Ask HN: Would you take a pay cut in exchange for a 4-hour work week?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2492020

9 9 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Can you elaborate on this question? Are you asking whether people who work 40 hours per week would take a 90% pay cut to work 90% fewer hours, or are you asking a different question?

justanotheratom• 15 years ago

Too late, can't edit. I actually meant 4-day work week - 32 hours.

chad_oliver• 15 years ago

Assuming that you're referring to working x% of full-time for x% of the money, then yes. I could easily live off $300 per week, but even minimal wage gives me NZ$500 per week. A well-paying job should give me about $1000 per week. Under those conditions, I'd choose a 12-hour work week in an instant.

However, you refer to a 4-hour work week. That's not a lot of time. Assuming that I'll still make at least $300 dollars per week, then yes. Any less, probably not. I still have to eat.

veyron• 15 years ago

I think the real underlying question is about time-money tradeoff.

As for a 4-hour work week, there's a sense in which a work week that is too short will bore you to death. I would take a pay cut in exchange for, say, 30 or 20 hour work week, but 4 hours a week seems extreme. Plus, if you are doing something you enjoy, "work week" doesnt have the same meaning as a traditional 9-5 job.

vipivip• 15 years ago

It depends on the percentage of the pay cut?

pacaro• 15 years ago

I think that I'd just work on other (potentially/hopefully) revenue generating things in the remaining 36-96 working hours, so it's hard to see how it applies...

pathik• 15 years ago

If the pay cut is proportional, I definitely would. Would give me more time to work on my ideas.

iworkforthem• 15 years ago

4 hrs off less a day != not productive.

Surely certain tasks can be optimized better through automation, processes, technology, etc. It's almost like tell me to work for minimum wage.

AmberShah• 15 years ago

Assuming you are talking about the Tim Ferris 4 hour workweek (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/) then yes, but that's not really the problem. The problem is the unreliability of the pay when you work for yourself.

Ask HN: Would you take a pay cut in exchange for a 4-hour work week?

Related Stories