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4 Day Week


faraway saint

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I was recently offered a job, the engineering sector, where they worked a 4 day week.

This consisted of 4 longer days leaving Friday as either a day off or utilised for overtime, if required.

They found the "take up" on overtime increased considerably as most employees still had Saturday/Sunday to themselves.

This put the company in a stronger position to take on more work and meet deadlines.

My current employers are considering this, I've decided to stay with them after recent changes to my conditions, but are uncertain if it could cause them problems long term.

Has anybody experienced a 4 day working week and what have been the pros and cons? 

 

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The mob I work for (large Aberdeen based Oil & Gas services provider) introduced TOIL where you accrue enough time over a set period to take the time off (again within a set period). The big problem is they are so busy there is almost the feeling of ‘guilt’ when taking your earned TOIL time off and as such you don’t really enjoy it and furthermore have a mountain of work to come back to.

My own thoughts on these things are they sound great, are great to get people recruited in through the door but the reality is it’s just not practical.

Maybe I’m just getting cynical in my old age but I generally just don’t companies any more!!


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I have actually looked at it because my work was/is looking at it and it seems to be that a Wednesday off seems to be the most productive setup. I think that was based on "office based" work, mind you, don't know about manufacturing or engineering.

I worked a 4 on 4 off for a while, which was shite, but again, not really directly comparable.

So, really, naw, no experience of it. [emoji16]

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I worked 4 days for years and i loved it. No down side at all for me. Great if your going away for the weekend since the Friday doesn't need to be taken as a holiday. O/T on a Friday at 1.5x was better than doing  Sunday at 2x.

It was only the manual staff that did it, ie the workers, where the office staff did the normal hrs. 

Staff did the 5 days since they had to man the phone etc for clients phoning in. 

Finally got stopped due to certain staff moaning all the time about it.

Told them to put a boiler suit on and join us on the shop floor if they wanted a 4 days week  :lol:

Of all the different shifts that i did, 3 shifts, days &nights, 5 days, the 4 day week was the best.

It was only an extra 1.25hrs per day for 4 days to make up the 5 hr Friday.

If you get the chance, take it. 

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7 hours ago, Tommy said:

I worked 4 days for years and i loved it. No down side at all for me. Great if your going away for the weekend since the Friday doesn't need to be taken as a holiday. O/T on a Friday at 1.5x was better than doing  Sunday at 2x.

It was only the manual staff that did it, ie the workers, where the office staff did the normal hrs. 

Staff did the 5 days since they had to man the phone etc for clients phoning in. 

Finally got stopped due to certain staff moaning all the time about it.

Told them to put a boiler suit on and join us on the shop floor if they wanted a 4 days week  :lol:

Of all the different shifts that i did, 3 shifts, days &nights, 5 days, the 4 day week was the best.

It was only an extra 1.25hrs per day for 4 days to make up the 5 hr Friday.

If you get the chance, take it. 

I see it the same way @Tommy, a win/win situation for the company and the workforce.

We currently do the following hours:

Mon & Wed 8:00 - 4:30

Tue & Thu 8:00 - 5:00

Friday 8:00 - 12:30

I'm proposing we do:

Mon 7:00 - 4:30

Tue - Thu 7:00 - 5:00

The small group I'm in charge of are not keen on working a Saturday for overtime but more than happy to do a Friday, if required. 

Our manager isn't know for his "get up and go", takes forever to do anything so I'll need to keep on his case as it'll just not happen. 

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I do a 4 day week which now consists of 2 days in Glasgow in the office and 2 days working at home.

Generally do 8am-5.15pm, but in my role I pretty much manage my own time, so can flex my hours to suit, depending on meetings I have etc.

Depending on various stages of projects I can be really quiet or really busy - there's not really a middle ground, so the quiet times I'll probably work less hours, but more when it's really busy. As long as the job gets done, everyone's happy.

