I would greatly prefer 4 10's, but it basically comes down to what PublicGuy said: “At the end of the day, you need to be around for the people who are paying you.” And half the time, that's why the industry client works 5 8's, too. And that may be why the industry client's clients work 5 8's, etc. As a society, we're in a culture of 5 8's, and so everyone is stuck working with the 5-day schedule. Only benefit I can see to the employer is that if you need extra hours, there's more extra hours that people can stay over from 5 8-hour shifts than from 4 10-hour shifts. 😐
I'm in industry and I'd like to start with truly just working 5 8's….but then I'd prefer to do my 40 as 4 10's by far, but it would take a long time for that change to happen. I think the work environment is sloooooooowly moving towards a less “punch-the-clock” based world, though, where it might not even be 4 10's, but just “get your 40 hours of work done by the end of the week, whenever/wherever/however you choose” for non-client-facing jobs, which I think would be fantastic. Client-facing will always require set hours, but if you're – say – a back-office accountant, why do you need to be at work from 8-5 every day? Why?
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