3 day weekend - to think this what is needed to have a decent quality of life?

[Whatifthegrassisblue]

Where does the time go? AIBU to think there is not enough time? By the time you catch up on chores, spend time with family, catch up with friends and try and have some time as a family as well ....it just doesn't happen. I was thinking about it ...1 day for chores and "life admin", leaves the other 52 days to split between time as a family, your extended family and friends. Let alone just wanting to have a day and chill and do nothing, or go on a holiday. I feel I am doing life wrong 😕 Does anyone else feel this way or AIBU?

It's like that where I am now 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Judgyjudgy not at all.

If, as people have said, some industries will have to work on a roster basis to maintain productivity (eg. construction, factories that have to operate 24/7, etc) - why should that not also apply to office or council workers too?

After all, if a traditional five day week is arbitrary, so is a traditional weekend

Some people can work their four days Monday to Thursday, but most offices need to have people in on Fridays, so some people will have to work Tuesday to Friday. But that could mean the office is overcrowded and hasn't got enough space three days a week, so what would be stopping offices opening seven days a week with some people working Friday to Monday, for example?

''@magicthree · Today 05:36
Basically you spend your life working so that a few people at the top can enjoy a privileged life.

Rubbish! You spend your life working so you can afford the things you want in life. No-one is forced to work full-time, you choose to do so. I realise there are people who have to work as many hours as possible just to make ends meet, but many others do it so they can afford holidays, a nicer house, a better car, to send their kids to a fancy school - all their choice.''

Of course it isn't ''rubbish''.

That's how the worst of capitalism works and this is what we are seeing in this country at the moment: people having to work all hours but still barely covering bills, food and housing costs.

And people who can't afford to buy a home, even when they have decent, regular jobs.

And people who have to work in their 60s/70s and never enjoy any kind of retirement before they dies because everything is so expensive.

People don't work simply to 'afford the nice things they want'...They work long hours because that it the only way they can make ends meet.

To suggest it is an easy choice to work shorter hours is ludicrous.

We don't put as much value on quality of life as we do on squeezing every last drop of labour out of people in this country. The norm seems to be that unless people work 5 days a week (or more) and are glued to their desks from 8 to 6pm they are ''lazy scroungers''.

Until we put as much value on having a good quality of life as slaving for a boss then this continue.

I would say the last crop of politicians have clearly shown the nation they see regular people as no more than serfs...while they enjoy a comfortable life and line their pockets .

I work 4 days a week. Absolutely worth it if you can afford it..

This is absolutely the way to go! After working FT for the past 20 years, I changed jobs last month and I now work 3 days a week term time only.

I can confidently say I am no longer absolutely knackered. I would spend most of Mondays in a stupor of exhaustion. I made Monday my WFH day and worked in my PJ'S as I worked and loaded and reloaded the washing machine....🫣

I would never go back to full time again.

I’m self employed and after a recent bout of constantly being unwell every fortnight I dropped down to 4 days a week and don’t take any evening work on, I feel like a new woman!

Yep. I reckon a 5 day working week is ok if you have no kids or other caring responsibilities, or if you have a SAHP or very part time partner who picks up most of the domestic stuff. Or maybe if you both earn enough to buy in a shedload of help (although I’ve tried that model and there’s a lot that can’t really be outsourced).

Otherwise nope - two parents working full time is exhausting..

You've literally missed the point. I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Yes, but my point is that it doesn't have to be set up around a 5 day week.

And that who cares if we see a drop in productivity if people have better lives?

In this wonderful and mythical land where everyone only works 4 days and has a long weekend off, who is going to work on the 3 day weekends?
Shops, restaurants, cafes, entertainment venues, pubs, won’t be staffed as everyone will want their time off to enjoy their 3 day weekend.

What about child care, nurseries and child minders? Either shut on Mondays or Fridays, who will be caring for these children?

Perhaps we should go back to the times when every shop, entertainment venue etc was shut on a Sunday so that people who work in these places can have time off over the weekend, so everyone just stayed at home, moaning nowhere was open?

All of these scenarios only seem to apply to people who work in offices, who apparently deserve to only work 4 days a week, not the vast majority of the population.

Life is hard for people during this timeframe, I feel the vast majority of people are stressed with rising costs in just about everything, and there doesn’t seem to be a way forward out of it all.

