With high transportation and energy costs affecting business and workers, more employers are considering compressed workweeks as a tool to save money and improve employee morale. Compressed work weeks typically involve schedules that enable employees who work a traditional 40 hour workweek to put in their 40 hours in fewer than five days. While some companies allow compressed work weeks as scheduling options other organizations make the revised schedule mandatory.
The most common approach to compressed workweeks is four 10-hour workdays. This schedule allows the employer to close business three days each week and enjoy the economic benefits of reduced operating costs.
If your business requirements necessitate staffing five or more days a week, the additional day off can vary for each employee. For example, some organizations place half their staff on a Monday through Thursday schedule, while the other half works Tuesday through Friday. Some organizations choose to assign a different day off to each employee to ensure adequate coverage.
A second option involves working nine out of every 10 workdays with each workday nine hours in length. This approach is somewhat problematic as a result of Fair Labor Standards Act regulations. FLSA requires employers to pay overtime at 1½ times the hourly rate to nonexempt workers who work more than 40 hours in a given workweek. To comply with the law, the employer begins the workweek on Friday at noon. By working nine hours on Monday through Thursday and four hours on Friday morning, the employee completes 40 hours of work. Beginning at noon, the employee works the remaining four hours on Friday and 36 hours on Monday through Thursday the following week.
Problems with this schedule will arise, however, when an employee comes in early on Friday so he or she can leave early at the end of the day. If the employee comes in an hour early Friday morning, the result will be 41 hours in one workweek and 39 in the next. Overtime will have to be paid for one hour during the first week while the employee will only receive pay for 39 hours during the second week.
Although compressed workweeks are no panacea, they do offer employers a scheduling option that can impact overhead and morale in a positive way. Careful consideration should be given before adopting a compressed workweek.
Strategic planning: your roadmap to the future
Strategic planning is an integral management tool. To succeed in today’s chaotic business environment, the executive team must understand and adopt strategic planning as part of its regular methodology for doing business. For organizations unfamiliar with strategic planning, the best way to learn and implement the planning process is through practice.
BAI’s two-day Strategic Planning workshop will guide your executive team through strategic planning. This includes reviewing the organization’s mission and values, performing a SWOT analysis, identifying key results and forming an action plan to initiate and sustain necessary changes.
To learn more about how this workshop can help your organization plan for the future you deserve, call BAI today at 801.444.9919.
