frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

Open in hackernews

Science confirms what we all suspected: Four-day weeks rule

https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/22/4_day_week_study/
62•pseudolus•11h ago

Comments

ktallett•9h ago
If Science can make those capitalist bosses accept this as fact, and actually introduce it, that would be a greater achievement.
aleph_minus_one•4h ago
> If Science can make those capitalist bosses accept this as fact, and actually introduce it, that would be a greater achievement.

Prove that more work can be done in 4 days a week than 5 days a week, and managers will be convinced.

In other words: it won't happen.

ktallett•4h ago
More work doesn't need to be done, the same amount needs to be done in 4 days as in 5. Saying this, some careers, including my own, the more tired I am and less rested mentally and physically, the slower work gets done, to the point where it's not feasible to do it sometimes as it's very much thinking based and tiredness can hamper that greatly. Therefore more rest allows me to actually overall be more productive over the course of a working week.
vouaobrasil•9h ago
Darn, it's all rather obvious. Personally, I could never sustain a regimented five-day workweek. That just left Saturday to decompress, and Sunday to be on the edge for going back. There's no time for actual life, especially in North America where people typically get shitty amounts of vacation time. Is that life?

Personally, I'd rather be poor, at least defined by modern economic standards. And I did choose to be. And after having quit my high-paying job, I'm so much happier.

ericmcer•8h ago
Seriously my job is relatively relaxed, but I am still losing my mind because it is just an endless stretch of 5 day weeks for... 20 years? The only version of reality where I could accept that is if I had kids and family all dependent on my work, but without that I am unsure how people aren't filled with ennui when they look into that future.
tayo42•8h ago
Working from home makes it more bearable. It feels like I use my free time to make money instead of going to work. It's not like I do hobbies 16 hours a day

I wish the job market was better so I could find a more engaging job.

vouaobrasil•7h ago
Yeah, it's tough to find an engaging job that provides a balance because of the insane competition that will only get worse due to the increase in efficiency with AI. Efficiency up to a point implies comfort, and beyond that point implies wage-slavery.
vouaobrasil•7h ago
Well, I think that's part of the lock-in. Not kids exactly, but the fact that society has made raising kids over time a hugely expensive activity (whereas once it was not in much earlier times). Because in modern society, having a family means paying for services to keep them functioning (extracurricular activities, romantic vacations for the parents, daycare), and that was encouraged by the system not because it makes us the most happy, but because it is the most efficient for technological innovation.
Qem•7h ago
> because it is the most efficient for technological innovation

Probably more efficient for rentism. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking

It destroys the very conditions for the next generation of scientists being raised.

qwerpy•5h ago
I sustained a five day workweek for more than two decades, but now that I have young kids it's hard. Weekdays are work + childcare, then two hours of being a vegetable, then sleep. Weekends are childcare, then two hours of being a vegetable, then sleep.

A 4 day work week would really help by giving me one day with 8 hours of me time, but that's not something any job here is going to provide. Fortunately, having sustained that 5 day work week for so long with "North America" compensation, I can comfortably go to a 0 day work week. It would be better for the economy if I continued to participate via a 3 or 4 day work week, but any job that would give me that would pay so little as to not be worth it.

bdangubic•5h ago
how many companies have you asked whether you can work 3 or 4 day workweek? and what was difference in salary for those that accepted?
qwerpy•5h ago
Honestly I have not asked. I've poked around in the HR guidelines for companies I've worked for (big tech companies) and the provisions for less than full-time work are either non-existent or so full of unfriendly exceptions and approvals that I assumed it wasn't a realistic option. I have also never seen or heard of anyone doing it at those companies across the hundreds of people I have worked with.

I'd love to hear if anyone at a FAANG pulled it off, how they did it, and what the financial impact was.

vouaobrasil•1h ago
> It would be better for the economy if I continued to participate via a 3 or 4 day work week

Not necessarily even. Better for the GDP but not necessarily the long-term economy, which might actually be more likely to thrive in the long run with more happy, balanced people out there.

sugarplant•9h ago
>The study, reported in Nature Human Behaviour, was designed to test the effects of the four-day workweek with no reduction in pay.

