’Bold ideas needed’ for UK

Gets my vote.

Well it works for me

worked 4 days per week for about 15 years
Its so much better than 5 days per week

Junkyard – lazarus
worked 4Argued on STW 7 days per week for about 15 years
Its so much better than 5 days per week

FTFY.

😉

Have worked part time for years, something that has lead to immense personal happiness.

Cant afford a new Skoda though.

Its a great idea but will never catch on cos people are greedy

I believe Jeremy Corbyn has already topped this, and committed the Labour Party to bringing back the three day week 😀

Like most of the Greens ideas – they sound great, but in reality they dont / wont / cant work.

He’ll be having a day off in lieu if he made that decision on Sunday.

Trimix – Member

Like most of the Greens ideas – they sound great, but in reality they dont / wont / cant work.

And why not?

Like most of the Greens ideas – they sound great, but in reality they dont / wont / cant work.

I reckon I could make that work. In fact, as I’m self-employed, I very often do. 😀

We want cheap products, businesses want cheap costs – what gives ?

Businesses end up outsourcing to the third world or automating or using the Gig economy.

Politics and our democratic system is fundamentally broken – it cant cope with the modern environment / economy we now live in.

The Greens, like all parties just chase votes.

4 day week here aswell, just do longer days.

I think it’s a win for everyone… Happier staff, less sick for appointments etc, ability to cover additional work with overtime, and the company can request occasional Saturdays/late shifts in return for introducing 4 day weeks.

Unfortunately, the younger intake of uni graduates into our business seem to be moving away from this roster pattern, lots of internal promotions seem to stipulate 5 day week with no obvious benefits. Probably as the managers all do 5 day weeks.

I’d vite for it

I wouldn’t, I like earning stacks of cash.

Been doing a 4 day week for just over a year. Loving it.

Trimix – Member
Like most of the Greens ideas – they sound great, but in reality they dont / wont / cant work.

What the future of bold policy needs is people who look at something and if it’s worth doing work out how to do it. The world is full of people who shout down any change as too hard, too complex, too difficult we need people who can make a difference and shake things up.

ive been back a five day week for just over year, after a few years on a 4 day -every Friday off.
same weekly hours, just longer days, I would go back in a heart beat.
I fact I’m still arguing to go back.

The world is full of people who shout down any change as too hard, too complex, too difficult we need people who can make a difference and shake things up.

Tell me about it, you should look at the Brexit thread.

Mikewsmith – I agree with you, sadly the whole system is broken, so I cant see it happening.

if it’s worth doing work out how to do it

Missed a 🙂 with the selective quote there

We do 9/80 so get every second Friday off unless you are in a support or client facing job. Trouble is if you are in one of the client facing jobs people expect someone to be available 24/7 so those guys get emails and calls all through the weekend.
Easy to say we will just work a 4 day week but it needs a culture change across the board. Look at the panic you get in the supermarkets when they are going to close for a day at Christmas.

There was an article on the guardian i think saying we should be using technology and the efficiency drives that seem to be in vogue at the moment not to do more work but give people shorter working weeks . Makes sense to me .I do 4 on 4 off 12 hour days , long working day but i would really struggle to do mon fri and only have weekends off

I worked a 4 day week for a while a few years back. I was probably as productive as when working a 5 day week, but got paid 25% less, so I thought the company did much better out of it than I did. Went back to 5 days in the end as lots of travel made it impractical (can’t get very far and back long haul in only 4 days).

3 or 4 days makes a working week for me, not fussed about money but as long as I’ve got enough to cover my rent and bills etc then that’s enough cash for me

Hasn’t one of the Scandinavian countries done this and found it increases productivity because of happier staff?

Think that was Sweden piloting 6 hour days, so similar idea but not quite the same, as they got the same productivity in less time rather than just juggling around the same amount of time.

I quite like the work when you want, ride when you want, play when you want approach. makes klunk a happy boy if a little skint 😉

4 days a week?

Stuff that.

Yes please.

