Asian governments roll out 4-day weeks, WFH to solve fuel crisis caused by war

[wing-_-nuts]

I've long said that WFH is an easy win climate change solution that costs nothing, is well loved by everyone who participates (except management). Turns out in times like this, it's also an energy security measure.

[electrosphere]

I'm introverted but very glad I have the option of working from the office and being among fellow staff, we also have a lunchtime exercise club once a week. It's much better for my mental health.

In fact, I've added two days working outside of home instead of one because of the benefits. I think 3 days home/2 days office is the sweet spot.

[darknavi]

I know it's a meme on HN to say everyone likes WFH, but I (and many but not ICs around me) thrive more in person.

I am 100% more effective in person where I can dev and my desk and bounce ideas off if team mates around me verbally. This can be recreated in a remote environment by having things like a team Discord that folks sit on, but it can feel forced at times (just like communiting to the office I suppose).

My take might be heavily skewed though. I am in games and our environment is highly collaborative.

[bluescrn]

WFH was great to begin with, but as somebody living alone, the isolation starts to have an effect after a while when you're 'working alone' too

And for many people WFH has other problems - if you're a dual-WFH couple in a small home, lack of home office space is a very real problem. (Although if WFH was a permanent thing, many people could choose less expensive places to live, and have more space)

Still, anything to eliminate a miserable and environmentally wasteful commute.

[scottious]

and if you're talking to somebody who doesn't care about climate change just substitute "climate change" with "traffic"

[iszomer]

We may never know which sector of the economy you are in to believe WFH is a good idea unless you explicitly state it but given this is HN, I'm just going to make a lazy assumption for software dev or engineering. WFH sounds great in theory only if _everyone_ participates in it but is hardly the case in reality.

For example: If you can sustainably and reliably source your daily necessities like having the ability to cook or maintain a decent home environment that support it, kudos. Thought the covid lockdowns showed us how fragile that system can be especially for those _essential people_ to be physically around to feed you or keep your shit running.

As a side note: how do you feel about being snookered by your local government's policy under the pretext that _essential work_ just gives your employers the ability to maintain the same minimum wage labor cycle just so you can feel giddy about how good this idea is?

[vamos_davai]

Don't forget about holders of commercial real estate debt and the owners of commercial real estate and restaurants who depend on foot traffic!

[jjav]

> is well loved by everyone who participates (except management)

Most of management hates it too. I manage a team where everyone is remote, yet I have to go to the office few days a week to sit on zoom, why? And up a level, my manager has an even longer commute and probably hates it more than I do.

This stuff is pushed down by HR, most of management hates it.

[rdsubhas]

> costs nothing

1. for other businesses and jobs though, people staying at home costs a lot. one can call it a polarizing option.

2. these kind of jobs are likely prime candidates for AI already.

[hshdhdhj4444]

Except driving in the U.S. following the pandemic was significantly higher than driving before the pandemic even though WFH was much higher.

This claim might be true but it’s simply not showing up in the data which suggests that even if true, the effect is probably minor.

[palmotea]

> is well loved by everyone who participates (except management).

So? The only people who matter are shareholders and their proxies (management). To everyone else: you don't matter as much as you think you do, quit being selfish and be happy you get anything at all. The world doesn't revolve around you.

[Lammy]

> is well loved by everyone who participates

You don't speak for me :)

I hate it.

[lm28469]

It's bad for the EcOnOmY, less wear and tear in cars, less jobs for mechanics, less gas consumed, less lunch bought in fast food chain, &c.

The entire system is designed around making the numbers go up, not down

[ragazzina]

I love WFH but how is it a win climate change solution for anyone outside of the USA? If my office building WFH, instead of heating a building we need to heat 500 people homes all day. And most of the people commute by public transport.

[scottious]

It's too bad that countries only consider things like this to address a crisis in fuel costs. Why not enact measures like this to curb the pollution and CO2? I guess it says a lot about what humanity truly values.

[lizknope]

We saw how much less pollution there was during the pandemic

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/04/8110190...

I worked from home but a few times I needed to go to my parents house during what used to be rush hour. Less than 5% of normal traffic and fuel demand dropped so much that prices were lower.

My job went hybrid in 2022 and then return to office full time last year. Everyone hates it. It's a waste of time and resources.

Less pollution, less traffic means we don't need to use tax revenue to expand roads and less wear and tear means less repairs.

Take it one step further and give tax breaks to businesses that let employees work from home and close physical offices. Then this means less new office construction which can be used for housing to help the housing crisis. It's a win win for everyone except control freak managers.

[harperlee]

One is an immediate impact in your pocket, the other one has an impact lag that you count in years/decades.

