how can you get that work done in 28 hours?

Please read this carefully for the third time: what do you mean by ‘slacking off’?

Why should I be specific? The majority of private companies are working to tight margins and couldn’t afford to implement these policies. That’s how they work. It’s in the companies act that Directors have to squeeze the maximum profit out of the business for the shareholders.