>The researchers compared work and health-related indicators – including burnout, job satisfaction, and mental and physical health – before and after the intervention using survey data.

so they surveyed people after having them work less about whether or not they liked working less and getting paid the same? wow thats pretty compelling stuff there. maybe we could see if a 1 day work week "RULES" next

atoav•9h ago
I work 5 days a week and I like my work. But my feeling is that it is too much. My job is demanding enough thst I can't really do a lot on workdays that isn't work related. On saturday I have to do my private shit (cleaning, other chores) which leaves sunday for my real interest stuff. On Monday I am rarely truly rested.

I am pretty sure that is neither in my, nor my employers interest. Since my work quality goes down if I am fatigued. If things continue like this I am going into a burn out and then good luck to them. A 4-day week would be interesting because then I'd have at least a chance to get rest over the weekend.

jjk166•9h ago
I think one of the main benefits of a four-day workweek is having a regular weekday free, meaning you can easily do errands and things without having to take time off work or cut into the shared time of the traditional weekend where many things are closed and we have so many of our non-work social commitments. Were the four-day workweek to be mass adopted, I would hope we as a society would be smart enough to not all choose the same four days.
vouaobrasil•7h ago
Yes, it would not be good if the same four days were selected. The third day should be free-ranging, because then everyone else is out too, which is irritating!
ChrisArchitect•8h ago
Earlier on source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44638839
aeternum•8h ago
I miss the old definition of science
RandomBacon•8h ago
FAA to Air Traffic Controllers: Constant 6 day workweeks it is then. (my opinion, not FAA opinion)

It is cheaper to pay ATC overtime than it is to hire new controllers.

I imagine it would be similar in a lot of other industries.

justonceokay•7h ago
This is in large part because of the overhead of providing healthcare for more employees, as it is a fixed per-person cost not related to hours worked.
moralestapia•6h ago
My ideal work schedule is a 4 day one but w/ wednesday's off, instead of 4-3, 4-3.

2-1-2-2 doesn't feel like work, I could do that routine in perpetuity.

physicles•4h ago
I’ll echo what others are saying about four days preventing burnout and leaving mental space for other activities.

Just for last year, I went back to five days to get something out the door. Being there every day with my team was nice, and I balanced the heavy mental work with exercise at night or on weekends. But hobby coding — or writing or anything requiring mental juice — stopped entirely. By the end of the year as we got close to shipping, I was drifting into that “what the hell am I spending my life for” mindset.

Going back to four days this year fixed it. Each work day is still mentally exhausting, but I’ve been using my day off for personal stuff and, randomly, to practice slack lining with a small group of flexible friends. I’m so grateful to have this option.

ibobev•58m ago
Ask Greeks for their work week. ;)
tropicalfruit•15m ago
just give me UBI and lets some AI or outsourced do my job.

feel like i have to watch out the slow decline of the inevitable

or maybe we are expected to be gig workers instead of UBI.

in that case give me the euthanasia pod

Qwen3-Coder: Agentic coding in the world

https://qwenlm.github.io/blog/qwen3-coder/
452•danielhanchen•8h ago•157 comments

Mathematics for Computer Science (2024)

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-1200j-mathematics-for-computer-science-spring-2024/
41•vismit2000•2h ago•2 comments

The Benefits of Trunk-Based Development

https://thinkinglabs.io/articles/2025/07/21/on-the-benefits-of-trunk-based-development.html
16•gpi•1h ago•4 comments

AI coding agents are removing programming language barriers

https://railsatscale.com/2025-07-19-ai-coding-agents-are-removing-programming-language-barriers/
27•Bogdanp•2h ago•9 comments

