Workweek Wishes : Reactions Mixed on Whether to Reinstate 5-Day Schedule

The prospect of returning to a five-day week drew mixed reactions Thursday from county government workers, some loathing the idea of giving up their Friday off-days and others preferring to resume regular eight-hour days.

The same reaction came from Thousand Oaks City Hall, another jurisdiction that compressed its employees’ weekly schedule to four 10-hour days as a way to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and related air pollution.

But now that the federal government has lifted its mandate for such so-called trip-reduction plans, both city and county officials are reconsidering their shortened workweeks--a schedule that frequently frustrates and angers the public.

“It’s more than a pain,” Camarillo building contractor Gary Hensley said. “The biggest problem is getting inspections,” he said, adding that when he needs an inspector on a Friday, he’s out of luck. “Everything stops.”

Yet not surprising, 83% of county employees reported they were either very satisfied or generally satisfied with the four-day week, according to a 1994 employee survey. Fourteen percent were dissatisfied with the plan and the remainder had no opinion. About 2,000 of the county’s 6,000 employees are on the four-day plan. The courts and sheriff’s offices, for instance, remain open five days a week.

“I prefer it [four-day week] 100%,” said Phil Mirkovich, a senior engineer in the county Public Works Agency. “I like to play golf on Fridays.”

Most of his colleagues prefer it too, but not all.

Senior engineer John K. Correa said he would gladly give up Fridays for a shorter workday. “I don’t like working 10 hours a day,” he said.

Correa also questions the premise for a four-day week: curbing the number of commuters one day each week. “It’s stupid,” he said. “People still drive their cars on Fridays.”

Under a new law signed by President Clinton two days before Christmas, the federal Clean Air Act no longer requires the county government or any employer with 100 or more workers to try to reduce the number of commuters driving to work.

Richard H. Baldwin, the county’s air pollution control officer, said he will soon propose changes to local guidelines to give employers new ways to reduce air emissions other than trying to change their employees’ driving habits.

Once that is done, the county and Thousand Oaks government will lose the principal reason to retain the four-day workweek--other than its popularity among employees.

Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester said Thursday he has directed his staff members to prepare alternative work schedules for consideration by the County Board of Supervisors on March 19.

Three of the county’s five supervisors--John K. Flynn, Frank Schillo and Judy Mikels--have said they favor keeping the county government center open all week to serve the public. Supervisor Maggie Kildee is willing to consider new options to the current schedule.

“I think we will be open five days a week sometime early this year,” Flynn said. “The votes are there for it.”

In Thousand Oaks, where about 250 City Hall employees have been observing the four-day workweek for three years, there is a growing consensus among city officials that the public would be better served by a five-day workweek.

Councilman Mike Markey and Councilwoman Elois Zeanah--usually political foes--seem to agree on this issue.

“It’s been a farce anyway,” Zeanah said. “It never worked. People travel [by car] on Fridays anyway.”

Some local residents have adjusted to the Friday closure, making use of staggered staff schedules that allow City Hall to open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Newbury Park-based swimming pool builder Kim Martin said the current four-day schedule suits him fine. “The nice thing about it is that they are open late,” Martin said. “I like it because I come in and get full attention in the evenings.”

The prospect of losing their permanent three-day weekends caused mixed reaction among Thousand Oaks municipal workers at City Hall Thursday. While many employees said they would miss the extra days off, others said the long hours they have been working Mondays through Thursdays actually have reduced productivity.

“I think the employees will definitely be disappointed,” City Clerk Nancy Dillon said. “But I do feel personally that a five-day workweek is more productive. I think there is just more down time in a 10-hour day.”

In the 1994 survey of county employees, most reported that the four-day week improved their productivity, morale and helped them balance their work and private lives.

Some employees said they appreciate having Fridays to spend with their families, once they were able to arrange for extended child-care needs on the other days.

Deputy County Clerk Olivia Lopez said she has spent many Fridays shuttling her elderly father to doctors’ offices and other appointments. Without the free weekday, she said, she would be forced to take more time off work.

Longtime county employee Marybeth Peterson said she had a difficult transition to the long, tiring days. But now she would hate to give up those three-day weekends.

“The public thinks that we are just loafing,” Peterson said of the county’s short week. “They don’t realize that we are putting in the same number of hours. By Thursday, you are dead.”

The Point Mugu Navy base also compressed its workweek to help reach air-quality goals. About 8,700 employees now work nine-hour days and take off every other Friday.

Base spokesman Alan Alpers said Thursday that Navy officials have no plans to review the work schedule, because the base saves about $1.5 million a year in reduced utilities, air shuttle flights to a sister base in the Mojave Desert and gate guards by shutting down operations on 26 Fridays each year.

“With our overhead cost problems the way they are, I don’t think will are considering a change,” he said.

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Times staff writer Carlos V. Lozano and correspondent Scott Hadly contributed to this story.