The con is Monday is Daddy daycare, and I have to deal with 4 kids for 12 hours, two under the age of two...

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When I worked, in the dim and distant past, we introduced flexitime.  The deal being you could carry forward 15 hours (2 days) in every 4 week period.  Any balance greater than 15 hours was adjusted down to 15 hours.  In the first 4 week period I had a balance of 19 hours which was adjusted down to the 15 hours for the next period where I could claim two extra days leave.  Aye, right.  As a manager I regularly carried over 25 to 30 hours per period and lost the balance.  Did I ever get flexi-leave? No, but the staff regularly brought in their leave sheet to get their 2 days off, month in - month out.  I eventually stopped using the bloody system and no bugger noticed!  

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1 hour ago, faraway saint said:

I see it the same way @Tommy, a win/win situation for the company and the workforce.

We currently do the following hours:

Mon & Wed 8:00 - 4:30

Tue & Thu 8:00 - 5:00

Friday 8:00 - 12:30

I'm proposing we do:

Mon 7:00 - 4:30

Tue - Thu 7:00 - 5:00

The small group I'm in charge of are not keen on working a Saturday for overtime but more than happy to do a Friday, if required. 

Our manager isn't know for his "get up and go", takes forever to do anything so I'll need to keep on his case as it'll just not happen. 

My last hrs on 5 days were 7-30 to 4-15 Mon to Thurs and 7-30 to 12-30 on Friday.

On the 4 days, 7-30 to 5-30 everyday.

1 argument for was the time being wasted on a short Friday in getting started, tea break and cleaning up at end of the shift mean around 45 mins of a 5 hr shift was lost. 

 

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11 hours ago, Tommy said:

My last hrs on 5 days were 7-30 to 4-15 Mon to Thurs and 7-30 to 12-30 on Friday.

On the 4 days, 7-30 to 5-30 everyday.

1 argument for was the time being wasted on a short Friday in getting started, tea break and cleaning up at end of the shift mean around 45 mins of a 5 hr shift was lost. 

 

Also, with the current cost of fuel, it'll save 20% on the weekly/monthly fuel costs. :thumbs2

 

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We have a couple of colleagues in our immediate team on four days compressed and it is becoming more and more common across the function and wider industry. I think it is a great option however, I feel the world should be moving towards working less as default. The developed nations of the world like the UK should be leading the way. 

Less working hours in the week, less working weeks in the year and younger retirement ages should all come as part of a technologically advancing economy. We are sadly seeing the opposite on many fronts, including people forced to work extra hours/ take second jobs to make ends meat and a state pension age which will likely be into the 70s (if it exists at all) by the time I retire. 

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So, as already stated, our manager is very resistant to change, and spending money, but that's another story/thread.

So, he e-mailed me this morning and part of the e-mail was......................

As for the working hours changes to production, I have some thoughts which I will discuss with you and production management in my return.

Not sure what this will entail but in the meantime I've contacted the company who recently offered me a job as they currently operate the 4 day week.

Asked them if there were any issues that they had to overcome and what are the benefits. 

I'm not for letting this go..........................🐕🐕🐕

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I've been working a 4 day week for a good few years now, 0730-1715 M-T. Best thing ever and if I need to work on a F/S/S I get double time.

Working from home was the icing on the cake, saves me a 45 min drive each way.

Next step in the process is getting the total hours worked reduced but since I've got less than 2 years to retirement, I suspect I won't see it happen before I'm done.

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1 hour ago, salmonbuddie said:

I've been working a 4 day week for a good few years now, 0730-1715 M-T. Best thing ever and if I need to work on a F/S/S I get double time.

Working from home was the icing on the cake, saves me a 45 min drive each way.

Next step in the process is getting the total hours worked reduced but since I've got less than 2 years to retirement, I suspect I won't see it happen before I'm done.

I was in manufacturing so no chance of me working from home.

Common sense say more hrs per day working = more leisure days off. 

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  • 2 months later...

