Every Weekend Should Be a 3-Day Weekend (2015)
I’m in the fourth decade of my career and I switched to a three day week almost a year ago, taking a proportional pay cut. I work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get the largest contiguous block of time (Thursdays and Fridays) where the places I want to go to are family&#x2F;child free. If work needs me to swap a day (e.g. to go to a Thursday meeting) I’ll often do that and occasionally I&#x27;ll work longer one week and then less the next. If I&#x27;m not doing anything on a non-working day I’ll answer my work phone to keep things moving along but I avoid taking on tasks that mean firing up my laptop. So far, I haven&#x27;t accidentally moved back to full time working by stealth. The precedent at work for me doing this is women on post-maternity three day weeks, for which all of whom said that the company had treated them fairly.<p>Here’s my responses to the article’s specific claims:<p><i>You’d be healthier.</i> Yes, I generally get more exercise. I’d already changed my eating habits to avoid snacking and this hasn’t changed.<p><i>You’d sleep more.</i> Not sure. Seems about the same although I can vary my sleep time to suit my own activities.<p><i>You’d be less of a jerk, probably.</i> You’d have to ask my wife that.<p><i>All of that, plus, you’ll be better at your job.</i>
 Not sure. I&#x27;m slightly less aware of what’s going on in the office and wider industry but in general more relaxed.<p>On balance it’s been a really good thing. I haven&#x27;t managed to progress all of the side-projects I intended to but I have definitely achieved my primary goal of improving my life-work balance. The pay cut is tolerable and in any case my wife and I were planning to scale back some of our more expensive activities (such as going camping rather than staying in hotels).<p>It&#x27;s also sent a clear message to my colleagues and management (all of whom have been supportive) about my work expectations. I still have responsibilities (e.g. for deliverables) so there is still pressure that doesn’t go away. I also tend not be the first pick for activities that require long term full-time commitment, or for the company to make an investment in my personal development (e.g. training in new skills). To date this hasn’t been a real problem – I&#x27;d made the decision to scale back because I&#x27;d gone as far up the corporate ladder as I’d wanted to. And I feel the same a year on.<p>The way I explain my mood to people is “Monday mornings are just as crappy as they ever were. But when I leave work on Wednesday, it’s already Friday.”