I guess they will just sit home on that extra day off?

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But what of the cost on PEOPLE? You know, the ones who actually have to DO those jobs during marathon TEN-hour, four-day workweeks....

There are some who are already maxed-out/stressed with what's compressed into five EIGHT-hour days. How will two extra hours per day effect actual biz productivity when stress levels become pushed further throughout each workday?

Think, for example, of those who need certain amounts of time to "wind down" from work in order to sleep and regenerate properly -- that certainly gets affected when one's total job time + commute time is increased per day. And what happens to workers' sleep time, then? Can that "extra" day "off," as it were, make up for added sleep deprivation and hassles of cramming more work into fewer days and appeasing customers who know that one's office will be closed for three days instead of two?

And with the majority of workers on five-day/ 9-5(ish) schedules, nothing will keep incoming jobs from piling up on "off" days for four-day workers, thus causing automatic backloads when they return each week.

Perhaps businesses can re-think their strategies with HUMANS in mind first. Not all biz models and workers and job expectations are alike, so ANY cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all model isn't the answer. The four-day workweek must be carefully conceived and honestly gauged among ALL worker types within an organization before implementation.

Businesses could lose a lot more than a day of work otherwise....

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I've been doing the 4 day work week for the past 6 weeks. I work 10:50 on Monday, 10:40 Tuesday, 10:30 Wednesday and an "easy" 8:00 Thursday. I follow this schedule because psychologically in gives me a sense of sliding into the weekend.
I know I'm saving on fuel costs because I drive less and my carbon offset cost me less this time. Three days off is totally worth the extra hours for me. The biggest challenge is sleeping enough during the work week. I start earlier and leave later. The up side to that is missing all the major rush hour traffic.
I will pursue this as long as possible. When the light wanes after the summer solstice that too might have an effect on my early morning rise. Time will tell.

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I think a more powerful option is greater utilization of technology (laptop computers, high-speed internet connections, mobile phones) to allow people to work from home or work less conventional hours that both get people off the roads at peak times and allows them to work the hours that fit their personal lives best. A switch to a results based workplace instead of a time-at-the-office based workplace is the future.

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At my previous job, we worked 9 hour days/ 80 hours over two weeks. This allowed us to have every other Friday off. This was a unique solution and was great to have 2 3 day weekends every month.
In my current job, we're given the tools to work from home and still be productive. Another solution!!

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I live in a state with horrendous rush hour traffic but, luckily, I've avoided it by reverse commuting or working close to home. I now work 4 miles from home but when I reverse commuted I'd pass by 20 miles of stalled traffic going the other direction every day and was so frustrated to think about all that wasted gas, the resulting pollution it caused, and the waste of time. Some solutions seemed obvious to me-hydrogen fuel cell cars, flex time and 4 day weeks being the primary ones. Telecommuting, van pools, more trains, company run shuttle services from train stations and more bike paths are others. Human ingenuity and creativity will find the answers-all that's needed is the desire, so if $4 gas is what it will take to motivate people then it's a good thing.

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Why change the work-week? Install trains instead.

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Well then, let's just be like France, why don't we? Four day work weeks, 3 months off paid vacation, socialist government provides for all our needs, abundant and limitless energy through nearly 100% nucl... oh, wait a minute... doh... never mind.

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I find telecommuting a less stressful environment. I used to work 80 hours a week in the office, then I went to 4 days a week working the fifth day from home and I have to tell you, a lot of the stress we have in the corporate environment is produced by the environment itself. I work just as many hours, get more work done, and avoid office politics. I am less stressed, feel less caged and if I need to run an errand it doesn't sit and fester in the back of my mind. I just get up and do it, then get back to work when I am finished.

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Initially, the thought of a four-day week is extremely appealing. I'd be far more productive during those four days if I had a day off to take care of personal business. However, as a parent, I can't imagine how I'd manage this schedule. Daycare is only open so many hours and my son goes to bed at 7:30pm. It'd be hard to have any quality time with him those four days, let alone get dinner in him and a bath before bedtime. Right now I work until 5:30pm and it's a struggle to fit it in. Creating a successful four-day work week requires thought of the ramifications throughout the whole community -- schools, services like dentists and doctors, retail and restaurants all have to figure out how to make it work. Not impossible, but it's more complicated than it's being made out to be. Working from home a couple days a week makes more sense all around. As Steve said, use a results-based performance system. We need to treat people like adults and hold them to their goals, which they should be able to choose to meet at the office or at home.

