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• MetroPool's Third Annual Leadership Awards.
  
  
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  Compressed Work Week is a win-win situation at Raytheon.
  
  
• New tax relief for employers with traffic reduction plans in Connecticut.
  
  

When Benjamin Franklin said time is "the stuff life is made of" back in 1757, he probably had never heard of a compressed work week. But Franklin would likely approve of the way his lesson has been applied by managers of the Raytheon plant in Danbury.

The Danbury facility (which at the time was owned by Hughes) wanted to do its part to clean the air and reduce traffic congestion. The area had marginal transit service, however, and many of the plant's employees were in hands-on manufacturing jobs that were not suited to telecommuting. The plant is located in a busy area not far from Danbury Mall, very close to Route 7, which means lots of rush hour traffic.

So managers used the clock as their secret weapon: they took the "hour" out of rush hour, which spread the impact of employees arriving at work over a longer period. That "flex time" approach -- which allowed employees to start anywhere from 7:00am to 9:00am -- turned into a full-scale compressed work week arrangement about three years ago.

"It kind of started on the west coast at Hughes, then migrated out here," said Site Manager Dan Genovese. The alternative work schedule program gave both the employees and the company maximum flexibility in their time management.

"The system is working real well right now," said Genovese. "Our company recognizes employees' need for flexibility. It allows people to plan their time. You can make a doctor's appointment on Friday, or make it Wednesday afternoon and work on Friday. It makes for a more flexible work week than we ever had before. And it means more productivity because departments can plan their operations."

According to Eileen Smith, Human Resource Associate at Raytheon's Danbury site, employees have three work schedule choices:

• a regular five day, 40 hour week.
• a "9/80" schedule, which means nine hours a day for nine days, with the tenth day (usually a Friday) off.
• or, a 5/36/4 schedule, in which the employee works nine hours a day Monday through Thursday, then works a half-day on Friday.

A holiday week causes the schedule to revert back to the regular five day, 40 hour schedule. "If you have a vacation or sick day you're using your 9 hours for that day," explained Smith. (Raytheon's vacation schedule is based on accumulated hours rather than days.)

About two-thirds of Raytheon's 540 employees are involved in the program, Genovese noted. Participating employees sign a form requesting permission for a schedule change. Each employee's supervisor must approve the request before the employee can change work schedules.

"Most weeks it works out," said Smith. "It's a real morale booster for people. They feel they have some control."

She said co-workers don't generally complain, because supervisor approval ensures that the employee is working when he or she is needed. Supervisor approval is contingent on the deadlines and work demands of each week.

"The bottom line is getting the work done," said Smith. If an employee's request just won't fit with the production schedule that week, the supervisor sits down with the employee and explains why the schedule change can't be allowed at that time. "A lot of communication goes into it between the employee and supervisor," Smith observed.

Genovese explained that the scheduling arrangement is not universal. "Some functions require the person to work a 40 hour week," he said. Some departments split days off between different groups of employees, in order to make sure necessary functions are covered while providing some flexible scheduling for workers. Genovese said that for some support functions, having those employees work 40 hours is best for the plant's operation.

A lot of managers take advantage of the flexible schedule for themselves, too, Genovese noted. "I do it myself when I can."

Raytheon's work schedule flexibility compliments its ridesharing program. One vanpool and about 60 carpools come into the site. The plant provides preferential parking for carpools and vanpools next to the building.

A word of advice for employers considering a similar work week arrangement: "A primary purpose of any flexible work week should be to improve and maintain productivity to meet both external and internal customer needs," said Genovese. "A company must provide a basic structure that allows maximum flexibility without jeopardizing this primary goal."

For more information, contact Tom Arconti at Raytheon (203-797-5355), or Holly Burbank at MetroPool (203-324-6700).