Use of Extended Work Hours to Free Up One or Work Day Per Month Per Worker

This proposition is an additional measure that could be utilized to reduce energy consumption. On greater analysis, this measure also has some imperatives for worker satisfaction and quality of life issues. The premise is simple:

- once a worker has completed a commute to work, the cocmmute is an overhead whose benefits are stretched the longer the worker stays on the job. The savings from putting in more time per work commute would then be offset by reduced work days. In an extreme scenario, workers could shrink their work week from four to five days by converting from an 8 hour work day to a 10 hour work day. On the down side, one has to consider the effects of worker efficiency, satisfaction, performance, and health. Four day work week as a policy is currently being tried in some form in Utah.

Now the numbers:

- If every worker converted from a five day work week to a four day work week, energy consumption due to transportation would reduce by about 10 percent. The effect on the price of oil would be significant as oil demand from the U.S. would return to 80s levels.

- Longer work hours usually mean an earlier commute at the start of work and a later commute at the end of work or a greater staggering of ommute hours resulting in even more savings

- Most studies on the effect of extended work hours has not shown a significant effect on performance and has been noted to improve the quality of life for many workers who have chosen this option where it is offered. The exception was a study on medical interns which found increased risk of percutaneous injuries with extended work hours 1.31/1000 compared with 0.76/1000 for regular work hours. However in this study extended work hour was defined as an 11 hour day shift that followed an 8 hour night shift.

The Issues:

• Extended work hours may not be possible for every job type. This option might not be offered for medical personnel or owrk involving hours behind a computer VDU.
• The choice may be offered on an optional basis. For instance, government service centers such as a DMV offering extended work hours would mean the potential for services beyond the typical 9-5 that is already incovenient for many members of the working population that need the services.
• An outright four day week may not be imposed as a policy, workers might choose different levels of extension leading from a range of 1 to 4 free days a month.
• Human resource studies are needed to provide guidance on staggering of schedules, providing clear guidance on effects of productivity, and worker health.

Figures showing the effect of early and later commute on worker commute in one major U.S. city. Note that this chart will vary from city to city and will depend on many factors for individual workers.

The full energy proposal is here. Please also review the 10-point action areas categorized into short and long term plans, and the detailed projections and contribute your knowledge.

References

1. Lawrence Smith, Simon Folkard, Phil Tucker, Ian Macdonald "Work shift duration: a review comparing eight hour and 12 hour shift systems", Occup Environ Med 1998;55:217–229
http://oem.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/55/4/217.pdf
"The research findings are largely equivocal. The bulk of the evidence suggests few differences between eight and 12 hour shifts in the way they affect people. There may even be advantages to 12 hour shifts in terms of lower stress levels, better physical and psychological wellbeing, improved durations and quality of off duty sleep as well as improvements in family relations."

2. Baker, T.L.; Morisseau, D. "Performance an alertness on 8-hour versus 12-hour work shifts", Conference on Human Factors and Power Plants, 1992., Conference Record for 1992 IEEE Fifth Volume , Issue , 7-11 Jun 1992 Page(s):117 - 120.
"Little doubt remains concerning the acceptability of compressed workweek schedules among the operators themselves; in most cases, employees initiate the process of changing the work schedule. There is also little doubt t h a t the primary motivation for implementing 12-hour work shifts is a desire to improve quality of life outside of the working hours, rather than a desire to improve alert -ness and performance on shift . For example, nearly onehalf of all operators in the nuclear power industry now work regularly scheduled 12-hour shifts, and surveys have indicated that the majority strongly prefer not to return to 8-hour work schedules."

3. Najib T. Ayas, MD, MPH; Laura K. Barger, PhD; et al,  "Effect of Extended Word Duration on Interns", Journal of American Medical Association, Vol. 296 No. 9, September 6, 2006

The full energy proposal is here. Please also review the 10-point action areas categorized into short and long term plans, and the detailed projections and contribute your knowledge.