Head Tale

Tomorrow is my YouDay.  Since the government hasn't officially declared it a statutory holiday as per my recommendation, I am taking it off using one of my earned holidays as per my personal YouDay policy. 

Having Friday off, along with the recent news that the State of Utah is moving 20% of government employees to a four-day, ten-hour-per-day workweek, has me thinking about the concept of a shorter workweek a bit more.

I also speak of this from experience.  My very first post-undergrad job was with the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, an organization that utilizes a four-day workweek for all employees – from the Executive Director on down to the temporary summer student. 

(I admit that having this perk in my first job spoiled me quite a bit and was probably the best perk in a job that had many.  I always thought that the various perks we got at the SPG were related to the fact that, as a cultural non-profit, they couldn't afford to pay their employees what they would make in similar positions in government or larger non-profits or corporations or whatever.  But I soon realised that the SPG was very generous – even by cultural non-profit standards.  Some day, I'll do a full-on post about employee perks and benefits and delve into this subject a bit more. 

And to be fair, I should list the best perks/benefits of my two other “real” jobs.  At the Writers Guild of Alberta, the best perk/benefit was having almost total autonomy as the sole employee of the Calgary office which was followed closely by having an office on the edge of downtown with a fantastic view of the Calgary skyline.  At Southeast Regional Library, one of the best perks is getting the library's discount on any book we order for ourselves.) 

So, anyhow, back to the topic at hand, one thought I have about the innovative scheduling is that libraries are sort of missing the boat when compared to the other two female-dominated professions that we often get linked to.  Nurses have almost complete flexibility in their scheduling – Shea has a choice of working a 2/5, 3/5, 4/5 or full-time position.  She can choose to only work days, only work nights,  job share a position, to work casual on 1-2 floors and only come in when she chooses, etc.  Teachers, partly due to the legacy of the agricultural roots of the school year, get the whole summer off plus generous holidays at other times of year.  I know they don't get the flexibility in their time off but I'd say that 10-12 weeks of holidays per year is a fair trade!  Librarians (at least public librarians – some academic librarians get some of the same extended holidays as teachers) don't really get these advantages in most workplaces.  Instead, most public librarians have a fairly typical 9-5, seven or seven and a half hour workday with four weeks of holidays and not much else in terms of choice or variety in when and how they work. 

There are dozens (okay, sixteen on this link) reasons why the four-day work week is a great idea.  From the reduction in pollution from less commuting (maybe high gas prices have a positive after all?) to the increased amount of family time to the fact that it may even increase productivity (!), the four day work week is an idea whose time has come. 

I mean, if it's good enough for the best show on television, isn't it good enough for you too?