What Happened
To save money, the town of Gilbert, Arizona, moved most employees from a five-day work week to a four-day week. One year later, the response has been favorable.
Who Cares?
Cities are constantly seeking creative ways to cut costs without impacting services. The Gilbert work-week experiment provides insight into a creative solution that was also intended to boost morale.
The Plan
Back in early 2011, the town council of Gilbert—which is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area—unanimously decided to compress the work week to four days. The plan would close most government offices on Friday, but would extend office hours Monday through Thursday.
According to reports, several other Arizona cities had already compressed their work week to what has become known as a “4-10” schedule: open four days per week, for 10 hours per day. The largest experiment with compressed schedules was in Utah, where a mandatory four-day work week was instituted back in 2008.
Early Results
Before the decision became effective last year, several departments piloted 4-10 schedules to test the impact. The fire and public works departments quickly realized a 39 percent reduction in overtime, and a 21 percent drop in fuel costs, according to reports. In the nearby town of Mesa, annual overtime savings from a 4-10 work week totaled more than $1.5 million.
Later Results
One year later, town officials say the results are positive. Nearly 70 percent of town employees strongly supported the change, and only 6 percent disliked it, according to reports. More importantly, 87 percent of “walk-in customers”—meaning residents or businesses visiting town hall to conduct business—expressed either positive or neutral reactions to the compressed service hours.
Savings have been less impressive, however. According to reports, fuel consumption is down only 1 percent, and electricity costs are also down only nominally—in Public Works, the electricity savings were 6 percent, and two other down buildings saw savings of 3 percent and 10 percent.
Resources
There are some great resources available that could be helpful if you’re considering a four-day work week:
- Fact Sheet—The city of Derby, Kansas, published a very nice “fact sheet” that provides details for town employees, including answers to frequently asked questions, and results of a survey on the topic. Could be a nice template for your municipality. Another fact sheet was made available to employees in Alberta, Canada.
- Application—The city of Federal Way, Washington, published an “Alternative Work Schedule Application Form” (see page seven) that might be a nice template for your city or town.
- Side Agreement—A sample agreement between the City of Boston and the local union outlines the possibilities of a four-day workweek, “At the discretion of a Department Head on a case-by-case basis and subject to the operational needs of the Department…”
- Research—A very detailed presentation on Utah’s “Working 4 Utah” initiative looks at both citizen and municipal employee attitudes toward a 4-10 schedule. Also provided results, which showed $500,000 in energy savings, and overtime savings of $4.1 million. Interesting, it also showed greater success serving customers during work hours—wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles, for example, dropped from 11.4 minutes to 7.3 minutes.
- Arguments, Case Study—This three-page brief includes some of the basic arguments for moving to a four-day week, and might be helpful in outlining the arguments for making the change.
If you have experience with a compressed 10-4 schedule, we want to hear from you; contact us via email.