Should Thursday Be the New Friday?

Should Thursday Be the New Friday?
The Environmental and Economic Pluses of the 4-Day Workweek
Evidence builds that working 40 hours in four days makes good sense for employee health and well-being, too.
By Lynne Peeples


As government agencies and corporations scramble to cut expenses, one idea gaining widespread attention involves cutting something most employees wouldn't mind losing: work on Fridays. Regular three-day weekends, without a decrease in the actual hours worked per week, could not only save money, but also ease pressures on the environment and public health, advocates say. In fact, several states, cities and companies across the country are considering, or have already implemented on a trial basis, the condensed schedule for their employees.

The economic downturn started the trend, as companies looked to avoid laying off employees, notes John Langmaid, organizer of an upcoming symposium on the issue for the Connecticut Law Review. Firms soon realized that when they closed on Fridays they could save money without having to reduce weekly hours. Indeed, Langmaid remarks, the idea of a four-day, 40-hour workweek "has been out there for quite some time as a response to environmental issues, commuting pressures, as well as work-family balance."

Local governments in particular have had their eyes on Utah over the last year; the state redefined the workday for more than 17,000 of its employees last August. For those workplaces, there's no longer a need to turn on the lights, elevators or computers on Fridays—nor do janitors need to clean vacant buildings. Electric bills have dropped even further during the summer, thanks to less air-conditioning: Friday's midday hours have been replaced by cooler mornings and evenings on Monday through Thursday. As of May, the state had saved $1.8 million.

...

The environment seems to like it, too. "If employees are on the road 20 percent less, and office buildings are only powered four days a week," Langmaid says, "the energy savings and congestion savings would be enormous." Plus, the hour shift for the Monday through Thursday workers means fewer commuters during the traditional rush hours, speeding travel for all. It also means less time spent idling in traffic and therefore less spewing of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. The 9-to-5 crowd also gets the benefit of extended hours at the DMV and other state agencies that adopt the four-day schedule.

An interim report released by the Utah state government in February projected a drop of at least 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually from Friday building shutdowns. If reductions in greenhouse gases from commuting are included, the state would check the generation of at least 12,000 metric tons of CO2—the equivalent of taking about 2,300 cars off the road for one year.

more...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=four-day-workweek-energy-environment-economics-utah

Thinks people should work ten hour days. I guess an extra two hours sitting on your ass won't hurt but what about people who work for a living. On their feet in 100 degree weather?

I'm self-employed so my hours are quite varied.

I have to log off and go to a job on location. 8-10 hours today. 12 tomorrow. Oh well.

And I know a lot of people who "work for a living" have either had it and enjoyed it or wished their employers would let them do it.

Felt like walking into air conditioning..

A lot of interior construction jobs are like that, the AC is one of the last things to go in and in the summer it can really be brutal.

Taking an 8-hour paycut would hurt our finances.

Just making policy here ;-)

Figure the odds of anything that pro-worker actually happening!

Heck, here in Texas, we work 8 to 5. The employer class still calls it eight hours, because lunch is "on our own time."

Flying cars, robotic personal servants, the Metric System, and picture phones.

One out of five by 2000 isn't too bad, I guess.

:argh:

With employment being so slow to come back, this could be an incentive for companies to hire more people.

I think the idea is that the companies are closed on the Fridays, just as they are on Saturday and Sunday. I don't see that translating into new hires.

Where I work, we have summer hours where we do 4 9-Hour days and then 1/2 day on Friday.

A four day week is one option being discussed in our County government offices. They are looking a that as a possible alternative to layoffs or unpaid furloughs. So far, the employees and officials tat I've talked to have been sounding fairly positive about that proposal, but it has not been in front of the union locals yet. They may have a different opinion of the idea (given the longer workdays required) and that could kill that option.

Personally, as an official who is protected from layoff by statute, I am willing to do whatever it takes to avoid seeing layoffs--even if it means I'm taking unpaid furloughs or working longer days for four days a week. YMMV.



Laura

When I was younger, work was something done between recreation and frankly I didn't really care if I got to work with three hours sleep or eight hours sleep. I could push through.

Then, for a while I worked third shift, which has a superman effect at first and a debilitating effect in the long run if you don't learn discipline.

Then I worked four ten hour days. It's actually not bad, but it sort of comes down to work and sleep, especially if there is a commute involved. Working a ten hour day ten minutes (real ten minutes not a Houston ten minutes) from home is really the same hours that some people put in on a five day schedule.

But family life suffers on the four days, even if it's improved by the extra day off.

Of course, where I worked, many people who were on four day, picked up a fifth day of overtime so they were actually working 50 hours a week and being paid for 55 hours.

I personally would not be able to endure 10 hour-long workdays, even with the promise of a longer weekend.

Does anyone else get the eerie feeling this could be a back-door way to create a 50-hour work week ("Well, if you can work 10 hours Monday through Thursday, you can work Fridays as well.") :(

I'm all about free days. The individual hours aren't really meaningful to me and I've worked many 12, 16, and even 20 hour days without the luxury of any extra days off. 5-6 18's a week take a toll but 2-3 I can do on my head.

but people should also look at the fact that 5-6 days isn't the best fit for everyone either.

Although I'm currently on a F-M (weekend) schedule (my choice). If management where I work decided to change it back to a 5x8 schedule they'd practially have a riot on their hands.

Monday through Thursday, nine hours each day, for a 36-hour work week.

3 twelve's one week and 4 twelves the next. Days rotate and every month, you wind up with seven days off in a row. The people at our plants have it and love it.

8 hour work days? Pah. 30 minute lunch breaks? Eurgh.

I want 9am-5:30pm, with a whole HOUR off for lunch and two decent sized breaks. With a lunch HOUR you can do various other things as well as eat lunch. With a half hour, you have enough time to scoff some food and maybe that's it - no real proper break.

That's 7.5 hours a day, 37.5 hours a week. That's the max guys.

We have the option of choosing to work five 8-hour days, or four 10-hour days or four 9-hour days plus four hours on Friday. We have to choose one of those three schedules, but we can be fairly flexible within our chosen option. I've found it interesting that the employees are fairly evenly split among the three. Some with kids find the "five-eights" works best for them, others who have longer commutes opt for the "four-tens" to cut down on gas and total commuting time, and some, like me, who aren't early birds by nature, can't handle getting in early enough to get in 10 hours before the system goes down regularly, but can manage 9-hour days Monday thru Thursday to be able to have Friday afternoons off to do errands, schedule necessary appointments, get an earlier start on the weekend or just slack-off once in awhile.

It really works pretty well overall and it's one of the things I like about where I work. I just feel as if it shows respect for the employees' personal and family needs and obligations and it does promote employee loyalty.