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The 4 day work week is a good idea; it's certainly not new and does require a connected workforce to be physically possible. If employers are willing to fund employee broadband access and cheaper items such as web cams and online collaboration software, people can be more in touch than from just using phones. The biggest question to this success is whether or not workers who are not used to self-direction will be productive in this arrangement and not fall prey to watching daytime television or running errands in town using the CO2 saved from not driving to work.

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I've been working a four day work week for over 2 years and love it. I commute by bus, so the morning and evening congestions are never a problem - leaving earlier on the bus gets me to work 15 minutes earlier than if I were to drive my car during rush hour. I arrive at the office just before 7am and leave between 5pm and 6pm. On Fridays I am able run errands all at once (instead of trying to squeeze them in after/before/between work), to set appointments with businesses that are closed on the weekend (doctor/dentist/handyman/etc), complete any house work that needs to be done to free up my Saturday and Sunday, or work remotely without interruption (in my pajamas if I want to). By the time Monday comes, I feel relaxed, refreshed, and rejuvenated. I know that I am a more productive employee during the week because of this. I have also used my three day weekends to take mini-vacations. Leaving after work on a Thursday and returning home on Sunday, without cutting into accrued vacation time. k herrman said it best - quality of life. There is a work/personal balance that happens with a four day work week, it contributes to less burnout and more appreciation.

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Sounds like a good idea, but the author above implies that the offices would be closed an extra day: "keeping the office locked down: no air conditioning, no computers, lights, or elevators"

I'm guessing city services would be provided every day, so individually, people will be there 4 days a week, but they'll rotate to make sure people are there Monday through Friday. And since people are working 10 hour days, each of those days, the offices will actually be using more energy each day (10 hrs vs. 8hrs) not less.

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I've worked a 4 10-hour days week for a couple of years now, and I LOVE it. I actually request it of an employer. I don't find that I'm too sleep deprived - I can work either of 2 10-hours shifts - 6:30 am to 4:30 pm or 10 am to 8 pm. Yes, there is no clocked out break for lunch - if we prefer that. We can clock out for up to a half hour to leave the premises to get something to eat. Most of the time, though, we are to busy to do anything but grab our food and eat between appointments and walk-ins.
The building itself is still open 6am - 8pm 7 days a week due to the boarding kennel facilities. Where do I work? I'm a Certified Veterinary Technician at a larger 7-veterinarian practice.

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These comments are all interesting. It seems that, as in much of life, there's no easy solution, and one size doesn't fit all.

Once again it appears that the desire to be Green isn't motivating most people to change their habits. A small percentage of the population has the Terrapass mindet. A larger group is moving in the Green direction at best grumpily - looking at changing their habits because it's getting too expensive to live the way they always have.

If you look at the comments to articles about gas prices on sites not as thougtful as this one, you'll notice that people are really angry. "How dare They (Arabs, oil companies, the guvmint) take away my right to waste as much of the earth as I want."

With the free market (and it isn't truly free as long as the extractive industries receive government subsidies) forcing the change, people can't blame the usual scapegoats (Liberals, tree huggers, Democrats).

Waiting for sea levels to rise doesn't motivate. Having money left over at the end of the month does.

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In California, hourly employees earn overtime if they work more than 8 hours in one day. I asked my boss for a four day work week a couple of years ago, and because of this law, it wasn't possible.

I now work from home - even better.

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Four day work weeks are definitely part of the solution, as is telecommuting. It all depends upon the particular job, employer and customer service requirements.

Part-week telecommuting also works well and may be better for some instead of four-day work weeks. This also opens up the possibility of "work-space sharing" which lowers the cost of operations for employers.

For public contact employees, someone is always at the office on all days with part-week telecommuting. Therefore, customer service is negligibly affected, if at all.

Due to family reasons, I had to relocate from AZ to WI five years ago. I telecommute and it has worked beautifully ever since.

My miles driven has dropped by 80% as has my carbon output...and I did not have to buy a new vehicle that gets 5 times the mileage to do it.

There are a host of personal advantages to commuting fewer miles and days besides gas/carbon savings. Her are just a few.
1) auto insurance rates drop.
2) accident rates drop.
3) congestion drops.
4) quality time at home increases by reduced commute time.
5) family time increases.
6) wear and tear on autos drops and autos last longer.
7) commuting stress drops.
8) eating "out" at work expense (for some) drops.
9) clothes last longer.
10) "out of the home" child care expenses can drop for some.