I really don’t know what the answer is, wish I did.

Look at medicine.
Once the epitome of the 90 hour week,
it's now unusual to have a full time public contract where I am.
Yeah, a lot of people work in multiple jobs (public contract plus research or something) but a part time contract is now normal.
If medicine can do it, then I think other industries can manage! It just takes imagination and organising.

It will not be the answer if a significant proportion of people do. Better to focus on some things that will give people time for the chores/tasks the OP and others have mentioned. Examples:

Working from home at least one day a week should be something that everyone in a job which can do this can insist on. Not the whim of a manager, certain professions a legal right. Gives you the time to put washing in, saves commuting time, and probably in some jobs increases productivity.

A modern Consumer Act- no more waiting around for parcels, utilities who have to visit (between 8 and 1 is not an appointment, just a time window).

Zoom or similar calls an option for things such as parents evening, to again save time and money.

Well you could. So school is still open Monday - Friday, the teacher works four days, and has one day off (each teacher has a different day off), then another teacher works those days off giving them also four days. I've just thought that off the top of my head, so obviously there may be flaws, but that's one way it could work, which is actually quite simple. I'm not saying it would work for everyone anyway, and not everyone will even want a three day weekend, just giving a quick example to show how that may work quite practically.

I think the 4 day week is the future! Get on board!

I like these!
The thing I really struggle with is seeing family and friends, which is my most favourite thing to do. One thing I have been wondering about it having perhaps a lunch or dinner every 2 months or so to try and see more people at once, my friends are all quite different but I thought it might be worth a try. At the moment I'm finding I might see a good friend a couple of times a year, which I find quite sad. Maybe that is just life with young children, I don't know

Let's start a movement! 🙌

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and ideas, it's been such an interesting read 🤗

@Judgyjudgy how have I missed the point?

Why would a four day working week automatically mean you have your days off Friday to Sunday?

Why would it not be like retail or hospitality or healthcare is now, where you just have any three days off in seven?

Yes I work four days. Ideally I’d go down to three 😂but finances don’t allow! Two day weekend is not long enough. I feel like the kids need a longer weekend as well!

And that who cares if we see a drop in productivity if people have better lives?

Well, I suspect a lot of people would care when that drop in productivity started to impact their daily lives.

I think I've already commented on here but I have no desire to work longer days 4 days a week so I get forced to have Fridays off when everyone else is off.

I work 3 days spread over 5 and that suits me much better than working 3 long days. I think would probably suit a lot of people with school-aged kids better, too.

I don't think a 4 day week is the universal panacea. I do think much more flexibility in work (and yes, it can work for every field, given some creativity and imagination) is the way forward.

Can we please toss out this idea that productivity is essential for a good life? It was true even 20 years ago, when we needed manual labourto provide the basics of life. These days, robots /computers do so much, and it's rapidly accelerating. We are needing fewer and fewer people to actually do things, and that's about to get more and more obvious.

I don't want more productivity. It just becomes a race to consume more crap that we don't really want or need.

Yes, done people don't have the basics, but that's a, distribution issue, not a productivity one.

Well yes, flexibility. Just getting rid of the idea that to be taken seriously, you need to be working 8am to 5,30pm m to f.

No doubt some people will still want to work 90 hour weeks. Let them!

Exactly.

It might work fantastically for some industries but let's not pretend it will work everywhere.

Assuming a four day week means most people end up with Fridays off, I actually think it could have a negative impact on staff from industries like retail, hospitality and entertainment as they'll all be expected to work longer hours on all these lovely long weekends to accommodate all these people who now only work a four day week.

These are industries that are already crying out for staff so they'll hardly be able to just hire more people.

@DifferenceEngines I'm not just talking about consumers wanting more stuff, though.

I'm talking about the essentials that we need to survive - healthcare, transport, education, social services - these are industries already struggling with people waiting years for appointments.

I think you would care about a drop in productivity if it meant you weren't able to be treated for cancer, or your child couldn't get basic dental care.

Those are interesting examples given that doctors and dentists are two groups of people who are already often able to work part time due to both earning capacity and shortage of skills. It's not an official 4 day week policy that's doing this, it is happening in the absence of one, and there's not a great deal we can do about it.