4-day working weeks - yay or nay?

[Kat Warner]

Here is an article about an Australian company that stopped employees coming into the office on Wednesday without a pay cut.

This relates to an Off Topic thread I posted recently that might have been better suited for the Job and Careers group.

Would Wednesdays off work suit you? What do you dislike or like about this idea?

[Derek Fields _RightStar_]

I'll jump in - I think that "creative" employees should be expected to complete the work, not put in the time. It is up to management to balance the amount of work that is expected against the long-term productivity of the staff so that they get an optimal output over an appropriate time horizon (which may measured in years, not weeks or quarters). For some people this may mean 5 8-hour structured days while others may be most productive working in chunks. In some cases, a worker must be available at certain times because of external forces, such as customer service. As long as targets are being met while maintaining the health of the staff, I don't think that there should be fixed hours or days.

[Deleted user]

I only skimmed the article, but are they really working 32 hours rather than 40?  I'm actually surprised.  It's fairly typical for salaried workers to work 45 hours during a 5-day week in the U.S.  Are they really working 8-hour days on the other four or 10+ hours that day?

I definitely wouldn't mind 3-day weekends , even if I worked longer the other four days.

[Kat Warner]

Some workplaces are keeping salaries the same while reducing in-office hours by 20%!

[Karen O'Keefe]

Robin, they work 4 8-hour days, with Wednesdays off. They chose the midweek day, as opposed to three-day weekends for a number of good reasons. I would love it. I've worked 4 10s and the 9 hour days with the second Friday off. Neither of those works for me. I would rather have a midweek day off. That way each week is divided into two mini-weeks in which you have to get stuff done.

[Deleted user]

I certainly wouldn't mind giving it a try! 

I would love to see the company metrics on resources and deliverables working 32 hours a week keeping salaries the same.