Working Arrangement at the County Health Department

¶ … working arrangement at the County Health Department includes a five day work week of eight hours each day. An alternative to this would be to introduce a four day work week of ten hours each day, with every Friday a day off. This four day work week would increase productivity, increase employee motivation and result in significant cost savings for the department.

The four day work week would allow employees to be more productive, using more of their work time for work-related tasks. Firstly, all employees have a wind-up and a wind-down period, the wind-up where they begin to work and the wind-down where they prepare to stop working. The most efficient period is the middle period, where employees are fully focused on working. Longer work days means less time is spent in the wind-up and wind-down periods and more time is spent in the more efficient middle period. Secondly, the four day work week would allow employees more time to take care of personal errands such as paying rent, paying bills and organizing car insurance. Often, employees take unnecessary time off just to complete such tasks. If employees had a weekday available to complete such tasks, less time off would be taken.

Finally, these personal errands that need to be completed are often completed at work out of necessity. This means that work time is used not for work but for personal tasks. Having time to complete these tasks means that less work time is used to complete these personal tasks. Overall, the four day work week allows employees to direct more of their work time towards work activities, thus resulting in increased productivity.

The new working arrangements would also increase employee motivation. Firstly, the new arrangements would allow employees to balance their working and personal lives. The challenge of managing this balance is a major reason for employee stress. Making this balance easier would reduce employee stress while increasing job satisfaction. Secondly, a longer weekend gives employees a longer break to look forward to. It also means that employees have longer to enjoy their time off and get over any work-related stress. This makes the working week appear shorter, ensuring employees are happier while at work. Finally, the four day week that suits employees communicates to them that the department cares about them. This ensures that employees feel important and respected. These good feelings increase employee satisfaction. All of these factors mean that the workplace is a happier place for employees which ultimately results in increased job satisfaction and motivation.

The four day work week would also allow the department to save money. Currently the department has to open late one evening to allow customers that work all day access to the services. This involves paying overtime to employees who work this evening shift. The longer ten hour workday reduces the need for overtime, resulting in a cost saving. The benefits of the new working arrangements to employees is also a good reason for employees to remain with the department. This results in less employees wanting to leave the department. There is a major cost involved in finding and training new employees, so less employees leaving saves the department a significant expense. Finally, we have already seen how the four day work arrangement results in greater productivity and more motivated employees. These more motivated and productive employees would still receive the same salary and work the same amount of hours. This effectively means the department pays the same money to get more work done. This makes the four day arrangement cost-effective and cost-efficient. Overall then, the new arrangement saves the company money by paying less overtime, reducing training costs and ensuring employees are as productive as possible.