BENTONVILLE -- NorthWest Arkansas Community College will implement a four-day work week this summer for the second straight year.
Under the schedule, which runs for 12 weeks starting May 19, most employees will work 10-hour days Monday through Thursday and have Friday off.
At A Glance
Summer Schedule
A survey asked NorthWest Arkansas Community College employees what they considered the top advantages and disadvantages of the 10-hour-day, four-day work week to them.
Top advantages:
• Saves money on travel to and from college (58 percent)
• More time to handle personal business (57 percent)
• More time with family (42 percent)
Top disadvantages:
• Must use two hours of vacation for holidays (68 percent)
• Less productive at work (33 percent)
• Interfered with personal fitness (23 percent)
• Memorial Day and July 4 are the two holidays that occur during the college’s four-day work week schedule. Arkansas calculates a holiday as eight hours of holiday pay. Because of their 10-hour work days, employees were required to use two hours of vacation time to cover the rest of the time they were off on those holidays.
Source: NorthWest Arkansas Community College
The college tried the alternative schedule last summer and had some success with it, said Ricky Tompkins, vice president for learning. It saved the college $23,550 in utilities during June and July combined, Tompkins said.
"We were able to really lessen the usage for that one day (each week), particularly in Burns Hall," Tompkins said.
The college did an online survey between Aug. 21 and Sept. 2 to gauge employees' attitudes about the four-day work week. Nearly three-quarters of the 243 faculty and staff members who responded said they thought it should be repeated.
The same survey showed about 57 percent thought the schedule didn't affect their productivity, and about 78 percent said it didn't impact their ability to do their duties.
At least one change will accompany this year's summer schedule: The college will keep its library and a computer lab open Friday.
"We just want to make sure those resources are available to the students," Tompkins said.
Aaron Divine, who directs the Path to Accelerated Completion and Employment grant for the college, served on the team that designed the college's compressed work week.
"It was a little difficult to get used to at first, but once we got used to it, it was hard to go back to the five-day work week," Divine said.
He said the administration did a good job last year of encouraging faculty and staff members to find time for adequate breaks throughout the day.
Having to make different arrangements for child care probably was the biggest challenge of the four-day week, Divine said.
"But once we settled into that schedule, it became a non-issue," he said.
Some other community colleges in Arkansas and elsewhere have enacted similar summer schedules. National Park Community College in Hot Springs is doing it for the fourth summer this year, said Sally Carder, college president.
"It just makes good common sense," Carder said. "It's hard to do it, but it really is good for everybody."
NW News on 04/24/2014