5×8 or 4×10? Which do you think is better to work?

46 comments

1. I’ve never worked 4×10 so I can’t be sure, but every weekend being a 3 day weekends sure does sound nice

2. 5×8 for me. 4×10 would have been great when I was younger but now that I have a family those 2 hours/day would be a huge difference in how much time I get to actually be with my kids.

3. 4 x 10

   A day off to run errands, make appointments or relax while most people are at work is incredible. So much nicer to do things like grocery shop on a Friday vs Saturday!

4. Depends on the job and the life the person lives. Some people work better with having more free time in the morning/end of the day. Some people work better with having to spend less time commuting. Some jobs work better with longer shifts so less time on set-up and break-down of a site. Some jobs work better being available for more days.

   At my current job, I would say 5×8 works better for me. I have a short commute but I can see the longer shifts being more mentally grueling. At my previous job, 4×10 would have worked better because I had a longer commute and had some set-up/break-down stuff that made longer shifts get more done (it actually ended up being often 5×10, 5×11, 6×10, or in one case 6×11.5, hence why it is a former job).

5. I’ve had the option to do 4×10 this year and it’s been great, especially with limited vacation time. Flip your off day and you can have a 4 day weekend without taking a single vacation day.

   And honestly my “5×8” I’d been working had been more like 5×10 anyway, so this is tremendous.

6. 9×80.

   I could handle an extra hour every day. Two seems like it would be a drag.

   I used to do 4 x 8.75 + 1 x 5. We would get out at noon every Friday.

7. 8 hour days easy

8. Hard to do those long days when you have kids. I can’t just let them spend 11 hours per day at daycare.

9. 5X8. If I worked 4X10 I’d always be tired and I could never be productive over a ten hour stretch.

10. Maybe if I had the option to do 4×10 like 1 week per month. Permanent 10 hour days would drive me insane.

11. 4 9’s and a 4 ideally, but if not I’m going 5×8

    I’ve worked 5×8, 4×10, 9/80 and 4×9 +4. 5 normal days are fine, but nothing special. 10 hour days become a real drag after a while, and you spend the first day off just recovering from lack of sleep/mental exhaustion. 9/80 is the worst of both worlds in my opinion. But then again, I’m a parent and husband, I would love a half day every Friday to recoup for “me” before my wife and son get home. A full day Friday every other week turns into just recovery and/or another day to get things done since I had to put it off for the last 9 workdays

12. 9s with every other Friday off seems to be a good sweet spot… But is kind of a hassle to schedule.

13. 4×8

14. I worked 4×10. Which turned into 5×10. Which turned into 5×11. Which turned into 5×11 + a half day on Saturday. Which turned into me leaving for a better job thats ~5×8

15. Neither. I used to work a 9/80, which was a two-week cycle. 9 hours M-Th, 8 hours the first F, off the 2nd F.

16. I work 4 10s and love it. 3 day weekends every week are amazing for household chores, yardwork, etc will still having a nice weekend for other stuff.

17. 4×10 no contest

18. It depends on your commute. I live just a couple minutes from my office so a 5×8 is good for me, I get into a good routine where I have some time for gym, chores, and socializing every weekday. If I lived far away I’d want to do 4×10.

19. 4×10

20. I worked a hybrid of 4×10 for 8 years. Worked 9 hours each day, except Fridays. Every other Friday you had off. Every Friday you worked was just 8 hours. It was amazing. Loved having every other Friday off. Definitely was able to make better use of my vacation time via 4-day weekends. Wish it was more popular.

21. I loved working 4×10. It was so much easier to get non-work related stuff done when I had a weekday off. And to me working 10 hours didn’t really feel longer than an 8 hour shift.

    They eventually switched us to 3×12 (plus a pay differential to make up the less hours). Not as cool as having 4 day weekends sounds because you waste a whole day recovering anyway.

22. I work 3×12. I love having 4 days off every week.

23. Definitely 4×10. I don’t really “feel” the extra two hours on my workday, but I definitely feel the extra day off every week.

24. I’d take the extra weekend. Not possible in my line of work though

25. I’d say a 5’x8′ is easier to work with. You have more of a square board to cut how you need it. A 4’x10′ technically gives you the same amount of material, but the thinner section makes it a lot less applicable for certain projects.

    I’d rather work a 4×10, but it would never really work with my job.

26. If I could work from home 4×10 would be better. With my commute though 4×10 would mean I literally don’t see my kids during the work week as I’d have to be up and out the door before they’re awake and I’d get home just in time for their bedtime.

    If I didn’t have kids though… Then I think 4×10 might be better.

    Edit: personally I think 4×8 and increase base pay would be ideal. No one ACTUALLY is working all 40 hours of their work week. If people have more time to live their lives and get shit done they wouldn’t be spending time at work sneaking off to make phone calls to places that are only open during work hours. And they’d be more focused and productive with the time they do have. But I know getting corporate America onboard with this kind of thought is a pipe dream.

27. The best schedule I ever worked was a 2-3-2 (also called a 2-2-3, depending how you look at the schedule) with 12 hour shifts working for the railroad. I never worked more than 3 days in a row and every third weekend was a 3 day weekend.

28. 0x0

    But that’s not happening, so as few hours as I can get away with and still keep a roof over my head. 😝

29. 4×10 would save a ton of fossil fuel.

    Drive to and from work 5 days vs 4 days (multiplied by every person).

30. I work 9 hours Monday-Thursday and 8 hours on Friday with every other Friday off. I like that

31. Personally, I’d rather do 5×8. I can only stand so many hours at work, and I lead a boring life in my spare time anyway.

32. Personally, I’d rather do 5×8. I can only stand so many hours at work, and I lead a boring life in my spare time anyway.

33. I’ve never done 4×10 because it personally never seemed worth it to me.

    I have coworkers who do/have done it and I’ve heard mixed things.

34. Half day Fridays are cool. Just take a half hour lunch and stick around a half hour longer M-Th.

35. 4×10. My work days often drag into 10 hours anyway, I’ll take the extra day off

36. I currently work 5×8 but usually at least a couple times a week that 8 becomes more like 8-10. With my current (remote) job, 4×10 wouldn’t be so bad. I wouldn’t enjoy 10 hours if I had to physically go somewhere every day.

37. 5×8. I like having time to do a decent length workout everyday. Not as easy with 10 hour workdays

38. My dad was a dentist who owned his practice and he worked 4×10 for as long as I can remember. He usually took Wednesdays off. I think I’d enjoy that more than five straight days in a row.

39. My ideal is gonna be 5×8 with paid lunch
    Having a day off in the week is nice but10 hours is a lot

40. 4×10. Nothing is open before or after your shift if you’re on 5×8. Working a 4/10 means you have time to go grocery shopping, take the pets to the vet, go to the mechanic, see a doctor, clean house, meal prep, all that stuff.

41. For a second I thought you were asking about photo frame sizes.

    I prefer the 5 days of 8 hrs.

42. 4x10s would be my preference, but more often than not it works out to be 5x10s.

43. How about 4×6? 😂

44. 4 x 10. And while a 4 on-3 off weekly schedule is preferred, I certainly wouldn’t mind if it was a split week like Mon-Tues, Thurs-Fri being the work days.

    You feel those 3 days off a week more than you would an extra 2 hours a day for the most part.

45. 5×8 for family life. Once the kids are out of the house, I could conceive of doing 4 10s, but it probably won’t be an option anyway.

46. I’ll always take more days off so I’d love 4x10s. But I also have no kids and I work from home. So I can see how the longer than standard days could be a problem for those who have to deal with that stuff.