I think a lot of mental health problems stem from chronic stress when working and travelling too much. We wernt built to sit in front of pcs all day worrying about deadlines or travelling hours in a car everyday.

Given the amount of automation coming our way I would have thought it is going to be a must to reduce peoples working hours, even if just to give more people jobs / result in less people being unemployed. Those decrying it need to look back to when working 6 days a week was the norm…

3 day week here (12 hour shifts), making it rain daily

With all he automation and technology we have now compared to 50 years ago we should all have so much more free time. Trouble is today at the gym there were people on their iPhones in conference calls and working in other ways.
If I look at the guys in my office all the one approaching retirement have wives who have never worked or “retired” in their 40s. Some thing seems to have gone horribly wrong. We probably have it better than most past generations, no significant deaths through conflict or diseases, reasonable education, access to information and cheap goods etc. unless we are prepared to take an individual drop for an overall gain we are more likely to be working 6 days rather than 4…

Just look how many people complain when something is shipped a day later than desired or an ebayer does not reply within 30 seconds of the auction ending

Mikewsmith – I agree with you, sadly the whole system is broken, so I cant see it happening.

Oh, well, if it is broken then there is no point in trying anything then

the whole system is broken, so I cant see it happening

If only there were a political party looking at how to fix the system.

(Hint: there is; they’ve recently suggested a three day weekend.)

Yes please.

I think a lot of mental health problems stem from chronic stress when working and travelling too much. We wernt built to sit in front of pcs all day worrying about deadlines or travelling hours in a car everyday.
My last job had a 37.5 hour week, it was incredibly stressful, the pressure to continually do more work, faster, with zero latitude for any errors, in the end I got the push because I couldn’t ‘measure up’ to their increasingly tighter standards, and I’ve never been so glad to lose a job!
Now I’m doing a job I really enjoy, with very little stress, with a week running anything from 50 up to 72!
And oddly enough, I spend my entire day travelling for hours in a car! And I love it.

I wouldn’t, I like earning stacks of cash.

I do a four day week. I am full time. I do 9 hours for four days instead of 7.2 hours for five days.

Over the last year, I’ve worked nearly every weekday off as we are striving to hit targets set by the regulator. And I’ve not worked any weekends.

So a four day week lets me earn stacks of cash, when times are tight, I earn my basic fulltime rate and get three days a week off.

Whats not to like…there are very few who do a five day week by choice, and generally thats for childcare reasons.

There is no cost to business, most employees do every third saturday as part of the four day week deal and a handful of lates, so it can be an advantage.

Oooh – 3 day weekend…

But then I think I have a grand total of 9 days work for April… perhaps an extra 1 or 2 with some repairs I have to get done.

Currently 6 days in May and 7 in June…

I am starting to think I may need to find more work somewhere!

I wouldn’t, I like earning stacks of cash.

You can do overtime you want.

No chance, I’m on 19.5 hrs a week now. Not a hope in hell of upping that!

It’s telling how many people look at hours/days of the week and think of stress and pressure, it’s probably more stressful for some to work fewer days as there is less time to deliver stuff and you actually have to be more productive. It would take a huge shift in state of mind – I used to work Monday Lunchtime until Friday Lunchtime, I could get everything I needed in 32 hrs a week but some people couldn’t get their heads around not being available for a meeting at some point.
The actual idea of a 3 day weekend (if it was also aligned with those who don’t work Mon-Fri) means that organisations would have to change to adapt to the situation. Perhaps splitting cover Tues-Fri/Mon-Thurs and settling on a core 3 days. Simply increasing hours to cover 40 in 4 days isn’t the answer either. Part of this lies in management (and some of the ideas and programs people sneer at to allow for more integrated working and collaborative stuff) the other part is around discipline in work and knowing when other people will be available.

Some others mentioned people on work calls at the gym etc. well tech also helps, I can take a meeting at home or on my way off for a weekend and still have a long weekend, I was on holiday last week and managed to do an important meeting in the middle of that then got back to riding. Today I will do a bit from home and see where the day goes from there.

Lots of things are possible.