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Comment by kettleballroll | Hacker News Reader

> The entire point of this is that productivity does not go down in a 4 day workweek

Just an anecdote, but: my productivity definitely took a huge hit when I reduced my hours to 4days/week. All of the "working harder/more efficiently/more focused" doesn't help if you already worked hard/efficiently/focused. If you have a job with a lot of slack/downtime/waiting time... Sure. But sometimes, working 20% less means that 20% less work gets done.

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It's the same as working from home. Some people are way more productive at home, away from all the distractions in the office. Others barely get any work done at all at home.

Most people are nowhere close to working fully focused 8 hours a day, and may also benefit from more time to recharge. Others benefit less. The average probably matters more for the company (also shorter work hours will improve retention, or allow you to pay lower wages to compete etc).

It's nowhere near the same. Changing locations is a minimal effect compared to working a full day more than another person. There are many jobs where hours worked are almost equivalent to work performed. Think of any manager spending their week interviewing candidates for hiring. One less day means less candidates interviewed.

This is why people also talk about retention.

Personally I'd think of the extra day as rent paid on not having to hire and onboard someone new.

Why would retention change if everyone works 4 days a week? At that point it is no longer a perk, you get it everywhere, so retention should be as before and the advantages of 4 day weeks is now gone.

Because people that are happy at their job tend to stay. Your point is "so what if they are miserable right now? They will be miserable elsewhere, too". That might be, but people will still try to get away from you, hoping it is better elsewhere.

With that argument retention would already be great with 5 day workweek since it is so much better than 6, but you don't see that, retention is really horrible today.

I am a little baffled by the idea that job satisfaction is comparative. Three days a week to do what one wants and needs to do is life enhancing for me, even if everyone else has it and retention is a function of happiness.

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