And unless no one is usually at home during the day, there is an almost negligible increase in electricity usage at home.

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My company (in the Fortune 500) offers what we call a 9/80 schedule, which gives you every other Friday off in exchange for 9 hour days every Mon-Thu. A large number of people take advantage of it, especially in the summer.

That being said, I don't think this helps with energy efficiency at all. In fact, it probably hurts it. From my personal experience, I drive FAR more on weekends than I do on weekdays. Three day weekends only make it worse - I am much more likely to head "up north" to camp or hike, or travel around the state to see semi-distant friends, than I am on a shorter weekend or weekday. Indeed, I am quite sure that I drive more now working a standard 40 hour week than I did when I was in graduate school, working 6-7 days a week, simply because of the free time.

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Paul--years ago, when I started having to get up long before dawn all winter, I put a (CFL!!) lamp on a timer in my bedroom, and set it to turn on 5-15 minutes before my alarm clock went off. Changed my life. Getting up in the dark is REALLY hard.

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Re. No 5. Steve

Yes! And why not telecommute two days a week as well?

I run a small business out of a home office and work with three other biologists/archaeologists, all through our respective home offices using high-speed internet. We are also "paparless".

We have run pretty large projects and have come to realize that the traditional office is an antiquated working paradigm.

In fact, we just finished two big projects in Tucson while my wife is in France doing the report editing, my biologist is in Tucson doing fieldwork and editing, and I am an hour north of Tucson in my home office overseeing it all. And ALL through email!

We need to start demanding from our employees that yes, telecommuting works.

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Ed No. 18

Yes, as we all know people do not change behavior unless there is a real, tangible benefit. This is human nature, and we need to work on solutions in this light, instead of wagging fingers at people who don't change for more altruistic reasons.

I used to get upset when I heard people complain about oil prices solely on what it is costing them, and without any regard for climate change issues. Well, getting mad at these folks doesn't help the situation. We need to move past this and create real solutions based on the reality of human behavior.

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Not everyone works in an office. Some of us work in a hotel that is open 24/7. Any advice?

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Personally, I find that I burn more gas on my days off, because I'm running errands instead of commuting. I may be the exception, though; my commute is short, straight, and bikeable.

Pete (#17) and Blackstone (#15): From what I've seen, it's mostly back-office departments, administrative offices that serve other departments, or as we call them, internal customers. For a client-contact area, the primary benefits are employee satisfaction (see above) and perhaps flexible scheduling. These may result in cost savings, but energy usage would, if anything, increase.

Bryan (#25): I work at a hospital, parts of which are, by necessity, open 24/7. Many nursing departments (the Emergency Room comes immediately to mind) work their staff 3x12 or 4x12. The local police department works 4x10. There are a few things that have to happen to make for an effective compressed work-week:
1) Management has to control the schedule. If you let everybody choose, most will pick Friday, and you'll be stuck in a mostly-empty office (consider the State of Ohio's reasons for cancelling their 4x10 policy.) The nurses I mentioned, as well as our local police department, give senior employees first pick. If you're a rookie, that probably means you get night shift with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off, but you also know that as time goes by, you'll move your way up the chart, so there's not as much politicking or resentment.
2) There have to be enough staff to keep the place running. It's probably obvious, but flexible scheduling works better with larger groups, because there's less opportunity for holes in the schedule.
2b) Not required, but very helpful: a system for patching scheduling holes when they do arise.
3) Staff need to clearly understand what is expected of them on that fifth day. Is it a firm day off? A telecommute day? An on-call day? A "usually you'll get Thursday off, but circumstances may occasionally require that you work Thursday, and take another day off instead"? Whatever it is, you need to establish expectations.

-- A.
My job often requires 5x10+ anyway, so my gas-saving work arrangement would be to sleep over once or twice a week.

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I think four day workweeks are great except for one thing... what about all the parents out there? I personally can't imagine how to get my kids safely off to school, spend time with them in the evening, make dinner, etc, when I am working 10 hours a day. It just wouldn't work. I think that optimally, the four day workweek should be optional, allowing those who need a regular workweek to have it.

Sarah

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I know I would give my left nut to only work 4 days a week, even if I had to work longer days.

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I work in a 24hr envirnoment as well and my staff works 4-10hrs days. Sunday to Wednesdays or Wednesday to Saturdays - First Shift and Second Shift. Although not crazy about having to work a Saturday or Sunday - most of my employees like having three days off a week.

