State Environmental Agency Offers Form Of a 4-Day Week

DANNY DONOHUE: 'Fresh thinking' by DEC.

As the four-day workweek has gained currency as a way to save energy and money, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has started a voluntary compressed workweek pilot program that would grant one extra day off every 10 days of work for all non-supervisory, nonuniformed employees.

The program, recently approved by the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, will offer DEC employees an opportunity to take one "passday" during each 10-day pay period by increasing the number of hours worked each day from 7.5 to 8 hours during nonpassday weeks and from 7.5 to 8.75 hours during pass-day weeks. DEC services or hours of operation will not be reduced because of this program.

'A Win-Win Program'

DEC Commissioner Alexander (Pete) Grannis said, "Through a compressed work schedule, we can increase work efficiency, boost employee morale and, at the same time, reduce the environmental impacts of commuting at no additional cost to the department or taxpayers. This program is a win-win for DEC and New York State."

The state's largest union, the Civil Service Employees Association, called the program "enlightened management." Union president Danny Donohue said, "The Department of Environmental Conservation deserves enormous credit for implementing the compressed workweek pilot. It represents fresh thinking and courage to try new approaches that will improve labor-management relations and better serve the public."

This pilot program first started in the DEC's central office in Albany. CSEA spokesman Stephen Madarasz said the union favors expanding the program to other agencies, but it is slightly different from the four-day work-week, of four 10-hour days because it is intended to increase productivity, not just savings.

"We broached the subject in other places, but it hasn't gotten anywhere," he said, adding that the union hoped Governor Paterson would consider a broader implementation. Mr. Madarasz said this pilot program might be an alternative for those agencies that cannot afford to place workers on a four-day week.

Flex Schedules Common

Compressed workweeks are not exactly new, according to GOER, which said they have been implemented in state agencies from jails to universities since 1979. Currently, 170 agencies use some form of flex schedules for their workers.

Under the terms of the pilot program, a DEC employee interested in participating must submit an application to his or her immediate supervisor, including a copy of the proposed 10-day schedule, start time, end time and proposed pass day. The new program will be offered to all DEC employees, including those in regional offices.

For an employee to be considered for an alternative work schedule, it must be determined that the proposed compressed schedule would maintain and enhance productivity and assure delivery of services to the public.

The program will not be available to uniformed employees in DEC's Office of Public Protection.

The pilot program will last for one year and will be subject to new approvals from Civil Service and GOER.