Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by hylaride on Saturday February 22, 2020 @09:09AM
(#22391084)
The famous French 35 hour workweek only applies to certain categories of workers though. And even then it’s only where overtime kicks in. Every French white collar worker I’ve known (probably about a dozen or so) was on salary and had similar working hours to me (in Canada).
Also, French productivity can be overstated in statistics. They have relatively high unemployment amongst youth and the low-skilled. This essentially removes the least productive from the stats, making it look higher.
Not to say that a 4 day week would be bad, but careful what you base it on.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by SnowProblem on Saturday February 22, 2020 @04:31AM
(#22390149)
> The Netherlands and France are still alive and kicking. They have plenty of successful businesses.
Are they? I can't think of a single technology company coming out of either.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by nmd on Saturday February 22, 2020 @04:44AM
(#22390171)
Booking.com, TomTom GPS are both from Amsterdam. As is Adyen, the payments provider used Linkedin, Uber, Spotify, Microsoft. Philips is also from the Netherlands.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by SnowProblem on Saturday February 22, 2020 @05:57AM
(#22390371)
Booking.com - sold in 2005. TomTom - dying since smartphones. Philips - an old appliance company. Ayden - hadn't heard of it, but granted.
I hear of new companies from China all the time.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by the-dude on Saturday February 22, 2020 @06:11AM
(#22390421)
Philips is succesful in pivoting into medical.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by nlitened on Saturday February 22, 2020 @05:10AM
(#22390236)
Are any of them on 4-day work week?
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by jorkro on Saturday February 22, 2020 @11:26AM
(#22391784)
Most likely not. Contrary to what was being said, 40 hours is still very much the norm in The Netherlands. Some people choose to work less (36 or 32 hours is common), but that obviously also means less income.
Source: I'm from The Netherlands.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by breakintheweb on Saturday February 22, 2020 @11:26AM
(#22391782)
I'm sure you have just didn't realize they were French. Schneider Electric, Technicolor, Atos, etc.
4-day work weeks have been completely normal for lots of people in Europe for decades. In the Netherlands it's almost the norm to chose whether you want to work 4 or 5 days. 4 day work weeks are not always accepted everywhere, but usually they are in most places.
In France the standard work week has been 35 hours for the past 2 decades, which may or may not equate to a 4 day work week depending on how you organize your work days.
The Netherlands and France are still alive and kicking. They have plenty of successful businesses.
Conclusion: no, 4 day work weeks will not destroy your country, economy, business or lifestyle. The one and only reason to have 5 day or longer work weeks is: greed. IMHO.
Having said that IMO a more important factor in time savings would be remote working or not. Assuming a commute of an hour a day to and from work (2 hours total per day, reality for lots of people) you waste 10 hours per week of your life commuting. Unpaid.
5 days a week without commute = -10 unpaid hours spent on work related things (vs with commute)
4 days a week with commute = -2 unpaid hours spent on work related things.