Overall - I think flex scheduling works best - think Best Buy Corporate office - where they are not required to be in the office - most meetings are done via teleconferencing. Employees are more happy when they are judged by thier work and not by the hours they keep.

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Suppose a 100 employee office building goes to a 3 day weekend mode every week.

That means those 100 employees are increasing their heating, cooling and lighting energy consumption (and bills) because they are in their 100 homes one day more each week! Chances are they are they are also driving around doing errands while leaving their thermostats set as if they were home.

Some may prefer a 4 day work week for personal reasons, but if the goal is to reduce society's total carbon emissions, this makes no sense to me.

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About this point:
"Significantly less energy use (the extra hours in the morning and evening will be worked at cooler times, so the A/C won't need to crank so hard)."

If you look at the California electric system operator demand forecast/actual demand, you'll notice that the peak does not actually occur early in the afternoon, but later around 4:00 or 5:00 pm (when buildings heat up and need more cooling). This means that staying later at work would actually be more detrimental to the electric grid. Here's the daily California demand curve:
http://www.caiso.com/outlook/outlook.html

To meet increased demand (from say more A/C), utilities are forced to fire up more expensive and inefficient (i.e. higher carbon intensity) electricty generators. Hence, staying later at work would have a higher impact that just leaving earlier.

Taking one step back however, it's probably more efficient overall to have 20 employees sitting in an office together with one A/C running rather than have 20 people in 20 homes with the A/C cranked.

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I'd love a 4-10 schedule, my employer is so wrapped up in a culture of over-work that they get 5-10 to 11 hours days from me now. Since I'm an exempt salaried employee manager one of 12 branches they'll continue to reap the rewards, wear me out and not save a whole lot of energy. I really don't think they care...

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Hello all, I believe that Washington State University is considering or actually converting to a 4-day week for most employees.

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To # 25, Bryan: I work in a 24/7 shop and we have about 20 employees and we work shifts, "4 on, 3 off." The ten hour shifts overlap two hours each, with a "Day shift" from 0700-1700, "Swing shift" from 1500-2300, and my shift, "Mid's," from 2100-0700. I have been working this shift for a year or so and some of my comrades have been at it MUUUCH longer...its just the perfect thing to get the job done, ESPECIALLY in a 24/7 operation...although the only energy saved is that of the employees, since the building is always "on." Regarding the shift itself, I especially enjoy having Weds - Fri off; its really amazing how much one can get accomplished when the rest of the world is at work!!

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I think 4 day work weeks are ideal! Four 8 or 9 hour days, with a paid lunch would increase productivity, staff morale, and loyalty. Why stress about how to fit 40 hours in a week? I recently finished Affluenza and have been inspired by their call for working less hours a week. Of course this would all be easier if we had a national healthcare plan. But isn't it better to spend a little more money on quality employees?

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From a carbon perspective, the four day work week is a winner. Why isn't everyone doing it, then? Because, from a business perspective, it does not work. Studies have shown that people are far less productive in the final two hours of a ten hour day. The business must be open five days a week, and that means key individuals will be gone at least once a week every week. Other individuals get overly stressed out trying to cover for staff that are not around.

We actually tried this at my place of employment and after two years had to abandon it for the reasons listed above and more.

If we could reduce the number of days that businesses are open each week and the number of hours we work each week, then the idea has merit. Short of that, it just does not work.

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My workplace is open 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. Everyone has the option of working a "flex" week. I think morale is much improved since this was implimented a few years ago. Also, it helps at the switchover to have more overlap, as we are service oriented. I love having a day off during the week (Wednesday is the best). I have a one mile commute so I can, and often do, walk to work. This is a win-win situation.

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I can see this working only if those employees do not use their cars on that day off. As it is, they might decide to take a trip to the beach or something where they would actually drive farther. If they are committed to the idea that this is an energy saving carbon reducing initiative, then, I believe it could work.

I applaud the effort. We cannot make change sitting on our hinnies. For change to happen, we must do something even if we get it wrong, at first.

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#27 Sarah & #12 Dori--couples I've known who have made nontraditional schedules work have staggered their working hours. Parent 1 goes to work early and parent 2 gets the kids up & to daycare or school; parent 1 picks them up & gets dinner, parent 2 gets home later. In one case the later parent is usually home in time for bath & bed, in another she often arrives home after they've gone to sleep, but either way, the two parents get to spend a little time together in the evening. It can work out if both jobs have flexible scheduling.

