Anyone noticed anecdotally another uptick in passenger numbers

[Bletchleyite]

Yeah exactly it doesn’t really work, so this is the problem with aiming for a 3.5-day week. It can’t be done without a massive loss of productivity. In essence, it would be highly inflationary.

I think I'd prefer 5 8 hour days than 4 10 hour days to be honest. Probably true of any job that involves a lot of thinking!

Might be different if the job was a bit more menial e.g. working on the till at Tesco.

 

[Krokodil]

Yes? Is it not possible to organise those activities / tasks around work?

Those activities are "work" too. Unpaid work is still work.

Women shoulder the responsibility of 'unpaid work' - Office for National Statistics

 

[greyman42]

Uncomfortable smart dress is another off-putter for the office. People should be allowed to dress comfortably yet presentably, e.g. wearing a company branded polo, chinos and comfortable trainers or similar. The suit and tie and traditional brogue shoe are uncomfortable, impractical garments that deserve relegating to the 20th century as a piece of history.

Why would a suit, tie and smart shoes be uncomfortable?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why would a suit, tie and smart shoes be uncomfortable?

Perhaps the suit isn't if you pay a fortune for a made to measure Italian one, but I find off the peg suits rarely fit well, and shoulder pads are awkward.

Formal shoes (if you're going really formal, e.g. brogues) are an unnatural shape and damage your feet, though to be fair I wear a pair of wider, less formal leather shoes to the office which are reasonably comfortable.

A tie? How can having something tied round your neck *ever* be comfortable? It's the most stupid garment ever conceived.

 

[Meerkat]

perhaps points to a wider issue with a general lack of work ethic amongst the UK population.

Why is this always seen as a negative? Maybe the other countries are being mugs.

in terms of WFH I see two dangers the smugger end of the “it’s much more productive” overlook.
If your job doesn’t need you in the office then it might well be better for the employer to get someone in India to do it.
If you aren’t commuting into London any more then you don’t need London rates to pay for it.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I did some twelve hour shifts when temping at a colour matchers (this was quite fun) but anything involving problem solving/liaising I'd be flagging towards the end of that.

I remember in my early IT career when there was lots of overtime (for the British Telecom sell off). I did my normal programming job then evey evening until about 22:00 was overtime doing clerical work (at 1.5 x my IT rate of pay). Then all day Saturday at double time and Sunday at 2.5 (or treble) time.

By every Monday morning myself and a colleague would be ahead of all those who had been home for the weekend. Really noticeable how dozy they were. Next thing we knew was that by the afternoon we could not keep up with them !.

It was stupidly long hours for many weeks but it got me a large chunk of the deposit for my house.

On a manual job front decades later and I was involved in the annual summer factory shut down 10-14 full days. Absolutely exhausting MANUAL job and I decided on early retirement before I had to do it that last year !.

I think I'd prefer 5 8 hour days than 4 10 hour days to be honest. Probably true of any job that involves a lot of thinking!

Might be different if the job was a bit more menial e.g. working on the till at Tesco.

I ended up working 10+ hours per day for four days per week. Pity the strike day was a Wednesday and not bolted on to the weekend !. I was a programmer and the longer days gave me a chance to get into something and solve it. In fact I would often work late to finish something I was in the middle of anyway. I suppose that is a feature of a creative job.

Perhaps the suit isn't if you pay a fortune for a made to measure Italian one, but I find off the peg suits rarely fit well, and shoulder pads are awkward.

Formal shoes (if you're going really formal, e.g. brogues) are an unnatural shape and damage your feet, though to be fair I wear a pair of wider, less formal leather shoes to the office which are reasonably comfortable.

A tie? How can having something tied round your neck *ever* be comfortable? It's the most stupid garment ever conceived.

Shoes hmm, the worst I had to endure were safety boots. We did a lot of walking around site and I hobbled around when someone who did not have to wear them decided we additionally had to wear puncture proof soles - inflexible. My knees were aching as well. It is one of the reasons I retired early.

Tie - I once came to the conclusion that a tie was invented to collect dribble and food that failed to go down the throat - thus leaving the garment underneith relaively clean.

 

[12LDA28C]

Those activities are "work" too. Unpaid work is still work.

Women shoulder the responsibility of 'unpaid work' - Office for National Statistics

Whatever. I don't consider putting some washing on 'work'. Similarly when ironing whilst listening to music, that's not work either. If you consider a day off to mean a day during which you don't do a single 'chore' such as preparing food then I guess you're at work 24/7/365. Sounds like a hard life.

 

[Krokodil]

I don't consider putting some washing on 'work'. Similarly when ironing with music on, that's not work either.

I would ask your significant other for their view on whether cleaning the toilet is something they just do as a hobby. Especially if they are employed full time and still take on the bulk of the housework burden (as happens in quite a lot of households). Divorce courts certainly consider housework to have value despite being unpaid.

If you consider a day off to mean a day during which you don't do a single 'chore' such as preparing food then I guess you're at work 24/7/365. Sounds like a hard life.

I wouldn't take it to that extreme, but it's certainly true that there are people who between paid work (including the commute) and housework have no time for themselves at all. All work and no play makes... etc.

Me? I work a 35hr week over four days. I'd recommend it to anyone (though I could do without the 3am alarm calls, such is life for traincrew).

 

[12LDA28C]

I wouldn't take it to that extreme, but it's certainly true that there are people who between paid work (including the commute) and housework have no time for themselves at all. All work and no play makes... etc.

In which case clearly something needs to give. I thought everyone was WFH these days anyway? There is a balance to be struck between at one end of the scale never having any time for yourself and at the other, working a 3.5 day week as some on here are advocating.

 

[12LDA28C]

Me? I work a 35hr week over four days. I'd recommend it to anyone (though I could do without the 3am alarm calls, such is life for traincrew).

Assuming your 3am alarm call allows you to have finished work and be home by lunchtime or earlier, I'd say that's a price worth paying. Although the older you get, the harder that early start becomes, at least in my experience.

 

[Cowley]

I think we’ve probably had the working from home discussion on here before and we’ve definitely drifted somewhat off topic now so I think that’ll probably do us.

Thanks everyone