PS4 player here, resurrecting this thread to add my support for a change to the timer system for Hirelings.
I can see this issue has been raised many times on the forums throughout the years and nothing has been done, which is disappointing to say the least, but I also know ZOS has finally implemented some Quality of Life changes over the last year; namely batch crafting/decon. That kind of change - despite being LONG overdue - gives me hope that they're finally giving some attention to the tedious areas of the game to increase player satisfaction.
I know these threads don't get much attention, but I think that's in part due to the fact that many people gave up years ago and lost faith that ZOS would ever address this hireling issue with timer creep. Master crafters are also a minority in the game, but I don't believe that makes issues that affect us any less important than other players.
I get hirelings on all of my characters. I always have, despite the tedium. It takes a heavy chunk of time to log each toon given how commonplace "unusually long load times" have become. It also takes some time to accept all the mail once I've logged each toon. But I do it anyway, because I want to make use of the system I've invested in.
Asking ZOS to reduce the timers from 24/12 to 20/10 would be directly in line with the horse training/random dungeon systems. Those timers are shorter to address time creep. 20/10 on hirelings would allow dedicated players like me to use the twice a day 3/3 tier without being penalized each and every day.
As it stands, my clock gets pushed back every time, no matter how dedicated I am, and it's worse if I freeze or crash during loading, which has been happening often of late.
A timer change seems simpler to implement than other suggestions and fair to all players. It still requires the every day logins, which I assume was what ZOS hoped in its inception. Please ZOS, give us this small thing, I know many of us would be grateful.