#34 Jay--interesting that WASU is thinking of a 4-day week when many other universities, faced with dramatic shortages of classroom space at popular times, are trying to shift schedules to make more use of facilities on Friday and Saturday. I'll be interested to see how it plays out.

#36 Monty--"far less productive" for those last two hours depends on what workers are "producing." For service, education, retail, etc--jobs that don't simply depend on people doing the same mind-numbing (or even mentally demanding) task for 8-10 hours a day--it might work fine. For example, #32 Bob--I hear you, working 4x10 (or 11 or 12) wouldn't have me staying any later on the four days, it would just mean being able to stay home with a clear conscience on the fifth, which currently I cannot do.

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The Four-Day Work Week is a way to get us to "More Time, Less Carbon" -- a thoughtful proposal for a new policy that will be especially useful to 'extreme commuters' in the country where people drive far more miles to and from work than anywhere else in the world.

Presidential candidates: this beats the 'gas holiday' hands-down!

A federal redefinition of the "full-time" workweek as 36 hours -- a four-hours-shorter 36-Hour Work Week of four nine-hour days -- would enable the widest possible adoption of four-day workweeks and reduce commuting -- and the time workers spend in clogged traffic, and commuting's CO2 emissions -- by one-fifth for the affected workers while reducing work time by one-tenth: a great gain.

Here are four other articles about the Four-Day Work Week:

One Approach to Sustainability: Work Less, by John de Graaf (of Take Back Your Time: www.timeday.org) in WorldChanging: www.worldchanging.com/archives/008143.html

The Four Day Work Week: Sixteen Reasons Why this Might Be an Idea whose Time has Come,
by Aaron Newton ('Prof. Goose')
in The Oil Drum: www.theoildrum.com/node/3931
in Groovy Green: www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=2223

Soaring Fuel Prices Drive Some to Try Four-Day Work Week, by Stephanie Armour in USA Today:
www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2008-06-01-work-week-four-day-gas-prices_N.htm

The Four-Day Work Week: "More Time, Less Carbon", by Gregory Wright in the Take Back Your Time News:
www.timeday.org/news-vol5issue1.asp#03

Who besides me wants to specifically advocate for this with our federal and state legislators and policymakers?

Greg Wright greg@newciv.org

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A 4 day week is easily doable for many (but not all) and has many benefits. I work a 4 day week running my business, taking Mondays to homeschool my kids (I do science, my forte), and it's great. I work slightly longer days but am much happier for it. Many years ago I worked in a factory, 4x10 hour days each week, and all of us (at least on my crew) liked the schedule. I read a study once that most people need about 3 days to really wind down from a stressful job, so a long weekend every week is sweet.

I drive (my Prius) a lot for my business, and the 4 day week also saves me ~35 miles weekly (which works out to about $200 in gas yearly).

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Every federal employee should be given optional 4 days work schedule. It will be more productive and reduce the consumption of the gas.

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While I'm not convinced this would be better for the environment, I like the 4 day week. As previous posters have commented, individuals need to make that choice as to how much energy they use & its impact on our environment. In the 90's my employer offered the option. I found that 3rd day off (which changed from week to week) was the day I usually did my housework, errands, laundry, etc., freeing up the actual weekend for more relaxation & play. I loved that part of it. On the downside, the days I worked I found that was all I had time to do: my hours were 8-7 and I was exhausted at the end of the day. My commute was about 30 minutes one way then, so tack on that hour and all I had time to do was get home, eat & go to bed. In the beginning everyone in my office participated, but the women with kids quickly changed their minds. Now I am attempting to get my company to at least offer the 4 day week to anyone who wants it: I think it definitely improves morale, reduces sick time, and helps employees save at the gas pump. Most of the people I work with commute at least 30 miles one way and this could save them a tank of gas a month. As it is, for the last year or more, I have made a conscious effort to not use my car one weekend day: I either walk, ride my bike, or hitch a ride with someone if I need to.

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I work for a large environmental company and we went to 8-9 hour days, one 8 hour day and every other Friday off. Its great - we get 26 more days completely free of work and reduce gas usage! It works great and is a wonderful employee incentive

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I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Food for thought to #31, Do you think that the use goes up as people leave their offices and head home. I have an automatic thermostat (now disabled) that used to turn the a/c on at 5:15 so it would be nice and cool when I got home.

As stated in the article, and another article mentioned above, the idea is to have time at home. Try to exercise, spend time with the kids, (dogs in my case) go for a walk, garden, etc. Not to use the day for "running around". remeber that the original idea was to save the energy for the bsuiness, not the employee.

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