Compressed Work Week

CITY OF VANCOUVER
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE
M E M O R A N D U M

DATE: June 25, 1998 FILE: 1302
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Tarja Tuominen, Administrative Assistant to Council Committees
SUBJECT: Compressed Work Week
The Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets heard from thirty delegations on the Compressed Work Week on May 14 and 25, 1998, then deferred its decision to a future Council meeting. In addition, staff were requested to provide further information to assist Council in its deliberations. This matter has now been scheduled for consideration on Tuesday, July 7, 1998.
The following materials refer and are attached:
·Administrative Report, dated April 23, 1998, entitled Compressed Work Week
·Extract from Report to Council of Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets dated May 14, 1998
·Report to Council of Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets dated May 25, 1998
·Memorandum, dated June 10, 1998, from Director of Human Resources providing the requested information from staff.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
DATE: April 23, 1998 CC File: 1302

TO: Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM: City Manager, in consultation with the Corporate Management Team.
SUBJECT: Compressed Work Week
RECOMMENDATION
A.That staff, and CUPE Local 15 and IBEW Local 213 (Inspectors and Technicians) be given notice that the Compressed Work Week (specifically the Four Day Week and Nine Day Fortnight) will end September 1, 1998.
B.That the Police, Library and Park Boards be advised of Council’s action.
CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS
There is no question that the four day week is a major benefit to employees. However, it has significant implications for the service level that the City can provide the public. The business community that deals with the City for the most part works five days a week. The inability to deal with key staff and conduct business five days per week has been identified as a significant issue. Even internally, meetings involving a number of staff can only be scheduled effectively three days per week. Internal services suffer the same ‘customer service’ problems.
Responsiveness and continuity are key components of City service. With the increasing pressure on City budgets, options to enhance services are limited. The increased speed of business generally makes the limitation of the four day week unacceptable.
The City Manager advises that the Corporate Management Team has discussed the benefits and problems associated with the four day week extensively and unanimously supports this recommendation.
The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of A and B.
COUNCIL POLICY
Two aspects of Council policy and practice are relevant to this issue. Through the Better City Government program, Council has placed a high value on service to the public. At the same time, Council has given significant weight to the interests and concerns of City employees.
The following Council approved objectives are relevant:
·To provide quality service equitably
·To create a challenging, safe, healthy, and rewarding workplace
·To be fiscally responsible
·To create good government through:- Public participation- Internal improvement- Constructive external relations
PURPOSE
This report responds to Council’s request to report on the compressed work week and seeks Council's approval to give notice to terminate the compressed work week.
BACKGROUND
In 1976, a compressed work week was established initially in City Hall on an experimental basis. At the time, it was intended to provide some reduction in traffic travelling to and from City Hall. It was considered that if staff travelled on four days of the week instead of five and that travel occurred outside the standard hours of nine to five, traffic congestion would be reduced. City Hall employees would travel to work earlier and leave later. It was intended to motivate other employers in the City core to implement forms of modified working hours to reduce traffic volume. The idea never took hold and few other employers followed the City’s lead.
When the four day week was first implemented, Council retained the right to terminate the compressed work week by providing thirty days notice to staff and the unions representing those staff.
When the compressed work week was established at City Hall, it was established on a four day week basis. It was later modified in Parks, Library and the Health Department to a nine day fortnight as the operational requirements in those areas could not be met by the four day week. At the time of the implementation, there were some administrative rules that were considered necessary to minimize disruption to customer service. These included the expectation that staff on the compressed work week would ensure that doctor’s appointments were established on their day off; that their compressed day off would be adjusted or even revert to five days to accommodate training; that cross-training of colleagues would be essential to ensure customer service would continue; and that individuals would not be eligible for acting pay when they were covering for someone on their compressed day off.
The impact of the compressed work week has been formally reviewed twice -- in 1977, one year following the implementation, and again in 1984. In 1982, Council considered cancelling the provision. At that time, the City Manager recommended termination of the 4 day week and the 9 day fortnight. Council voted to retain the Compressed Work Week subject to certain conditions, including employees reverting to a five-day schedule temporarily to meet special conditions; a clear understanding that the free day not necessarily fall on a Monday or Friday; acceptance by employees that seniority is not a factor in developing rotational schedules; employees revert to a five day schedule for training when appropriate and employees scheduling medical appointments on their compressed day off.
At this time, there are approximately 1100 City employees on a compressed four day week and approximately 150 working a nine-day fortnight. Most employees of the City do not have access to the compressed work week. Many (police, fire, recreation, and others) work schedules specifically tailored to their work. CUPE 1004 staff (outside workers) work a five day, forty hour week.
DISCUSSION
From the beginning, there have been benefits and problems associated with the compressed work week. These were identified in the two formal studies. The benefits included:
·540·Assisting in recruitment and staff retention.·540
·540·A positive impact on employee morale and the contribution the compressed work week made in assisting employees to balance their work and family lives.·540
·540·Initial reduction in absenteeism.·540
·540·Expansion of the hours City Hall is open to the public from 40 to 45. ·540