[toomuchtodo]

Optimizing performance management and labor cost controls is more important to those making these decisions than climate change. Misaligned incentives.

[thewhitetulip]

"Leave the petro-billionaires alone!" Seems to be the driving force

Imagine if the world had aggressively invested in renewables at any time in the past ten years!

[keybored]

You can’t collapse countries and humans down to four sentences and conclude that’s what they value. Do you want to analyze the problem or throw quips at the wall?

[bilsbie]

I wish we’d all go to four day work weeks.

Over My whole life, 5 out of 7 full days of work always felt so daunting and almost dehumanizing.

But 4/7 is mentally close to half and just feels way different qualitatively. If you have a job you mostly like, 4 days a week feels really sustainable.

[phantom784]

I've been working 4/10 schedule (4 days, but 10 hours/day, so I still work 40 hours). It's a HUGE perk, and is the biggest thing keeping me at my current job.

[nuancebydefault]

I work 4 days a week (started because of a medical condition) and I think more people should do that. I even think that in those 4 days i get as much done as most others in 5 days because I can focus better, and sometimes when I feel like working in the non-work day I work a few hours for fun and interest.

[recroad]

Why are they calling it the "Iran war". It's more like the US/Israeli War. Or more specifically, the US/Israeli assault on Iran.

[CrzyLngPwd]

All of this was caused by a global bully and their handler.

[1970-01-01]

Long-term planning rarely hooks-up with reality until it's too late. It's abundantly clear "Asia" should spend the remaining 20% of their working week directly on ripping away their dependency on fuel.

[penguin_booze]

Oh naw, but what will happen to PrODucTiviTy and ColLaBOraTIoN?!

[kelseyfrog]

We're going to get a 6-day work week, aren't we? :(

[aranelsurion]

Isn't that very fitting with the spirit of the times?

Reading 4-day week futurism while working 5 days as you always did, hoping it doesn't get to 6.

This one and UBI are the two classics of 2000s optimism and naivety.

[asdff]

We'd save even more fuel for the military apparatus if we just slept at work

[ponector]

996 is already a thing outside of China.

[gaoshan]

Asia rolled it out? Wow, imagine the coordination that took to get all of those disparate countries (like, 48 or 49 countries make up Asia) on board with a 4 day work week... and so quickly, too!

My homeowners association can't pull off a neighborhood playground cleanup without conflict, disorder and confusion even with 6 months of planning so again, kudos to the 48+ countries of Asia for coming together in this herculean example of speed, unity and coordination.

[yalogin]

Are these countries being very conservative or do their oil supply get impacted by a couple weeks of war? If so that is a very concerning situation

[nobodyandproud]

A better and more accurate title: “4-day week, WFH roll-outs in Asia to solve fuel crisis caused by Iran War”.

[CHB0403085482]

In my company, customer service and finance departments still have work-from-home options carried over from 2020. Most use it to take two workdays a week to avoid the commute. I notice the difference in rush-hour traffic; my location is in a dead-end road with only one way in and out.

[htx80nerd]

You could never do this in America because 50x judges would pile on and there'd be 100x lawsuits.

[asdff]

Labor laws in the US are designed for companies to skirt around the spirit of the law to satisfy the letter of the law. Probably to prevent rioting in the street from making people realize they haven't won the change they thought. Case in point, certain benefits that kick in at 40 hours to you know help people out.

Companies responded by saying awe shucks, guess we will only schedule you 39 hours and if you want more you have to work another job. Oh and the law only cares about hours done at one job so doesn't matter if you are working 120 hour weeks you only get part time benefits.

[blondie9x]

We consume 101 million barrels of oil per day. The amount of oil humans consume per day has doubled since 1980. Is this the way we finally wake up to the urgency of addressing the climate crisis caused by burning fossil fuels?

[bilsbie]

My friend actually drives more when we switched to wfh. 10 miles to gym and back. 20-30 miles in misc errands and grocery shopping. Yoga class, kids sports.

[Apocryphon]

Do they live in an exurb

[jjk166]

Did they not grocery shop when they worked in the office?

[ex-aws-dude]

The government of asia rolled it out?

[blobbers]

4 day work week would be so rad.

[weirdmantis69]

Why don't we (Canada, America I guess) do this too?

[philipkglass]

Both Canada and the US are net exporters of oil, and have median wages higher than in the countries adopting these measures, so neither physical shortages nor rising fuel prices are issues as urgent as they are in (e.g.) the Philippines.

[outside1234]

Will be hilarious if there is another call for WFH just after the bigs forced everyone back

[karel-3d]

Thank you Donald Trump for reducing our dependency on fossil fuels!