Show HN: WTFfmpeg

https://github.com/scottvr/wtffmpeg
28•ycombiredd•1h ago•10 comments

Countries across the world see food price shocks from climate extremes

https://www.bsc.es/news/bsc-news/countries-across-the-world-see-food-price-shocks-climate-extremes-research-involving-bsc-shows
28•littlexsparkee•1h ago•5 comments

More than you wanted to know about how Game Boy cartridges work

https://abc.decontextualize.com/more-than-you-wanted-to-know/
263•todsacerdoti•10h ago•27 comments

Algorithms for Modern Processor Architectures

https://lemire.github.io/talks/2025/sea/sea2025.html
138•matt_d•6h ago•13 comments

Android Earthquake Alerts: A global system for early warning

https://research.google/blog/android-earthquake-alerts-a-global-system-for-early-warning/
237•michaefe•11h ago•69 comments

Why you can't color calibrate deep space photos

https://maurycyz.com/misc/cc/
91•LorenDB•5h ago•48 comments

Org tutorials

https://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/index.html
17•dargscisyhp•2h ago•0 comments

Swift-erlang-actor-system

https://forums.swift.org/t/introducing-swift-erlang-actor-system/81248
251•todsacerdoti•10h ago•53 comments

We built an air-gapped Jira alternative for regulated industries

https://plane.so/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-plane-air-gapped
194•viharkurama•10h ago•117 comments

Managing EFI boot loaders for Linux: Controlling secure boot (2015)

https://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/controlling-sb.html
14•CaliforniaKarl•3d ago•0 comments

Don't animate height

https://www.granola.ai/blog/dont-animate-height
343•birdculture•3d ago•199 comments

I watched Gemini CLI hallucinate and delete my files

https://anuraag2601.github.io/gemini_cli_disaster.html
141•anuraag2601•11h ago•157 comments

Subliminal learning: Models transmit behaviors via hidden signals in data

https://alignment.anthropic.com/2025/subliminal-learning/
146•treebrained•11h ago•33 comments

TODOs aren't for doing

https://sophiebits.com/2025/07/21/todos-arent-for-doing
314•todsacerdoti•16h ago•183 comments

TapTrap: Animation‑Driven Tapjacking on Android

https://taptrap.click/
49•Bogdanp•5h ago•5 comments

Show HN: A word of the day that doesn't suck

38•jsomers•18h ago•18 comments

Gemini North telescope discovers long-predicted stellar companion of Betelgeuse

https://www.science.org/content/article/betelgeuse-s-long-predicted-stellar-companion-may-have-been-found-last
123•layer8•13h ago•30 comments

Show HN: Phind.design – Image editor & design tool powered by 4o / custom models

https://phind.design
50•rushingcreek•12h ago•16 comments

Firebender (YC W24) Is Hiring

https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/firebender/jobs/yisDXr5-founding-engineer-generalist
1•kevo1ution•8h ago

Many lung cancers are now in nonsmokers

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/well/lung-cancer-nonsmokers.html
134•alexcos•14h ago•172 comments

Font Comparison: Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono vs. JetBrains Mono and Fira Code

https://www.anthes.is/font-comparison-review-atkinson-hyperlegible-mono.html
195•maybebyte•15h ago•127 comments

Comparing the Glove80 and Maltron Keyboards

https://tratt.net/laurie/blog/2025/comparing_the_glove80_and_maltron_keyboards.html
47•ltratt•7h ago•21 comments

Show HN: Compass CNC – Open-source handheld CNC router

https://www.compassrouter.com
129•camchaney•3d ago•31 comments

Tiny Code Reader: a $7 QR code sensor

https://excamera.substack.com/p/tiny-code-reader-a-7-qr-code-sensor
127•jamesbowman•13h ago•39 comments

Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

15•helloworlddd•50m ago•17 comments

OSS Rebuild: open-source, rebuilt to last

https://security.googleblog.com/2025/07/introducing-oss-rebuild-open-source.html
153•tasn•16h ago•50 comments