A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
Our Goals
Either the supporters or the doubters could assume this terribly ambiguous headline means they were right. In fact it's working out GREAT and the conventional "wisdom" that predicted failure turned out to be WRONG.
The only problem with Iceland is all of the beautiful people, scenery, and society beset with relative happiness and prosperity.
Looks like they're making their own happiness!
Meanwhile, US companies are ending their temporary COVID-prompted telework "experiments" and threatening to fire employees who won't return to the office. Because results mean nothing - we do it the way we do it because that's how we do it.
My guess is that it's the share holder class pushing them to not allow WFH, due to also being heavily invested in business real estate combined with middle management knowing they could function with less of or without them.
You're giving the system way too much credit for being cohesive and organized. I've had the work-from-home conversation with multiple bullheaded managers who personally, individually outright disbelieve that it can work, no matter how much evidence is staring them in their face. They just know what they know because they know it, and in the context of their little kingdom they know they don't actually have to be right, they just have to be in charge. They'll reel off a standard list of talking points, which are opportunities for you to concede and back down, and if that doesn't work they'll just end the conversation with something like, "Well, I'm sorry we can't agree on this."
Authoritarian culture begets authoritarian policy, in both the public and private sectors. Results were never the ends. Compliance and control are.
Also the authority can take the form of a government, a corporation, or a group of people exerting peer pressure. The difference is the type of leverage they use - imprisonment, firing, or social rejection.
I hired you so you could worship at my feet, not to be productive at home, dammit.
Any Icelanders that will marry me?
Seriously. Pm me. I will propose immediately. Let's make beautiful viking children together.
There were fears of a drop in productivity, increased costs for businesses and difficulties in adapting to maintain service levels. However, the Icelandic experience has swept these fears under the carpet.
I don’t think that metaphor means what they think it means.
Idiom, bruv
*rug.
Don't worry. Us Americans will entirely ignore that other 1st world nations have a better quality of life and we'll continue to allow our abusers to abuse us more.
except for the nazis who will declare that better quality of life is only possible if the population is all "white"
Now that you mentioned it, the government is now all mask off on what they mean when they say US is "too diverse for affordable healthcare".
I would love that. Just one more day, one more day a week to do my own activities. That would help so much with all the anxieties.
I was lucky enough to experience the 4 day work week for 1 glorious year. I used my extra day to schedule weekday appointments without taking time off, taking care of chores so I could enjoy the weekend more, and doing more hobbies when I wasn't doing those other 2 things. It was the best quality of life I ever had.
Yes, when I was lucky enough that I could survive on part time income, my four day work week was glorious. I used Mondays to just rest. I could actually enjoy my weekends AND be productive because I wasn't trying to also rest in prep for the coming week.
🥳
Now let's go for 12 hour tit for tat work weeks!
Nú skulum við fara í 12 tíma vinnuvikur þar sem við skiptum á milli!
Oh hey I have this work life balance and can't make ends meet. The 4 hour shifts feel unproductive due to break rules, incentivizing the 15 minutes used at the end of day. These days I usually have very limited time and cannot extend/reflect meaningful progessive or incentive to engage further.
In turn losing ability to create further responsibility, which assures the job necessitates me. Losing a major avenue of job security.
Any time free is spent trying to not indulge in further spending.
You're getting me too excited, stop filling my head with such wondrous dreams!
This is where unions really dropped the ball. I feel in the eighties and even back in the seventies they were pushing for overtime over increased staffing and thus membership plus not going for lower work week. Its crazy that the work week increased over the last 50 years (well in the us).
I work a 4x10 workweek right now. Huge improvement on my quality of life. I use my free weekday to handle chores and shopping and appointments, then actually spend my weekend with my family. I've been doing this for about 3 years.
I know I'll lose this someday. Eventually somebody will use it against me. That's the day I'll start entertaining new opportunities.
Could you imagine 4x8 with same pay? Even better!
I might stop trying to speedrun FIRE if I could have a 4x8 schedule. Going from 71% of the week being workdays to 57% of the week is fucking huge. Longer weekend and shorter workweek is like a double effect.
They're probably only really getting 8 hours of quality work out of most people in a 10 hour day anyway.
I mean getting 4 or 8 or 12 or 16 hours a day of work out of me is kind of ridiculous anyway. I don't have a job where X hours = Y production. "40 hours" a week is just my employer's antiquated way of quantifying my work. I would prefer they just let me handle my responsibilities.
It's not about the money, it's about putting down the plebs.
How does a 36-hour workweek work out to a four-day workweek?
Here in Norway everyone in sneezing distance of a union deal has a five-day workweek at 7.5 hours a day, for 37.5 hours in total. (The law says six days at 8 hours; the half-hour difference is in practice lunch, which is your own time with a union deal and the boss' time without. I think we could go down to 7h a day and get an hour of lunch like our neighbours.)
9 x 4 = 36
IANI (I am not Icelandic) but that's my guess based on currently-accepted mathematical models.
Yes, but what about the suffering?
I wonder what the impact on birthrates has been
The Icelandic experiment began in 2015 with a pilot phase involving around 2,500 employees, or just over 1% of the country’s working population. Following the resounding success of this initiative, with 86% of the employees involved expressing their support, the project was made official in 2019 . Today, almost 90% of Icelandic workers benefit from a reduced working week of 36 hours, compared with 40 hours previously, with no loss of pay. Initial concerns about the four-day week were widespread, both in Iceland and elsewhere in the world. There were fears of a drop in productivity, increased costs for businesses and difficulties in adapting to maintain service levels. However, the Icelandic experience has swept these fears under the carpet.
The Icelandic experiment began in 2015 with a pilot phase involving around 2,500 employees, or just over 1% of the country’s working population. Following the resounding success of this initiative, with 86% of the employees involved expressing their support, the project was made official in 2019 . Today, almost 90% of Icelandic workers benefit from a reduced working week of 36 hours, compared with 40 hours previously, with no loss of pay. Initial concerns about the four-day week were widespread, both in Iceland and elsewhere in the world. There were fears of a drop in productivity, increased costs for businesses and difficulties in adapting to maintain service levels. However, the Icelandic experience has swept these fears under the carpet.