Workers Discuss The Possibility of a 4-Day Workweek

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Apr 3, 2023 11:30 AM EDT

The four-day workweek is a very appealing concept to a lot of workers. Everybody always wants a day between Saturday and Sunday. We're always doing chores and upkeep on Saturday and recovering from the week on Sunday. Maybe we should make that extra day a reality! Most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work, and after a while, that constant grind can be difficult to upkeep. Imagine what life would be like if we only spent one extra day at work in comparison to the number of days we had off. 

Of course, the four-day workweek is a tough sell for a lot of business owners. The five-day workweek has been around for 100 years, and it's yielded a lot of success for companies. However, at a time when economic productivity is at an all-time high, it might be a good idea to reward workers for making it all happen. At least, that's what the folks over at r/antiwork believe. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/antiwork u/Apprehensive_Look8... 20h. i.redd... 92 percent G Do you prefer 4 longer workdays, or 5 shorter workdays? Whatever your preference, ...see more Career Group 195,106 followers 5h- . What is your ideal workweek schedule? The author can see how you vote. Learn more 4 day workweek 5 day workweek 1,251 votes. 1w left. Undo X 92% 8%
    via u/Apprehensive_Look869
  • 02
    Font - Strict Jacket3648 - 19h How about just 4 regular work days and proper pay. Reply 1.5k
    via u/Strict_Jacket3648
  • 03
    Font - Wind Yer_Neck_In . 7h Which is what the 4 day work week experiments have all actually done. I see this sort of poll as a very deliberate attempt to re- align the understanding of the 4 day work week idea before it catches on. ... 152
    via u/Wind Yer_Neck_In
  • 04
    Gesture - hill-biscuit . 6h Yeah, the idea it's a compromise rather than simply an outright change of how we do things You can imagine an earlier version of this poll would have been "do you want to work 7 long days, or do you want to work 5 longer days?" 59
    via u/hill-biscuit
  • 05
    Font - AskMeAbout Podracing. 14h 4 long days is typically better than 5 regular days, eventually we can fight for 4 regular days. 4 regular days is important, but 4 long days will make things better for people until we can win enough people over for 4 regular. Get them used to 4 long, so 4 regular seems the logical step ... 4223
    via u/AskMeAboutPodracing
  • 06
    Font - wget_thread 13h Why would I want to tip-toe around my opinion with my workplace? I think the more awareness and vocalization around work conditions, economic shifts, and employee trust the sooner we will see real change in these areas. ... 183
    via u/wget_thread
  • 07
    Font - AskMeAboutPodracing - 13h You can do both. You can be honest about your opinion with the workplace and say that 4 regular is just better, but also agree that 4 long is a compromise everyone can enjoy. You get them used to 4 day weeks, and then once they're tired of working 4 longs, you say "man, 4 regulars for the same rate would be so much better huh??" and boom, you tricked them into 4 regular weeks. ... 432
    via u/AskMeAboutPodracing
  • 08
    Font - can-o-ham • 12h Baby steps has just fallen so short. We see other countries pushing hard and getting results and we try baby steps again even though we haven't seen a change from the 5 day week in a hundred years. Baby steps is preferred by your management. 63
    via u/can-o-ham
  • 09
    Font - Aggressive-Nebula-78 · 19h ● Why not 4 regular days. Why do they have to be longer than they already are. Reply 736
    via u/Aggressive-Nebula-78
  • 10
    Font - Sgt Snacks. 12h The company I work for just sent to a 4DWW and we only work 8 hour days. 32 total hours. It's amazing. I hope most companies start doing it. It's also better for the company. Increased productivity, less stress, recruitment is easier, to name a few. ... 36
    via u/Sgt_Snacks
  • 11
    Font - VralGrymfang 16h here for the memes ● That has been in the news a bunch lately. 4 10h days is trash ... 147
    via u/VralGrymfang
  • 12
    Font - Jadenyoung1 - 13h The beancounter way. We NeEd ThEsE 40 HoUrS. As if anything really productive happens after 4-6 hours 116 116
    via u/Jadenyoung1
  • 13
    Font - togawe. 12h I'm really jealous of all you guys who have jobs with downtime like this. I'm actively working 10-12 hours per workday and it's exhausting 428 ...
    via u/togawe
  • 14
    Font - Jadenyoung1. 12h Its inefficient, wasteful and even hazardous. chance of accidents skyrocket at that amount of time. Because more hours doesn't mean more work done sufficiently. This is why four day work, the real one and not the dumb 10 hours, week was such a big success in the studies. We humans aren't machines. 54
    via u/Jadenyoung1
  • 15
    Font - Personal_Chicken_598 - 19h I want Frances 35h work week Reply 71
    via u/Personal_Chicken_598
  • 16
    Font - HandSlap977 .7h + 5 weeks obligatory paid holidays a year, health insurance, partially paid work stoppage when sick etc... We still work 5 days a week but it is nice when compared to other parts of the world for sure 422
    via u/HandSlap977
  • 17
    Font - karmasalwayswatching • 20h I like the idea of a 4 day work week. It makes sense in most industries. ... Reply 106
    via u/karmasalwayswatching
  • 18
    Font - Anonophile 20h It would give more time to do things for me and my family. I like it, but working in IT means we still work almost everyday no matter what. Reply 158
    via u/Anonophile
  • 19
    Font - joawmeens 19h I'm sure the workers can turn it off and on again without you guys 1 day a week... /s ⇧58 58
    via u/joawmeens
  • 20
    Font - Big-Routine222 • 18h Literally in all studies and mock work weeks undergone across the world, 4 day work weeks and even getting the day started an hour later made productivity and happiness for EVERYONE increase which even led to an increase in profits Reply 68 ...
    via u/Big-Routine222
  • 21
    Rectangle - Emeraldstorm3. 18h Importantly, without an increase in hours worked per day. ... 35
    via u/Emeraldstorm3
  • 22
    Font - moistdragons • 18h 2 days off definitely isn't enough. I usually spend an entire day trying to get things done I wasn't able to do during the week and the next day trying to catch up on hobby's/relax and prepare for the next week. I feel like if I do anything else my weekend is wasted ... Reply 46
    via u/moistdragons
  • 23
    Font - YEEyourlastHAW • 9h Saturday is usually spent cleaning, running errands, doing laundry. If I'm not exhausted after that, maybe dinner with friends, or something fun. Then Sunday is food prep for the week and cleaning up after that then lo- and-behold it's already 5 and I've got to start the nightly routine to go back to work. It's exhausting, soul sucking, and repetitive and I hate it. 13 13
    via u/YEEyourlastHAW
  • 24
    Font - chefgamerttailor • 18h 4 days would be nice, but I dont want to work longer hours, it's bad enough we're expected to willing give up 8.5-9 hrs of our lives for jobs we dont like with people who dont like us in a country that doesn't care about us ... Reply 431 31
    via u/chefgamerttailor

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schedule antiwork toxic-manager jobs united states toxic-workplace job bad jobs work toxic-boss america workplace reddit thread Reddit france toxic-work-environment
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