Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

Interesting movement going on. One of my kids works 4 days in the summer. Guess what? AI might make your time at work more efficient.

https://youtu.be/Npoaq35UQUg?si=GS87wAKRXN9bsnaY

I used to do 4-10 hour shifts with either Fridays or Mondays off. It was eliminated during the pandemic by my employer and not brought back. Only issue I had was it caught up to me by the end of the week as I was dog tired by the 4th day. As I’ve gotten older and way closer to retirement, I now wouldn’t want to do it again.

As soon as AI and more robotics are used, we’ll be lucky if we work two days a week.

My standard schedule at my old job was 4 10 hour days Monday-Thursday. It was nice but yeah, you were damn tired by the 4th day. And as it became increasingly hard to find workers in 2020-21 it would often become mandatory OT with 5 10 hour days instead.

This idea is 4 - 8 hour days, they just cut out the bullshit.

TC Talks wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 2:33 pm

This idea is 4 - 8 hour days, they just cut out the bullshit.

But who would want to take an 8 hour a week paycut? What Curly worked is more practical and feasible.

And if you're thinking many companies, out of the goodness of their heart, are going to start paying folks working 32 what they were making in 40, step outta the bubble you're living in.

Round Six wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:05 pm

TC Talks wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 2:33 pm

This idea is 4 - 8 hour days, they just cut out the bullshit.

But who would want to take an 8 hour a week paycut? What Curly worked is more practical and feasible.

And if you're thinking many companies, out of the goodness of their heart, are going to start paying folks working 32 what they were making in 40, step outta the bubble you're living in.

Again, watch the video. No pay cut. Much of the developed world has this in place.

In another life, in another city, I had a job as punch press operator in a sheet metal fabricating shop. Four 10 hour shifts per week, 5:00 PM to 3:00 AM.

I had about a one-hour commute home after the shift, so I didn't get home till about 4:00. By the time I had a shower, something to eat and a drink, it was usually after 5:00 by the time I got to bed.

I really didn't mind the hours except that I got so used to being up all night, I had trouble sleeping at night on my weekends off.

The old, beat up Plymouth I was driving back then was nearing 100,000 miles. The night I knew I was reaching that milestone I went prepared. At about 3:30 in the morning, the odometer rolled over I stopped on the side of the highway, got out into the freezing cold night and poured the bottle of beer over the hood.

TC Talks wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:17 pm

Again, watch the video. No pay cut. Much of the developed world has this in place.

The workplace example you give is a outlier. Like George Barris that made custom cars for Hollywood.

I have had many jobs where the assignment was "Get this done and you're done for the day". That's what the RV place in the video is. And yeah, it's working for this owner. What he basically told his employees was we need X amount of RV's done a week. If you can get it done in 32, I'll pay you what it used to take you in 40. Think about it he's not losing any money if they kick out the same amount. And the employees did just that. Put it in high gear and git-r-done. And yeah like you said they cut out the crap, the coffee breaks, the late starts and early quits, etc.

But this isn't going to work for most work places. It's not going to work anywhere in the service industry for one. It's never going to work for any sort of utility company. There's no telling the customers to stay home or not expect power for 3 days.
And I'm thinking it's not going to work for much manufacturing either. GM or Ford or any company with a demand for their product isn't going to halt production 3 days a week. And rest assured if this guy had a long waiting list going for his product (betcha he don't), they wouldn't be on just 32 an hour. Get outta the bubble you live in.

I worked at a company that seemed to shade the rules of scheduling of the staff. The 2,12 hour shifts would sometimes expected to do 5 days in a week and you were also on call other days. You also had to sign up for an extra day several times a month. The kicker was that everyone was tagged as salary and exempt from 1 1/2 for overtime. just straight pay for all the added time. Sunday was the only day that got bonus pay.
With the place running 24/7 there were a lot of zombies wandering around sometimes. The powers at be never figured out the lack of quality might be related to too many hours and the high turnover.
It seems that some companies could care less about the 'work/family' situation. Once an employee told the boss that if he couldn't get a weekend or a 3 day holiday weekend of that he was going to miss more weekdays. The boss was WHY? The response was that he would be in divorce court! It seems he hadn't had a Memorial Day, 4th, Labor Day kind of weekend in almost 3 years.
Use the workforce up and move on. The kids that watched the parents go through this are not eager to deal with it in their lives.

Round Six wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 10:10 pm

TC Talks wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:17 pm

Again, watch the video. No pay cut. Much of the developed world has this in place.

The workplace example you give is a outlier.

You sound almost offended. We are largely a service and professional economy these days. Utilities, for example, are a bigger outlier than light manufacturing. It can work, and it does in places around the world. The whole country does not behave like Detroit's antiquated methods from the 70's. And there are GM departments looking at 4 day work weeks.

Allow me to shed some light on the RV industry as both my daughters are in management in the industry. The pay is is "rate pay". In the case of the plants they oversee 18 units must be completely built a day. If it takes 5 hours you go home, if it takes 14 hours then it does. You work as long as it takes to build the required number of units. Different departments work in the same fashion. When cabinets are built for all 18 units that department is done for the day, same for flooring and so on. Line workers work 4 days, management works 5 days. Managers on Friday finish any units missing parts or furnishings. They also fix units kicked back by QC. For Friday they are paid 20 an hour which is a small sum compared to their daily rate. While this model works for RV's and could also work for vehicle assembly lines, it is not sustainable for most jobs.

Piece work is great, I don't know if that is how this company is structured.

I am fortunate enough to have a "no day" work week. It is wonderful.

Turkeytop wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 9:27 pm

In another life, in another city, I had a job as punch press operator in a sheet metal fabricating shop. Four 10 hour shifts per week, 5:00 PM to 3:00 AM.

I had about a one-hour commute home after the shift, so I didn't get home till about 4:00. By the time I had a shower, something to eat and a drink, it was usually after 5:00 by the time I got to bed.

I really didn't mind the hours except that I got so used to being up all night, I had trouble sleeping at night on my weekends off.

The old, beat up Plymouth I was driving back then was nearing 100,000 miles. The night I knew I was reaching that milestone I went prepared. At about 3:30 in the morning, the odometer rolled over I stopped on the side of the highway, got out into the freezing cold night and poured the bottle of beer over the hood.

That's the most Canadian thing I've read today! lol