Sunday, March 30, 1997

Compact schedules help workers stretch

By KATHY BERGEN

Chicago Tribune

Nine out of every 10 working days, Edward Price is on the job as a staff production technologist for Amoco Exploration and Production in Houston. On the 10th day - every other Friday - he is an at-home dad.

"The kids enjoy having Daddy home - I'll play with them and I'll fix breakfast for them," said Price, 38.

He frequently uses his day off to give his wife, Danita, a full-time mom, a breather from caring for their three kids, Brittany, 11; Chelsea, 5, and Edward III, nicknamed "Trey," who's 9 months.

"It's a morning when, if she wants to sleep a little late, she can," he said. "If she has doctors' appointments, or something, she'll set them up for a Friday when I'm off."

About 1,100 miles to the north, Annie Smith, 41, is on the same type of schedule, putting in nine of every 10 workdays as director of programs and contributions for Amoco Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Chicago-based Amoco Corp. On her alternate Fridays off, she can run errands without fighting weekend crowds. She also volunteers at her 5-year-old daughter Mary Rachel's school or picks her up after school and takes her to lunch.

"It's a mommy-daughter type of thing," she said.

Price and Smith are among the ranks of employees at Amoco Corp. and other U.S. companies who are opting for an increasingly popular type of compressed workweek, known as the 9/80, a schedule that gives employees a three-day weekend every other week.

Employees put in 80 hours of work over nine days, instead of the usual 10. Generally, they work nine-hour days on Monday through Thursday of the first week and an eight-hour day that Friday; the second week, they work nine-hour days on Monday through Thursday, and are off on Friday.

Though it is not feasible in all work settings - backup coverage can be a problem at smaller sites, for example, and union and overtime rules can be an obstacle at others - the 9/80 compressed workweek is gaining currency as a dirt-cheap but much-appreciated employee perk and recruiting tool in such industries as oil and banking.

"It's almost a no-brainer once you roll the thing out," said Timothy C. Green, manager of staffing for a unit of San Francisco-based construction firm Bechtel Group Inc., a pioneer in 9/80 schedules as part of its effort to cut commuting time and meet California clean air requirements. After the company made initial changes in timesheets and such, the 9/80 program runs virtually cost-free, he said.

Gauging the growth in 9/80 workweeks is difficult because nationwide surveys on work-life issues generally do not differentiate between types of compressed workweeks.

Still, a 1996 survey of more than 800 companies by consultant William M. Mercer Inc. indicates growing interest in compressed workweeks: They are under consideration or development at 12 percent of the firms without such programs.

And the survey found that compressed workweeks exist as formal programs at 34 percent of responding firms, and as informal arrangements at another 26 percent.

Among the various compressed workweeks that have been tried, the 9/80 is shaping up as the most popular and palatable, according to experts in the field. The 9/80 is being tried, sometimes just as an informal arrangement in individual departments, at such major employers as BankAmerica Corp., Northern Trust Corp. and Unisys Corp.

Others, such as McDonald's Corp., offer a variation on the theme: a compressed workweek in the summer months that allows employees to work a half-day on Fridays.

"Compressed workweeks really began to take off when companies began to use the 9/80 in the last two to three years," said Barney Olmsted, co-author of "Creating a Flexible Workplace" and co-director of New Ways to Work, a San Francisco nonprofit organization.

Compressed workweeks have been around a long time. The 3/12 schedule has been used for years by police, firefighting and medical workers, with employees putting in three 12-hour days a week, and the 4/10 schedule became popular in the 1970s in manufacturing and construction, with workers putting in four 10-hour days.

"As we moved toward a more service-oriented economy, the 10-hour day didn't work out," Olmsted said. "There was a fatigue factor. It was very difficult for certain segments of the work force, particularly those with families and for older workers. ... Unless you have the energy left to take advantage of the time off, it doesn't mean much."

A nine-hour day has proved more workable. In fact, many salaried employees work those kind of hours anyway, so the 10th day off really amounts to pure gravy.

Employers are reporting that the program, generally offered on a voluntary basis, is a major morale booster.

Amoco began to test its program two years ago in six locations, and formally approved the 9/80 workweek a year ago. The petroleum and chemical company leaves it up to individual units to decide whether the schedule is appropriate for their operations, and within units that offer it, employee participation is optional.

"The bottom line appears to be that there was no effect on costs, no effect on customer satisfaction, no measurable increase or decrease in productivity ... and employee morale went through the ceiling," said Patricia Massucci, director of policies and work/family programs for Amoco. About one-third of the company's 30,000 employees in the United States have opted for the 9/80 schedule.

Companies are finding the 9/80 is a good fit in some situations, and unworkable in others.

Amoco, for instance, found the program was not feasible in a department such as finance, where the daily customer demands are such that they could not be adequately handled by the staffing level on Fridays, Massucci said. As well, it was not workable in unionized locations because the schedule did not jibe with contract provisions.

Interestingly, employees who use the 9/80 schedule report a positive effect not only on their alternate Fridays off, but on the Fridays when they are at work, with about half their colleagues.

"On Fridays, it tends to be a very quiet and productive time, with fewer interruptions and fewer meetings," said Amoco's Smith. "There's time to be at your desk and get work done."

Smith believes the 9/80 schedule promotes teamwork, as well. "We've taken personal responsibility to make sure we have coverage on Fridays," she said, "and this means we have to be a little more knowledgeable about what our peers are doing."

Related Story: Workplace becoming more flexible