TIL: Microsoft tried a 4-day workweek in Japan as part of a "Work Life Choice Challenge" by shutting down offices every Friday. Productivity, measured by sales per employee, increased by almost 40% compared to the same period the previous year.

A growing number of smaller companies are adopting a four-day workweek. Now the results of a recent trial at Microsoft suggest it could work even for the biggest businesses.

swnt,
@swnt@feddit.de avatar

Cool, nice to see so many places taking this more seriously recently.

As someone who's working 3 days a week (à 8h), I approve this. 😎

brownpaperbag,
@brownpaperbag@kbin.social avatar

Would you mind sharing what you do for work? That's a dream schedule.

swnt,
@swnt@feddit.de avatar

Software Engineer. IT "consultant" (actually just engineering). Company is quite goodwilled and they value sustainability (economic, social and environmental).

On one hand, I was lucky. On the other hand it was important to me, so I asked after 1.5 years there to reduce to 60%.

brownpaperbag,
@brownpaperbag@kbin.social avatar

That's awesome that you approached them for the adjustment and they accepted! Did your pay scale as well or remain the same if that's not impolite to ask?

I'm a project manager in software and it's lovely to know there are good places out there still. Thanks so much for sharing your positive experience!

swnt,
@swnt@feddit.de avatar

Pay scaled linearly. But it's still a "pay raise" because lower income means lower taxes 😂

I'm a project manager in software and it's lovely to know there are good places out there still. Thanks so much for sharing your positive experience!

At my company, there are quite a few PMs actually also doing 4 day work weeks - or workations. It's quite nice. I like that the company isn't like "you live to work for us" but instead they're like "Hey, here are some nice things you can work on - but we know, that work is simply part of life and needs balance."

Really appreciate that.

I initially started the reduction, as I realised, that pro-actively speaking, I think that my current work "deserves" 24h of my week rather than full 40h. It's just not so important for my life. And I'm happy to be able to proactively make this decision.

If you're interested, I can tell you about the company via DM 😄

brownpaperbag,
@brownpaperbag@kbin.social avatar

"Hey, here are some nice things you can work on - but we know, that work is simply part of life and needs balance."

That sounds like a great approach to take!

I initially started the reduction, as I realised, that pro-actively speaking, I think that my current work "deserves" 24h of my week rather than full 40h. It's just not so important for my life. And I'm happy to be able to proactively make this decision.

That's a good mindset to practice! I'll have to keep it in mind. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Edit: I did try to DM you but it keeps kicking me to my subscription page

swnt,
@swnt@feddit.de avatar

That's a good mindset to practice! I'll have to keep it in mind. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Happy to hear your appreciate it 😊 Pro-activity is a game changer for life.

I sent you a dm via the web interface. did you receive?

brownpaperbag,
@brownpaperbag@kbin.social avatar

I'm only mobile for kbin at the moment so it doesn't appear I can receive them (and setting my browser to desktop mode doesn't change anything). But thank you so much for reaching out! I'll try to get my hands on a non-work computer and check it out.

swnt,
@swnt@feddit.de avatar

Hm.... I can't send you a message even after making an account on kbin.social 🤔

https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/963f1bbe-dc77-4830-a1b0-5ae6d2866318.png

There is no way to send a message.

I think it's best if you send me a DM from a Lemmy account at lemmy.world, lemmy.ca, feddit.de, etc.

brownpaperbag,
@brownpaperbag@kbin.social avatar

@swnt done and done. Thanks for following up!

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