State employees may soon meet shorter workweeks

Within the next few weeks, Michigan’s state government workers could have quite a bit of wiggle room in their work schedule, and East Lansing officials are considering similar scheduling changes.

In response to rising gas prices forcing workers to shell out more cash for their daily commute, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has created a plan to offer flexible scheduling, compressed workweeks and telecommuting options to save workers money.

“Departments are getting the green light to talk with their employees on putting these plans into action,” said Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Granholm. “By early August, we hope to know the number of workers who will participate.”

About a third of the state’s 51,000 employees are already on some sort of an alternative work schedule, Boyd said.

Unlike Utah’s recent decision to close all administrative offices on Fridays, Boyd said the alternative options will not affect government business hours.

“We have to maintain the service to citizens,” she said.

Jeff Biddle, an MSU economics professor specializing in labor economics, said Michigan’s plan to offer options to workers without shortening office hours is a positive move.

“Any time workers are offered options about when they do their work, that’s a good thing,” he said. “Allowing department heads to decide where the more flexible schedules would work for their department is the right way to proceed, rather than forcing it on everyone.”

While Granholm’s suggestions only apply to state workers, some municipal governments, including Oakland County, have proposed switching to four-day workweeks and other flexible schedules to reduce costs.

Ingham County Controller Matthew Myers said the county has no plans to make any similar changes.

But George Lahanas, East Lansing’s director of administrative services, said officials are considering offering shortened workweeks for employees.

“(Having) four-day workweeks is something that we’re getting ready to do a community survey on,” Lahanas said. “There may be an option to look at saving fuel and saving commuter costs and also meeting the needs of our customers.”

Lahanas said offering employees a 10-hour-a-day, four-day week would lengthen City Hall’s hours of operation by about two hours. The building would still be open Monday through Friday.

East Lansing residents like 19-year-old Kyla Williams say they would support the scheduling changes, especially if it means they have more time to do their business with the city.

“A lot of people get out of work at five and don’t have enough time to get what they need to get done (at government offices),” Williams said. “(Longer hours) would be way better for people’s schedules.”

Williams said she would not support scheduling changes if they meant offices would be closed on Fridays.

If the community survey shows support for the alternative work schedules, a leadership team will conduct a study of whether the transition would be beneficial. If advantages outweigh disadvantages, the leadership team will recommend the idea to the city manager, Lahanas said.

“It’s still in the early stages of discussion,” he said. “We’re going to look at the survey and go from there.”

Published on Wednesday, July 16, 2008