» Network Home

Featured Guest Blogger August 25th, 2008

The five day per week, eight hour per day work schedule is facing its first major overhaul in decades. Employers, in an effort to reduce fuel and energy costs, are allowing employees to work longer but fewer days. By adding two hours a day, employees can work just four days per week.

Governments are taking the lead in this movement; from Alabama to California, local government offices are closing on Fridays. Going even further, the entire state of Utah is making the shift. By closing all government offices in Utah on Fridays, they estimate that they will save approximately $3 million a year from lights, heat, and air conditioning, not to mention the gas that 17,000 employees would have used for their commutes. Florida’s Brevard Community College has also transitioned into a four-day week, much to the pleasure of many college students who prefer not to meet on Fridays. Ohio’s Kent State University offered the compressed workweek to their custodial staff, and 78% of them accepted.

There has been an abundance of research on compressed workweeks as part of a flexible schedule regime. The Sloan Network has compiled the best research in this area; here are a few examples of our resources:

• A definition of Compressed Work Week
• An article on Compressed Schedules
• Bills and statutes related to Compressed Work Weeks

This is a societal change that we are likely to hear more of in the coming months as four-day work weeks are tried and tested. We anticipate that, if successful, this type of schedule will spread across industries and states.

Would you choose a shorter workweek with longer days? Why or why not?

• Policy , Scheduling , Workplace