Who doesn’t enjoy a three-day weekend? What if every week included one? There are a number of reasons why you might consider implementing a four-day workweek, including aiding in attracting and retaining employees, operating efficiencies, and even a lower carbon footprint with more booth cycles/paint hours in a booth. But as with many new operations, there are pros and cons. Another option that has risen in popularity, especially in Europe, is 32-hour workweeks while maintaining the same level of productivity. This brief article is limited to discussing workweeks of four 10-hour days.
A Democratic Choice
Kena Dacus, who owns Dacus Auto Body in McPherson, Kansas, with her husband, Chris, converted to a four-day workweek in June 2022. At an AkzoNobel event last year, she joined AkzoNobel Business Services Consultant Tony Adams to speak on the topic. She was interested in the prospect of converting the shop, but she first wanted buy-in from the staff. Initially unimpressed, some of the technicians with longer driving distances recognized they could save commuting time and save money on gas at a time it was spiking. Put to a vote, 80% of the staff selected the four 10-hour-workday schedule.
“The deal was if you voted no, we’re going to ask you to give us six weeks, and then we’re going to vote again,” to give the staff time to adjust and give it a fair chance. “They all came back and the ones who said no said, ‘You know what? Going fishing on Friday was pretty cool. So I think we’re going to go ahead and keep it.’ So then we ended up getting a unanimous vote to keep going.”
Content staff members now help promote the work schedule in talks with friends, who are eager to work at a shop offering that, contrasting with some shops offering more money but a traditional schedule.
“We get to choose. We have three candidates and need only one,” Dacus said. “Morale and culture are high. This wasn’t a quick fix; we were already on our way. You’re never going to have a perfect culture, but I do think it helped a lot."
Opening and closing the shop, such as pulling vehicles in and out of the shop at the beginning and end of the day and twice-daily production meetings are now done four times a week instead of five add up to respectable production efficiencies. Technicians are paid hourly, not flat rate, and are able to work fewer overtime hours to produce the same amount of work.
Flexibility
Although the shop’s production staff was unanimous about the change, some office staff elected to keep a typical 8-5, Monday-Friday schedule to accommodate her school-aged children’s schedule, which also helps the shop care for customers.
“A benefit that we did not anticipate is Fridays are now our favorite day because what was our ‘crazy day’ is now quiet [in the production area of the shop], so we’re able to focus on training for the front office staff. We’re able to catch up on tasks such as supplements and emails.”
With Fridays now available to use for “life administration” tasks such as dentist/doctor appointments, plus a statistically lower chance of missing a day of work due to illness, fewer production days are lost.
Additional Considerations
Adams cautions such a schedule may be a challenge or unworkable for some, including for employees with young children in daycare or who need help getting ready for school.
“If your spouse is still working a traditional 8-hour schedule and you're usually there helping in the morning with childcare duties before they go off to school, now it's all off on the other person. You have to talk with your spouse if you want to consider doing something like this. It may not work for everybody and not be what everybody wants.”
Adams cautioned that employment laws vary in places including but not limited to California on implementing a nontraditional schedule, so it’s wise to consult an employment attorney to ensure compliance.
That said, there are compelling reasons to consider such an arrangement, if for no other reason than the desire to “become the employer of choice,” Adams said. “If we can tap the human potential, you’ve got people knocking down your door. When I hear people say, ‘Nobody wants to work,’ and ‘We can’t hire technicians,’ my first question is, ‘What are you doing to separate yourself from the guy down the street?’ In the mind of the technician, we’re all the same. We have to understand what we’re competing for and what we’re competing against. Benefits are no longer nice to have; they’re table stakes. People go to [work at] Amazon and have benefits on day one, including adoption assistance and tuition assistance.”
