Cowley County Administrator Leroy Alsup is looking at the pros and cons of a four-day work week for county employees.
Several other Kansas counties are already working the traditional 40 hour week at 10 hours a work day for four days. Officials in Gove and Elk counties expect the change will provide savings with both the high cost of energy and fuel.
"It will also benefit employees and save them dollars by not having to drive to work that fifth day," Alsup said.
County commissioners have not yet discussed a four-day work week. "Before we discuss something like that, we need to explore the ramifications," Alsup said.
"Does it really save the county money? What benefits are there to employees? How does it affect the efficiency of the various operations?"
Road and bridge crews already work 10 hour days during the summer. They would be working in the dark if they maintained the four day work week in the winter, Alsup said.
"At the courthouse, we have to look at District Court, which is controlled by the state," he said. "A lot of the statutes are written that certain things have to be done within a certain number of days, except weekends. What happens if that day falls on Friday and they’re not open. That becomes a legal question. So, there are a lot things that have to be looked at."
There are various options that might be considered to keep offices open Monday through Friday. If there are five in an office, you might have four people there everyday and one might work Monday through Thursday and one work Tuesday through Friday.
The county offices would still be open five days a week but employees would work four days, Alsup said.
"So, it’s more complex than just a simple decision," he said. "Some employees have expressed some interest. Some employees are comfortable the way we do things now."
Elk County – which borders Cowley County on the northeast – went to the four-day work week June 1.
"It seems to be working really well," Elk County Treasurer Deanna Jones said. "We’ve had a handful of people who didn’t like it but, for the most part, everybody is pretty pleased."
But Elk County ‘s population is just 3,000 compared to Cowley County’s population of approximately 34,931. The Elk County Road Department, like Cowley County, goes to a four-day work week in the summer.
There are approximately 15 Elk County employees affected by the change in addition to road department employees. Cowley County has 140 full-time employees.
That number includes Community Corrections, Juvenile Services and the sheriff’s office but does not include Mental Health or Health Department employees.
Elk County District Court employees wanted to make the change, according to Jones, but the district judge said denied the request. The court is still open from 8 a.m to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The offices that did make the change open at 7 a.m. and close at 5:30 P.M. Offices remain open during the lunch hour with employees taking half-hour lunch breaks.
"I think it is a savings to employees with gas. Several of us drive 25 miles one way to work," Jones said. "Also (I think it is a savings) with heating and cooling. All of our offices are cooled by window air conditioners. We don’t have central heat and air. In the winter, we’re heated by a boiler. If District Court has to remain open, the boiler still has to work."
The three-day weekend, Jones said, is wonderful. Everyone has to get up a little earlier for work but that extra day off is really nice, she said.
"I think it’s also going to cut down on sick days being taken off. A lot of people can schedule those appointments for Friday," Jones said. "We’re pleased with it."
Gove County is in west central Kansas and, like Elk County, smaller than Cowley County. It was Gove County’s decision to change work days that led to the change for Elk County.
Cowley County Treasurer Kathy Foust said she was at a state treasurer’s meeting recently when the conversation turned to a four-day work week. Anyone who worked for a county considering the change was asked to raise their hands. Only four did, Foust said.
"I don’t want to go to a four-day work week," Foust said. ‘I want to go to variable time."
Foust said she doesn’t have enough employees to go to the longer work day – which in her case would probably end at 7 p.m. Her office deals with the largest number of taxpayers who visit the courthouse since she collects both property and motor vehicle tax, she said.
Foust would prefer to stagger lunch hours so the office is fully staffed during the noon hour when the largest crowds show up. Having more staff on duty then would reduce the wait for taxpayers and the complaints, she said.
"Another thing to consider is that the smaller counties don’t have as much traffic flow as Cowley County, " Foust said.
Some employees in the treasurer’s office who live in?Ark City are dealing with the high cost of fuel by carpooling. That might work for other county employees as well, she said.
Concerns about child care, homework and the dinner rush as well as sports practices and school events have to be addressed as well.
Cowley County commissioners might take up the debate in a few weeks, according to Alsup.
"Before we discuss it at the commission level, I thought it best to make sure from a staff prospective that we could handle what we might perceive might be pluses and minuses," he said.
