[HN Gopher] 4-Day Workweek Boosted Workers' Productivity by 40%,... ___________________________________________________________________ 4-Day Workweek Boosted Workers' Productivity by 40%, Microsoft Japan Says Author : evo_9 Score : 79 points Date : 2021-06-16 21:36 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.npr.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.npr.org) | ekianjo wrote: | Npr repeating the PR lies... | EGreg wrote: | Imagine how many companies would give their workers 4 day work | weeks and enjoy greater productivity, if we introduced a UBI (and | abolished labor unions and minimum wage laws). | hartator wrote: | Shouldn't productivity increase mathematically when reducing | number of hours? | | Like if you reduce everyone to 10h per week. Sales may go down | from 4M to 3M but because hours went 4x less you can still claim | 300% increase in productivity. It doesn't meant anything in term | of efficiency, creativity, or actual performance of the | organization. I would be interested to see actual studies on | this. | forbiddenvoid wrote: | Productivity increased per week, not just per hour which is | significantly different. | routerl wrote: | You're confusing efficiency and productivity. Your example is | correct but is about efficiency. In the case of Microsoft | Japan, 40% more work was done in four fifths of the time, which | is a greater than 40% increase in efficiency. | jeffchuber wrote: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect | scotuswroteus wrote: | "This interpretation was dubbed "the Hawthorne effect," | although the data does not support that view." | thinkingkong wrote: | Hidden in here is the "reasonable default" change for meetings | from 1 hour to 30 minutes. | | If you havent already done so, go and change your entire | organizations default meeting length to 30 minutes. Force people | to justify why they need an hour. Still not sure why it isnt the | default. | dpeck wrote: | 25 minutes and everything starts at either XX:05 or XX:35. | | People get to be human and do things like use the restroom, or | get a drink in between meetings without being flustered and | apologizing for being late. | travisjungroth wrote: | I've seen early endings but not late starts. That seems way | better. | zaphod12 wrote: | Everyone ignores early endings, late starts is so much | better! | macjohnmcc wrote: | I only lost 2 hours to meetings yesterday give or take. | FredPret wrote: | ...or even 0 minutes! | [deleted] | trentnix wrote: | 7-minute-abs! </something-about-Mary> | Philip-J-Fry wrote: | It's an old article, so did they continue it? | | We see reports like this all the time but barely any companies | actually have the balls to go through with it long term. | hbcondo714 wrote: | From 2019, this is a popular topic on HN! | | 210 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21433710 | | 242 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21441689 | | 149 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26495933 | | 30 commennts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21919721 | jonas21 wrote: | The top comment in the third link points out that Microsoft | Japan later walked back the productivity claim: | | _In the announcement dated October 31, one of the listed | "improvements" from the 2019 Summer Work-Life Choice | Challenge was an increase of 39.9% in labor productivity | (sales revenue per employee) in August 2019 compared to | August 2018, with a graph below._ | | _While this number is factual, it is not solely the result | of this challenge, and was achieved due to a number of | different factors._ | | _To avoid misunderstanding, we have removed that claim from | the above summary of the direct effects of the challenge._ | cuddlybacon wrote: | Yeah. I'm interested if it was extended or not. I cannot really | tell from the article. | | I expect this works great for 2 to 3 months when it is novel | and everyone is keen to prove it works, but will begin to | regress back after that. Where it ends up longterm is the big | deal. | toomuchtodo wrote: | Hopefully the results out of Spain's trial are positive! | | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/15/spain-to- | launc... (March 2021: Spain to launch trial of four-day | working week) | hellbannedguy wrote: | Construction should be a 4 day work week. | | I remember my father telling me about a push to a 4 day work week | in the 80's at local 6 in San Francisco. | | For some reason, the union officials didn't want it. Looking back | the contractors probally nixed it?) | | I remember how sad my father was over that. He was getting older, | and wanted a job easier on his body, and he thought the 4 day | work week would be enough time to start a side business. | | I did electrical for awhile, and mirrored his thinking. I used to | think 10 hr days were not a problem. (Union construction. Mon- | union construction is way harder work.) | tamrix wrote: | I feel like they're trying to sell me 4 day work weeks when they | include cut electricity cost and paper usage in their opening | paragraph. | chrisseaton wrote: | > they printed nearly 60 percent fewer pages | | What on earth are they _printing_ at Microsoft? | robotresearcher wrote: | Draft resumes? | | </friendly_banter> | kosvke wrote: | Unfortunately, everything is printed in the work culture in | Japan. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-06-16 23:00 UTC)