[Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: [Bulk] Washington state tries 4-day week to save money

[Paul Rumelhart]

Glenn Schwaller wrote:
> I agree with you Jeff - there is no free lunch, and I would suggest it 
> may actually end up being less of a savings to all, overall.  40 hours 
> of lights on, computers running, heating and cooling is 40 hours 
> regardless of whether it's 4 days or 5 days so I don't buy the energy 
> savings there.  In fact during the short days of winter, the lights 
> come on earlier and stay on later, so you may even be using MORE energy.

If it's true that they would keep the University offices open five days 
a week, then yes, that's true.

>
> "You have four days worth of filling the trash cans and dirtying the 
> bathrooms, instead of five, so you might not need quite as large of a 
> janitorial staff."  Assuming this is true, we can now celebrate our 
> savings by laying off some of the janitorial staff - presumably those 
> who really need the income!  Nice.

Perhaps we should work everyone six days a week, so we can hire more?

>
> "Employees that commute to work save a day's round-trip worth of gas 
> each week.  If you commute farther than Moscow/Pullman, that adds up 
> quick."  Maybe, but my guess is with an "extra" day to do stuff, 
> instead or running into town and parking and working, they run into 
> town and then run from here to there to everywhere using up even more 
> gas and contributing to those horrible greenhouse gases.  Or they 
> don't come into town so that's one day less of shopping after work and 
> the local business take a hit.  Great.

You reduce the number of trips from five a week to four that the 
employee *has* to make.  That's a 20% decrease in gas used, right 
there.  Sure, they may spend their off-times running all their cars with 
the wheels up on blocks and rocks placed on the accelerators because 
they get a kick out of it or something, but that's nothing the 
University can do anything about.  Realistically, you'll find that 
employees have more time to run errands, which they will most likely do 
near where they live.  Some might take the day to go drive to Spokane, 
but you'll probably find that they would have done that on Saturday 
instead if they were working 5 day weeks.


>
> More employee efficiency?  Hmmmm . . .  after the 3rd 10 hour day I'm 
> betting for a fair number of people productivity goes way down as the 
> anticipation of a 3 day break looms and the toil of 30 plus hours in 3 
> days takes it's physical and psychological toll.

Well, let's see if I can find someone on a four-day week to interview.  
Hmm.  How about myself?  On the third day, I'm thinking (and I quote) 
"Hey!  Half my week's gone already!"

In my case, I traded a nine-hour day (eight hours plus an hour lunch), 
for a 10 1/2 hour day (ten hours plus a half-hour lunch).  If you take 
lunch half-way through your day, you're taking it 1 1/4 hour later than 
usual if you do that.  That doesn't seem to be much psychological 
pressure to me.  In fact, I can actually get some work done before the 
next interruption happens.  My job is project oriented.  If I can 
increase the one hour I spent programming by just twenty minutes or so, 
I can almost double my output on that project.  That's because I've 
ramped up mentally for the project, I'm in the zone so to speak, and all 
the details are right there in the forefront of my mind.  I'm way more 
productive the longer I can spend on the project before being 
interrupted, up to a point anyway.

There's also another psychological aspect I've noticed.  On day three, 
you realize you have only today and tomorrow to finish up what you need 
to get done for the week.  I find that thought makes me *more* 
productive, not less.  Instead of thinking "I can do that tomorrow or 
Friday", I'm thinking "if I don't get it done today, I'll have to do it 
tomorrow".  Other people may be different, but for me it works out well.

The other point I'd like to make is that my weekend is now 50% longer.  
That's a definite win for me.  YMMV.

Anyway, I'd rather see voluntary involvement in this if the University 
will stay open for five days a week still.  Choice and flexibility are 
always better.  I'd also like to see more emphasis put on telecommuting, 
where possible.

>
> This idea is nothing more than a swine in lip balm.

Do pigs get cracked lips or something?

Paul

>
> GS
>
>
>
>
>
>     Glenn Schwaller wrote:
>
>          "Feeling the pinch of soaring energy costs, and with a
>         projected budget deficit on the horizon . . .  (Govenor)
>         Gregoire said Wednesday officials would meet next week to work
>         out how they'll implement the planned four 10-hour days . . ."
>          Can someone explain how going to 4 10-hour work days is going
>         to help eliminate or even reduce by any margin whatsoever
>         either the state budget or energy cost / consumption ???
>          "Gregoire said the plan could help save money by cutting
>         electric consumption and janitorial costs at the offices, and
>         could have side benefits for the environment and traffic
>         congestion by keeping some commuters off the roads"   Uh huh.
>          The needle on my Acme Stooopid Meter is all aquiver . . .
>          GS
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