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                    "Columbus City Hall is pictured in downtown Columbus. Most city employees, excluding police, firefighters and the Trotter Center, work a four-day \u201ccompressed\u201d workweek, a schedule Mayor Jones says he has no plans to change. Ashlynd King/Dispatch Staff\t\n\t\t\tNeed to visit Columbus City Hall on a Friday? You\u2019ll find yourself out of luck, as most municipal services operate on a four-day workweek. The compressed schedule has been in place since 2021, and while it means longer days for city employees, it also gives them Fridays for appointments, family obligations and other work, said Mayor Stephen Jones.\nWhen and why did the city switch to a four-day workweek? Has it helped the city save money? How does it affect city services? Does the mayor intend to keep the policy in place?\nWhen and why did they switch to a four-day workweek?\nThe city has periodically shifted between a four-day and five-day workweek for municipal employees. In July 2008, the city initially transitioned general city employees \u2013 excluding emergency responders \u2013 to a four-day workweek featuring 10-hour shifts from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday.\nIn July 2010, The Dispatch reported the city council debated and voted to transition municipal departments back to a traditional five-day schedule following concerns raised regarding \u201cunderperforming\u201d public works crews and their productivity during hot summer months.\nThen, in April 2020, Jones, Ward 5 councilman at the time, proposed every department should switch to a five-day schedule. In July that same year, the council unanimously voted for most city departments to work a five-day, 40-hour week under then-Mayor Robert Smith.\nLater, under then-Mayor Keith Gaskin, the city returned to a four-day workweek in December 2021 after a vote from the city council. This included public works but excluded Trotter Convention Center and emergency responders.\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tKeith Gaskin\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\u201cAs I was working on the budget, every single department asked for this to come back,\u201d Gaskin told The Dispatch at the time. \u201c\u2026 The city will also save money, because it will cut down on electric bills and fuel and those kinds of things.\u201d\nSo, has the city saved money?\nJones said while there isn\u2019t any way to quantify the exact savings of the four-day workweek, he does believe that overall it has contributed to greater employee satisfaction, which in turn helps create \u201csome amount of savings,\u201d he said.\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tStephen Jones\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\u201cInitially when they did it, it was a time when gas went up, which our gas is up high now, so it could be saving us money,\u201d he said. \u201cI think (public works) was the main department that it may have been saving money.\u201d\nHow does it affect city services?\nCity employees, not including police officers, firefighters and the convention center, work from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break, bringing them to a total of four 10-hour work days, called a \u201ccompressed schedule\u201d or \u201c4-by-10.\u201d\n\u201cIt\u2019s an early start,\u201d Jones said. \u201cBut, I know in the summertime, though, getting there really early helps for the work because of the heat.\u201d\nPrior to 2021, Jones said that there were several complaints about the inability to file building permits on Fridays, among other things. But he said this is no longer an issue, due to the city working diligently to become \u201cpaperless and fully online.\u201d He said he hasn\u2019t heard complaints from citizens regarding accessibility to city services due to the shorter workweek since coming into office.\n\u201cThe building department is online now,\u201d he said. \u201cEven for employment applications, we\u2019re all online now.\u201d\nThe real win: Employee satisfaction\nA Brigham Young University study conducted in Utah by Rex Facer and Lori Wadsworth examined the outcome of Spanish Fork City\u2019s transition to a schedule in which most employees work four 10-hour days a week, similar to the schedule used by Columbus city employees.\nIt found that even though four-day workweek employees work the same number of hours per week as their traditional workweek counterparts, they reported being more satisfied with their jobs, compensation and benefits, and were less likely to look for employment elsewhere in the next year. The study also showed that 60% of four-day workweek employees reported higher productivity as a result of the new schedule.\nJones feels these results are reflected in Columbus\u2019 own city employees, and he said that he\u2019s heard from multiple employees that the four-day workweek works better for their work-life balance.\n\u201cYou have people taking off less because they can do stuff on Friday,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThey can make their appointments on Friday and be able to do those. And then a lot of them, you know, especially with public works, a lot of them have other jobs that they do, whether it\u2019s cutting grass and different things like that, so they can do that Friday, Saturday.\u201d\nJones, who previously advocated for a five-day workweek as a councilman, said he does not intend to make any changes to the structure during his tenure.\n\u201cWhen I was a councilman at the end of that term before Keith (Gaskin) took over, I was one of the ones advocating to go back to five days,\u201d he said. \u201c(When he made the change,) I didn\u2019t oppose it because most of the employees do love it. It\u2019s not something I have any plans on addressing (as mayor.)\u201d\nEditor\u2019s note: Do you want answers to questions about the Golden Triangle? Each week, Dispatch reporters set out to explain or update a timely, practical issue. Email your question to [email\u00a0protected].\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n      \n      \n        Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community."
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