9-80 work schedule

patwood · June 2008

We are considering implementing a 9-80 work schedule, which would allow employees to have every other Friday off, working 4 9-hour days and 1 8-hour day one week, and 4 9-hour days the next week, with Friday off.

We already know we will need to change the start of the work week for non-exempt employees, but are trying to determine what the other pitfalls might be and I'd also like to see if anyone has an implementation plan from your own implementation of a similar program. Thank you

HRforME · June 2008

Another pitfall: holiday weeks...how to handle different hours that don't fall into the pattern. For example Monday Week1 is Memorial Day when the employee should be working 9 hours....what do you use for his/her PTO for the day 9 hours or 8? What about if a standard holiday falls on Friday?

You will need to setup:

Contigencies on what happens if the employee is required to work that 10th day...because at some point it is bound to occur.
Policies on calling employees who are off...It will happen more if there is a partial staff working.
How you will handle it if an employee wants an opposite Friday off

Are there any positions where this schedule will not work? Will you alternate Fridays so that 1/2 the staff is there each week?

Just my thoughts.

patwood · June 2008

Thank you. We've been thinking about the holidays that fall on a 9-hour day. Things I've read so far indicate that the norm is to consider it an 8 hour day and the additional hour needs to be made up by working an extra hour on another day, work an extra half hour on 2 days, taking an hour of vacation time, or an hour of voluntary LWOP.

If the holiday falls on a person's Friday off, they could take the day before or the Monday after as their day off. We haven't done the evaluation yet to determine if all departments can accommodate to this schedule. There probably will be some. Yes, we will alternate the schedule. In fact, we'll have a third schedule for those who just want to continue the 8 x 5 day schedule.

We were planning to make it policy that once the schedule was established it couldn't be changed, but that would probably cause it's own issues. Employees would not be able to refuse to come in on their Friday off in the case of a customer meeting, or the necessity of business travel. They would be allowed an alternate day off in that case. (Managers would have to keep a good schedule).

This all sounds simpler than it is, I'm sure.

diana_johnson_h_gac_com · June 2008

We have a 9/80 work schedule and it works well for us. Holidays are either 8 hours or 9 hours depending on when the holiday falls. When a holiday falls on an off Friday, employees get Thursday off. We also have flexibility in start and stop times and employees can take a 30 minute lunch instead of one hour. Flexibility in work schedules is necessary for employee morale and employees become more productive when the employer recognizes the need for balance in their employees' lives. You will never regret implementing a 9/80 schedule and employees will be happier. We are even considering adding 4/10.

efeldman · June 2008

Finding out about al these alternative work schedules has been great! I am looking into this for our company as well. We work 37.5 hour weeks and so I've been trying to figure out how to make these work neatly for us. Any suggestions?

patwood · June 2008

Thank you! I sent you an email and hope you have received it.

mlashinsky · March 2009

Hi! I read about your post on 9/80 and just today one of my clients would like to switch to a flexible work schedule of a 9/80 work week.

Do you happen to have any policies on 9/80's? I looked all over SHRM and can't find anything.

Thank you!

Mary Lashinsky

mlashinsky@smarthrinc.com

9-80 work schedule

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