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4 day working week with no loss of pay

I went for an interview for a control room job a time ago.
The job was being sat in front of a computer monitor for four 12 hour days then four days off.

The guy interviewing me worked these shifts.
But he looked like he was really unhealthy. Overweight with an off colour complexion.

I wasn't that disappointed to not get that job.
 
paulbysea said:
Another way of compressing the working week is to do 4 longer days, which would fit well in many workplaces and staff that do it usually report they find it gives a better work-life balance.
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we do that and it can work well
 
Minio said:
I went for an interview for a control room job a time ago.
The job was being sat in front of a computer monitor for four 12 hour days then four days off.

The guy interviewing me worked these shifts.
But he looked like he was really unhealthy. Overweight with an off colour complexion.

I wasn't that disappointed to not get that job.
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r0_0_2400_1832_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
 
Joe Hutch said:
It was Adam and Eve who screwed it all up. All they had to was not eat the fruit from one tree, but could they resist the temptation to do so? No they could not. Hence all the work/sweat of brow stuff. Mind you, God being omniscient knew how it was all going to pan out, so actually it all His fault.
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With thanks to Neil Finn

We're all god's children
And god is a woman
But we still don't know who the father is
 
Actually, now I remember. One place I worked had a Dilbert poster, prominently displayed, of him and his little mate doing a jig under the caption 'I did nothing today and still got paid'. Who was that wrote 'In Praise of Idleness'?
 
dweezil said:
Certainly wouldn't work for us in food production; it's hard enough to get decent staff already, half a week each would double our labour force and halve their income.
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Why is it hard to recruit?
 
oldius said:
Why is it hard to recruit?
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In production you are paid peanuts and work in difficult conditions - cold, hot, in uncomfortable protective clothes, etc. Upscale you could be an engineer, but those are hard to find in pretty much the entire industry, and you earn comparatively little in comparison to some other jobs requiring far fewer qualifications.
 
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Cheese said:
In production you are paid peanuts and work in difficult conditions - cold, hot, in uncomfortable protective clothes, etc. Upscale you could be an engineer, but those are hard to find in pretty much the entire industry, and you earn comparatively little in comparison to some other jobs requiring far fewer qualifications.
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They were my thoughts...so it is not the four day week that is an issue, it is that the terms and conditions need to be improved, just like many industries. I worked in leadership in the leisure industry and then as a teacher. Both industries struggle with recruitment, retention, or both, and both have the same issue: low pay, long hours and, in teaching's case, a 60 hour per week workload with a 36 hour a week contract.
 
oldius said:
Why is it hard to recruit?
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Lack of skilled people who want to work, much the same as so many businesses at the moment.

No public transport so anyone we don't house needs a car if they're not nearby; once we get people they tend to stay.

Our Polish casuals are descendants / friends of the original two we rescued 20 years ago, one is now full time. His mother came over to work here as her annual holiday!

Son is a chef and he's having the same problem, accountants are struggling, even our solicitors have loads of vacancies, local building trades are very short of staff.

Minimum wage has become irrelevant.
 
dweezil said:
Son is a chef and he's having the same problem, accountants are struggling, even our solicitors have loads of vacancies, local building trades are very short of staff.
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not only them - i am sitting on 17 vacancies for my department (currently 73 staff) - it is taking 6-12 months to fill each, and sometimes longer due to visa delays/regulations.
 
An often overlooked benefit of working 4 days a week means you get to spend an extra day each week potentially spending money in your local economy. Cinema, meals out and general days out etc. It's a win win.
 
An often overlooked drawback of working 4 days a week means you and your wife have one more day to step on each other's feet and tell each other off. Fortunately, GF and I are not there yet.
 
Doh, shoulda thought about that before retiring. Married 40+ years, we each know where the others feet will be 30 seconds before the owner of said extremities!
 
This four day week was referenced on France 2 TV news tonight, though I wasn't really paying attention, being fascinated by the computer's revelations about what is going on in the UK today at the time. :)
 
Cheese said:
An often overlooked drawback of working 4 days a week means you and your wife have one more day to step on each other's feet and tell each other off. Fortunately, GF and I are not there yet.
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Only if you worked the same four days.
 
Self employment is ideal for me. The harder I work the more i get paid. Want a day off? Sure thing. I don't have to take orders from fat vertically challenged toss bags who always think they're right and love the power trip.

Just remember to factor in to your price an amount for pension and holidays. The self employed never go on the sick. Some people in employment take the piss in that regard.
 
mega lord said:
I don't have to take orders from fat vertically challenged toss bags who always think they're right and love the power trip.
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Quite happy as an employee, the ubiquitous worries of being self-employed would eat me alive and slowly turn me into a terrible person for everyone around me. About the boss you have, if he's ok (as in my case), life is perfectly livable. Most of all he must be the right person for his own job, because if he isn't, he will turn the life of his subordinates into hell.
 
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