Update, aye, over 2 months later.

Managed to pin the plant manager down to have a meeting today, and THAT took some doing.

He turned up, ill prepared, mumbled through the proposal, asked if anyone was against it.

3 from 22.

He said it really had to suit everybody, I interjected that to get 100% on anything was unlikely and as such around 85% was a strong enough agreement on this as the way to go forward.

The 3 who don't want it could easily carry on with the current 5 day week as there will be supervision and support in on the Friday.

Then he said he would have everyone complete a questionnaire to further review. :wacko:

Like drawing teeth but still a little closer. 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/1/2022 at 5:18 PM, faraway saint said:

Update, aye, over 2 months later.

Managed to pin the plant manager down to have a meeting today, and THAT took some doing.

He turned up, ill prepared, mumbled through the proposal, asked if anyone was against it.

3 from 22.

He said it really had to suit everybody, I interjected that to get 100% on anything was unlikely and as such around 85% was a strong enough agreement on this as the way to go forward.

The 3 who don't want it could easily carry on with the current 5 day week as there will be supervision and support in on the Friday.

Then he said he would have everyone complete a questionnaire to further review. :wacko:

Like drawing teeth but still a little closer. 

 

 

3 weeks for the manager to produce this questionnaire, aye, 3 weeks.

Anyhow, they stated that the holidays would change from the current 30 days to 24.

This, for many, was a shock but it still equals the same holiday entitlement in hours.

As we only need 4 days for a weeks holiday this still equates to 6 weeks holiday annually. 

I had to explain this to a few guys yesterday as there was no attempt to explain it on the questionnaire, deliberate, well, possibly. 

I'm sure there will be more uncertainty today, I need to reassure anyone who's still uncertain, having Friday off has lot's of benefits, more so with the current cost of fuel, a saving of 20% is considerable over a year. 

 

Edited by faraway saint
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3 weeks for the manager to produce this questionnaire, aye, 3 weeks.
Anyhow, they stated that the holidays would change from the current 30 days to 24.
This, for many, was a shock but it still equals the same holiday entitlement in hours.
As we only need 4 days for a weeks holiday this still equates to 6 weeks holiday annually. 
I had to explain this to a few guys yesterday as there was no attempt to explain it on the questionnaire, deliberate, well, possibly. 
I'm sure there will be more uncertainty today, I need to reassure anyone who's still uncertain, having Friday off has lot's of benefits, more so with the current cost of fuel, a saving of 20% is considerable over a year. 
 
The 20% fuel saving will only really be relevant to those that don't stay local to your work. For those that walk or get public transport, and probably get weekly tickets, it won't really apply. I obviously don't know what %age of the workforce this applies to but it might be a quick way to gauge who, and how many, you need to convince.

Taking a half day would also use a bigger %age of your holiday allowance than currently. Of course, there would be the option of making all your doctor/dentist/etc appointments for a Friday and not using any holidays.

The earlier start and/or later finish may not be suitable for those with other commitments.

There are pros and cons to both systems and a lot will obviously depend on each person's personal situation, so don't expect everyone to see it from your perspective.

Anyway, just playing devil's advocate here.
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6 hours ago, Slarti said:

The 20% fuel saving will only really be relevant to those that don't stay local to your work. For those that walk or get public transport, and probably get weekly tickets, it won't really apply. I obviously don't know what %age of the workforce this applies to but it might be a quick way to gauge who, and how many, you need to convince.

Taking a half day would also use a bigger %age of your holiday allowance than currently. Of course, there would be the option of making all your doctor/dentist/etc appointments for a Friday and not using any holidays.

The earlier start and/or later finish may not be suitable for those with other commitments.

There are pros and cons to both systems and a lot will obviously depend on each person's personal situation, so don't expect everyone to see it from your perspective.

Anyway, just playing devil's advocate here.

Aye, there's a "stating the obvious" thread somewhere for this but thanks anyway. :wacko:

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