ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : More Flexible and Thrifty, Too

The eight-hour, five-day workweek is an American tradition that is a hard habit to break. But government, seeking new ways to economize during hard times, increasingly has joined private industry in experimenting with more flexible work schedules that net savings.

Now Orange County, which has had about 5,000 of its 16,400 employees on flexible schedules for many years, will nearly double the number of employees who will work longer hours per day and fewer days per year. Under the plan given initial approval this week on a 4 to 1 vote of the Board of Supervisors, the county could save up to $2 million annually. That’s money that can be used to fill in the huge gaps in funding caused by the state’s budget crisis.

The major change now in the offing in Orange County is expansion of the so-called “9/80” plan in which employees would work 80 hours over nine working days during a two-week period. That means they would get every other Friday off.

According to a report by the County Administrative Office, about $287,000 could be saved on heating and cooling bills, maintenance and other costs because the offices affected would be closed an extra 26 days a year. But the CAO expects to save even more through decreased overtime pay and employee sick days.

An added benefit would be that county employees would have to commute to work fewer days per year. That would help Orange County attain air pollution reduction goals set by the Southern California Air Quality Management Board.

The change in hours, of course, will require some adjusting on the part of the public because most people are used to having government offices open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on every weekday that’s not a holiday. But, once people catch on, they seem to accommodate to the new schedule of office hours pretty quickly.

Maybe they also will appreciate the county’s effort to save tax dollars.

Longer-hours/fewer-days plans can’t be implemented for all of Orange County employees. But, where they do work, and do save money, they are an idea whose time has come.