Board Of Supervisors Approves 4-Day Work Weeks For County Workers

Riverside County supervisors voted today to shut down non-essential county operations every Friday and shift the majority of employees to Monday-to-Thursday schedules as part of a cost-savings strategy.

In a 3-0 vote — with two members absent — the board authorized permanent implementation of the 4-10 work schedule, in which employees are on the job 10 hours a day, four days a week, as recommended by the Department of Human Resources.

Since last August, all non-essential county facilities have been closed every Friday to trim the county’s overhead costs in the face of a growing budget deficit.

The Friday closures were scheduled to end July 1.

The closures have impacted the County Administrative Center, where property tax disputes are resolved, the coroner’s office, Registrar of Voters office, building and planning, transportation and other departments.

The sheriff’s department, district attorney’s and public defender’s offices, social services and county medical facilities have been excluded from the shutdowns, which are treated as mandatory furlough days for the impacted employees.

Roughly a third of the county’s workforce — 5,900 people — have been on 4-10 schedules over the last year, with the balance working the customary five days a week, 9-80 schedules or 3-12 schedules.

According to the Department of Human Resources, the Friday closures have saved the county an estimated $585,538, due to a 10 percent drop in electricity usage, an 11.5 percent drop in water consumption and a 1 percent decline in natural gas usage at county offices.

Supervisor Bob Buster worried that trying to revoke the new 4-10 schedule might be complicated by collective bargaining agreements.

“We may yet again reach the point where there are major amounts of public or internal need and a half a day on Friday would gain us a lot,” Buster said. “We need that flexibility to get, at least, partially back to where we were.”

The board directed personnel chief Barbara Oliver to draft an amendment to the new policy that stipulates it can be changed as long as appropriate advance notice is given to workers.

According to a Human Resources Department survey, 89 percent of employees who have signed onto 4-10 schedules since May 2009 have reported “a positive impact (in) the way their department operates.”

According to human resources staff, the expanded, permanent use of 4-10 schedules will help the county hold down overhead costs, while also lowering the amount of traffic on the roads and, therefore, the amount of pollution in the region.

The four-day workweek will mean county facilities stay open an extra hour Monday to Thursday — 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“We have to make sure we’re meeting public needs,” said county Executive Officer Bill Luna, who said he hasn’t “had a phone call from a member of the public saying anything bad or indifferent” about the Friday closures that went into effect last year.