I switched from 40 to 30 (6h @ 5 days) two years ago and it’s been magical. I get the same shit done in 6 vs 8 hours (because realistically I can’t concentrate for 8 hours straight, so there is some empty time in there anyway) and have more time in the day for myself. And I still make good money even with the pay cut.

I’m pulling this number out of my ass, but I estimate most office jobs are actually only productive for 5-6 hours a day. So I would say 30 hours, and give back 2 hours of people’s lives every day instead of having people be in the office (or be online in front of a work computer somewhere else) for 8 hours.

It depends so much on the work but I think 25-35 is a healthy work life balance. I for one would rather have a well rested surgeon that’s on a 30 hour a week schedule than one that’s been pulling back to back to back 12 hour shifts

Science says for knowledge work 3-4 hours/day about 4-5 days/week to not get compounding risk of errors or injury. For manual labor that limit is about 30-32 hours/week including prepping your work.

Both assuming at least 2 weeks vacation and extra time off for injury and illness.

I just read Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang on the topic.

I know a lot of people here are fans of the 4 day workweek idea, but personally I think a 5-day work week, with 1 week per month off is a better schedule. Having 9 uninterrupted days off is very stress reducing and allows for working on multiday personal projects or doing some limited traveling.

For that sort of schedule, five 8 hour days is a baseline, but even going up to 9 or 10 hours as needed feels a lot more doable. As long as that flexibility to stretch hours is factored into the salary of course. If that’s done I think it is better for both the employees and the business in terms of getting projects done and people staying motivated.

Making this sort of schedule more common would require more expectations put on managers to properly organize schedules, since businesses I see doing this rotate through who is off so that the business is open the whole month.

35-40. My new work gives me such a healthy balance of activities and incentives to work, as well as a home day. My previous work it was closer to 30, with summers off (unpaid). I needed the downtime to recover mentally. The home day does that for me and now I get paid all summer.

I think it depends on the environment.

My work won’t let me take more than 37 hours a week.

I want to, but because of the union, they can’t let me. Instead, they call in extra help.

The cool thing is when they can get extra help and they need to ask me if I want. I get doubled up in my wage and sometimes a bonus just for taking the shift.

I won’t complain as I can also take a second part time job but for now it’s fine

<40h

But considering my hobby is essentially also my job it feels a bit lile a 50 atm.

This all depends on your life. Health. Relationships. Etc.

For me, it depends how those hours are grouped. I currently work five 8-hour days and hate it. I miss working three 12’s. I only work a few more hours per week doing 8’s than I did with 12’s, but I have two thirds more commute time, and never have a weekday off, so it feels like I work almost twice as much. And it’s a pain trying to schedule appointments for anything, since I work the same hours as doctors, banks, etc.

It always affects your life. Whether that effect is positive or negative depends more on the quality of the work than the quantity.

I work a bit of a weird schedule

I do 12 hour shifts on a 2-2-3 rotation

So week 1 I work Monday, Tuesday, and Friday-Sunday

Then Week 2 I only work Wednesday and Thursday

Technically for payroll purposes I think technically that Sunday I work is part of week, but that’s a stupid way to think about it day-to-day

So basically one week I work 5 days, and the next week 2

Or if you’re a payroll bean counter, 4 and 3

So on average 3½ days a week, or basically a 4 day work week.

And I really like it despite the fact that I actually work slightly more hours than someone with a normal 40 hour work week.

I never have to work more than 3 days in a row without a 2 day break

I have days off during the week to squeeze appointments and such in

Sure I have to work every other weekend, but every other weekend is basically a free 3 day weekend.

And if you plan your vacations and such carefully you can get a whole week but only need to take 2 days off. That gets a little funny because our PTO is mostly based around 8 hour days since most people here have a normal workweek and they dont change it for those of us who work 12s, it mostly averages out, especially since we work less days overall, but it’s not exact and I’m usually left with a handful of hours left over that don’t add up to a full shift at the end of the year. A lot of it can carry over year-to-year though, so not a huge deal.

Some weeks I enthusiastically work 60 hours and sometimes I really have nothing to give except like…10. It really just needs to be more flexible all around.

In my humble opinion you should be entitled to a minimum of 75% of your day for personal use.

it totally depends on the person and their life