Short Workweek’s Value in Cutting Smog Doubted
A perk lurks in the brown haze that blurs the Southern California horizon. Employees of the region’s smog control agency get every Monday off, dirty skies or not.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District closes Mondays as part of its “trip reduction” plan, a 1987-vintage program designed to cut smog by thinning commuter traffic.
Over the years, the idea has spread to local governments throughout California, especially in the Los Angeles area. City halls from Glendale to Irwindale and Santa Monica to South El Monte shut down at least one workday every other week.
But there is a problem with these “compressed” work schedules: They have yielded no documented gains in the pursuit of cleaner air, not a blip on the smog charts, experts say.
Private industry generally rejected such schedules as impractical. And studies have suggested that the short weeks might cause slight increases in pollution because many people take more car trips on their days off.
Ozone levels aside, the long weekends have quietly become a prized benefit for government workers. They often are negotiated into labor union contracts and dangled as recruitment lures, never mind the inconvenience to folks like Bill Hale.
On a recent Monday morning, the automotive sales representative dropped by the AQMD’s Diamond Bar headquarters to inquire about a fleet contract.
“This is ludicrous,” Hale said after finding the place deserted. “They’re supposed to be public servants. It’s a joke.”
Hasan Ikhrata, planning and policy director for the Southern California Assn. of Governments, sympathizes.
“You’re probably benefiting the morale of the employees of the cities at the expense of the public,” he said. “You’re doing this for reasons other than congestion and air quality.”
Ikhrata has come 180 degrees on the issue. More than a decade ago, while working for the AQMD, he helped persuade municipalities to adopt the compressed weeks. Eventually, he had reviewed enough material on driving habits and smog readings to decide that the four-day schedules were a folly.
“People drive like crazy on their days off,” Ikhrata said. “Bottom line, there is no air quality or congestion benefit from this.”
AQMD officials disagree. They say any initiative that eases congestion during peak commuting hours can lower emissions. “We have to use all the tools that are available to us,” said Barry R. Wallerstein, the AQMD’s executive officer.
District spokesman Sam Atwood, however, acknowledged that it has no data linking shorter weeks to less smog. “I don’t think we’ve ever done our own studies on this,” he said.
The studies that have been done proved discouraging.
In the early 1990s, a USC researcher found that although workers on the compressed schedules drove fewer miles during the week, the totals were negligible. SCAG surveys in 1995 and 1998 concluded that the workers took more trips overall and generated more emissions.
In smog science, distances traveled can be less important than the tally of trips. Today’s autos spew most of their pollutants when the engine is started. After ignition, it takes a minute or so for catalytic converters -- the tailpipe devices that cleanse exhaust -- to warm up and do their job. That means short jaunts to the market or mall can produce more smog than one long drive to the office.
AQMD records show that Mondays and Fridays are as smoggy as other weekdays.
But many cities continue to tout the pollution-fighting value of abbreviated workweeks. The schedules are particularly popular in the San Gabriel Valley, where 10 cities lock their doors every Friday and three close on alternate Fridays.
“The reason we adopted this is the air quality board asked us to,” said Juan Mireles, assistant city manager for El Monte, whose employees work 10-hour shifts Monday through Thursday. “The public’s gotten used to it. We haven’t heard any big complaints about it.”
He hasn’t heard from Joseph Sena. The El Monte cabinetmaker was walking to an appointment on busy Valley Boulevard when he noticed the darkened windows of City Hall.
“It should be open,” Sena said. “If they can take Friday off, everybody should be able to.”
A precise count of California city and county governments with short weeks is not available. SCAG estimates that roughly 140 of its 185 member cities in six counties offer employees a variety of compressed schedules.
About 5% of Los Angeles County’s employees and half of the city of Los Angeles’ workers are on short weeks. The county closes some offices on Fridays, such as the 1,600-employee Alhambra headquarters of the Public Works Department.
Many state and federal bureaucracies permit employees to work so-called “flex-time” schedules, but do not close offices. They include the California Air Resources Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco.
“We think there is some [clean-air] benefit to the schedules,” said air board spokesman Richard Varenchik. “We think they help a little bit.”
Cheryl Parisi, executive director of Council 36 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 20,000 workers in Southern California, called the schedules a “win-win.”
“It’s obviously been beneficial to the environment. And it’s become a very accepted condition of employment,” she said.
Nathan Williams, a code enforcement officer for Carson, where city offices close every Friday, said he and his 275 co-workers “just fell in love” with the schedules. He noted that since most holidays fall on a Monday, Carson workers enjoy 13 four-day weekends a year. “We’re doing our part too,” Williams said. “We’re removing a large number of cars from the highway.”
The California Taxpayers’ Assn. is skeptical. “Someone needs to take a look and see if this is a boondoggle,” said association spokesman Ron Roach. “Some of this stuff can go on and on, and nobody ever looks at it.”
The four-county AQMD does not require the compressed schedules. Under its regulations, public- and private-sector employers with at least 250 workers at one site must select from a menu of smog-curbing measures. Short weeks are an option. The others range from carpooling to paying fees into a cleanup fund.
About 170 of the 1,600 employers covered by the AQMD’s rules have compressed schedules. Most are government agencies. Among the rest are manufacturers, financial firms and hospitals. Many companies that tried the truncated weeks quickly abandoned them because they disrupted operations, threatened customer service and drove up overtime costs, researchers say.
“It sort of died as a major idea,” said Genevieve Giuliano, the USC planning and development professor who conducted the study on the schedules. “It created a lot of problems.”
But cities seized on it, even if they were exempt from the AQMD’s program because of their small size. Administrators say the short weeks pay dividends beyond cleaner air, such as savings on utility bills and less abuse by employees of sick leave. They promote the schedules as a means of attracting and retaining workers.
“It’s a great motivation factor,” said Irwindale City Manager Steve Blancarte, whose employees get every Friday off.
Like other supporters of the short workweeks, Blancarte said the city’s extended hours on the days it is open -- from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. -- enable residents to visit municipal offices before and after their own work shifts.
“Once the public gets accustomed to a closed city hall, they’re able to work their schedules around it,” he said.
Other city managers scoff at that notion. “We’re in the public service business,” said Glendora City Manager Eric Ziegler, whose employees clock in Monday through Friday. “How can you serve the public if you’re closed?”
The idle Fridays have strained relations between some neighboring cities, which coordinate efforts on development, transportation and other matters. A case in point is Burbank and Glendale; Burbank is open five days a week, while Glendale closes on alternate Fridays.
“They just flat out don’t answer the phone,” said Mary Alvord, Burbank’s assistant city manager. “If you try to conduct business with them, you just can’t do it.”
Alvord sighed. “It seems backward to be closed to the public when other agencies, like the post office, are trying to be more flexible with their hours,” she said. “It sends the wrong message to residents.”
Glendale City Manager Jim Starbird bristled at the criticism. “That’s their view,” he said of Burbank officials. He added that the Friday closures have become “part of the routine” for employees, although the city is studying whether to end them.
“Admittedly they are confusing, from the standpoint of public service,” Starbird said.
Joey Sanchez was confused when he tugged on the bolted front door of Glendale City Hall.
“It’s not even the weekend,” said Sanchez, a college student who had come to pay a parking ticket. “This is the government -- it should be open five days a week. I don’t have time for this.”
