Anti-Smog Orders May Double Firms With 4-Day Workweeks : Pollution: County businesses having more than 100 employees have been told to devise plans to reduce commuter traffic.

The number of Ventura County businesses that offer employees four-day weeks and other alternative work schedules could double in the next four years as firms struggle to meet new pollution-control standards, experts believe.

In an effort to fight smog, the county has ordered large businesses to find ways to reduce the number of times employees drive to work alone each week. One suggestion offered by the county is to cut back the number of days that employees are required to work.

“One of the most promising strategies is the compressed workweek,” said Gail Matz, a transportation specialist for the county Air Pollution Control District.

“It’s a win-win situation: Studies have shown employees on compressed workweeks generally are more satisfied with their jobs, their morale is higher and they and supervisors feel productivity is greater.”

Currently, an estimated 11% of the county’s more than 700 businesses with 50 or more employees offer a compressed workweek--which means that 40 hours of work are compressed into fewer than five days, according to Commuter Transportation Services of Los Angeles.

The private, nonprofit organization has studied revised work schedules and their effect on pollution, transportation and work conditions at companies throughout Southern California, said Stuart Anderson, planning manager for the business.

Anderson said he anticipates that the number of businesses using compressed schedules will double as companies try to comply with a regulation of the Air Pollution Control District designed to bring Ventura County into compliance with state and federal clean-air laws.

In November, the district began sending notices to 200 county businesses that have more than 100 employees, Matz said. Those employers have 120 days to come up with plans to reduce vehicle ridership among employees, Matz said.

In August, 1991, businesses with more than 75 employees will fall under the district regulation, and companies with more than 50 employees will become subject to the regulations in January, 1992. Companies that fail to achieve specific goals are not penalized under the program, but if they do not submit any plan at all they can be fined up to $25,000 daily.

The companies may choose from a number of options to reduce the car trips employees make alone. They can offer financial incentives for employees who car-pool or use public transit. They can build lockers and showers for workers who bike or walk. Or, they can supply deterrents to driving, like charging for parking in the company lot.

But the most promising way of reducing ridership is the restructuring of work schedules, Matz said. A schedule like the four-day week, in which employees work four 10-hour days a week, immediately cuts 20% of the trips to the office, officials said. The 9-80 plan, which requires employees to work 80 hours over nine days every two weeks, is another option.

Indeed, Ventura County’s two largest employers already are looking into compressed schedules.

The county is negotiating with labor unions to see if it can offer its 6,500 employees the option of a compressed workweek, said Susan Van Abel, an administrative analyst in the county Chief Administrative Office.

Some county departments already use the compressed schedules effectively. And a survey of employees in three county departments that tested the schedules in a six-month trial program that ended in April showed a highly favorable response, officials said.

Of the 300 people who participated in the trial run, 83% said morale improved, 50% indicated an increase in productivity and 74% indicated increased job satisfaction.

However, some problems cropped up, Van Abel said. Some employees had trouble completing their work in four days. And important meetings sometimes fell on days off, she said.

The Navy’s Pacific Missile Test Center at Point Mugu, where 9,700 civilians and military personnel are on the payroll, also is running a pilot project with the 100 employees in its Human Resources Office. The Navy base is considering adopting the 9-80 work schedule for its 5,000 civilian workers to help reduce pollution, Lt. Cmdr. Gene Okamoto said.

But fighting smog has not always been the impetus behind using the compressed workweek.

The Oxnard Police Department implemented the four-day week for patrol officers in 1975 so overlapping shifts would put more police officers on city streets during times of high crime. The county Public Social Services Agency switched 400 of its 750 employees to the 9-80 schedule in 1975 because social workers and welfare eligibility officers needed longer weekends to combat the stress of the job, said Curt Hansen, personnel officer for the agency.

And other county agencies also switched employees to revised schedules years ago.

In the county assessor’s office, 55% of the 143 employees work a four-day week. The office adopted the schedule in 1973 because assessors were losing valuable work time during the commute to properties in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. The longer day allowed them to stay and work longer, Assistant Assessor Glenn Gray said.

The road maintenance division of the county Public Works Agency switched 76 employees to the four-day week in the mid-1970s to reduce fuel consumption during the energy crisis.

It ran smoothly for the most part. However, Loren Blair, deputy director of public works, said some unexpected problems arose.

Machine operators had to adjust to the longer day. And, unexpectedly, some employees had problems with the longer weekends.

Encouraged to pursue more hobbies with the extra time off, some employees began buying expensive recreational items and ran into some financial problems, Blair said.

But the grumbling soon stopped and the program runs smoothly, he said.

And employees at other businesses give the shorter weeks rave reviews, saying the long weekends let them spend more time with their families, devote energy to other pursuits and just plain relax.

About 30 officers in the Oxnard Police Department are attending college on their days off to complete bachelor’s or master’s degrees, Oxnard Police Lt. Tom Cady said. Five officers used their days off to coach different sports programs, such as junior varsity teams at local high schools.

And some officers have devoted the extra time to developing businesses on the side.

Officer Mike Alford, 43, began a boat-repair business during his days off three years ago. The business, which grew to the point that Alford had to hire three employees, brings in about $5,000 a month, he said.

The plan also has received rave reviews from officers in the Ventura Police Department, which switched patrol officers to the schedule in 1972.

“They’d fight to the death to make sure the schedule’s maintained,” Ventura Police Lt. A.J. Farrar said. Close to 70% of the department’s 122 sworn officers and 70 civilian employees are on the schedule, he said.

Cpl. John Leach of the Ventura Police Department had been a homicide detective for 11 years when he decided to return to patrols, partly in order to enjoy the three-day weekends.

“There are some guys who will stay in patrol forever just because of that,” Leach said.