·540·Longer time blocks for project work and fewer start up and shut down times at thebeginning and end of the day.·540
From the beginning, there have also been concerns with respect to the compressed work week. These include:
·540·Delays in providing customer service, both internal and external, in situations where one person is accountable for an issue or a project and others are unable to respond.·540
·540·Difficulties in communicating with staff within and between departments.·540
·540·Meetings invariably have to be scheduled on three of the five working days in a week in order to ensure everyone is able to attend. ·540
·540·Unanticipated costs for employee leaves such as sick leave, compassionate leave, union leave and scores of others. Most leave entitlements were adjusted to hours from days at the time of the implementation of the compressed work week, but when an individual is granted three days for compassionate leave, they are absent for 3/4 of their working week instead of 3/5. When an individual is absent for a day on sick leave, they are absent for 8.33 hours, instead of seven.·540
·540·Criticism from citizens and businesses that Council has granted its employees a compressed work week, whereas most people and businesses work a five day week and expect their government counterparts to do so also.·540
The reviews of the four day week conducted by Thorne Riddell Associates Ltd. in 1977 and again in 1984 operating as Thorne Stevenson & Kellogg identified the benefits noted above but also the problems that continue to plague the four day week. The reports also noted that it worked better in some departments and work units than in others and noted, in fact, that it likely could not continue to work in some areas.
The 1984 report suggests that higher morale and motivation can lead to real improvements in productivity and performance but suggests that the benefit of the compressed work week to employee commitment to the City had eroded over time. Reduced absenteeism was noted but questioned whether punctuality and tardiness were issues that needed to be addressed.
In 1998, the compressed work week continues to be a factor in recruiting. However, the benefit of improved morale has been eroded over time. The issue of providing the appropriate levels of service to the public and responding in a timely fashion to their issues and requests, along with internal communication, continues to be an underlying complaint of the four day week. Effectively, business can only be conducted on three days of the week.
The Corporate Management Team has considered the balance between the advantages to employees from the compressed work week and its implications for effective operations andcustomer service. The management team also considered the possibility of maintaining the compressed work week in some operations which can accommodate it more readily, but concluded that the equity and internal recruitment issues which would arise would more than offset the benefit of a limited compressed work week.
While acknowledging the significant benefits of the compressed work week to employees, the Corporate Management Team supports the recommendation that Council approve termination of the present arrangements and reverting to a five day week.
There may be instances where an individual will prefer to work four seven hour days (i.e. 4/5 time) for 4/5 pay and where that can work operationally, departments would be encouraged to accommodate that Schedule. There are also situations where work schedules based on a form of compressed work week have been designed specifically to meet an operational need, generally a twenty-four hour/seven day operation, where it may be advantageous to continue the existing schedule.
An issue arising from the elimination of the compressed work week will be the necessity to review the hours City Hall is open to the public. This will require discussions with CUPE Local 15, and will be reported back to Council.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There should be a limited reduction in costs for both temporary help and overtime. In addition, an increase in productivity and customer service can be anticipated in the longer term, although there could be short-term disruption.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
The elimination of the compressed work week will cause considerable disruption in the lives of some employees. Many have worked a four day week since they were hired and the compressed work week may have been the factor that drew them to work for the City in the first place. Some employees will leave.
The four day week/nine-day fortnight has been a recruiting advantage and has retained some staff who might not otherwise have remained with the City. That recruiting advantage will be lost.
Council can anticipate that for a period there will be an increase in the level of dissatisfaction among employees, morale will suffer and the compressed work week will likely be an issue at the next round of bargaining with CUPE Local 15. Some programs depending on employee goodwill may suffer.
A copy of this report has been provided to the unions involved.
SUMMARY
The advantages that caused the Council of the day to approve the compressed work week are outweighed by the significant disadvantages. It is considered advisable to terminate the compressed work week with adequate notice to staff to enable them to make the necessary modifications in their lives to accommodate the requirement to report to work on five days.
*****
EXTRACT FROM REPORT TO COUNCIL
STANDING COMMITTEE ON CITY SERVICES & BUDGETS
MAY 14, 1998
2. Compressed Work Week File: 1302
The Committee had before it an Administrative Report, dated April 23, 1998, in which the City Manager, in consultation with the Corporate Management Team, responded to Council’s request to report on the compressed work week and sought approval to give notice to terminate the compressed work week.
Ken Dobell, City Manager, briefly reviewed the report. The four-day week has existed for over twenty years. However, workers are not always available to answer questions, and it is not always practical to keep someone else informed. It is a disruption to the work of those outside and inside. Some other organizations have some forms of compressed work
weeks, such as nine-day fortnight, however the rest of the world is reverting to a five day work week. In addition, some staff work a four-day week while others work a five-day week which creates equity issues and internal pressure to move to a four-day week.
The following spoke in support of retaining the compressed work week:
·Rick Gates, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Brian Porter, Vancouver Association of Civic Managerial & Professional Staff (brief filed)
·Michael Flynn, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 213
·Jody Andrews, Engineering Department Professional Employees Group (brief filed)
·Trish French and Cliff Caprani, Compressed Work Week Steering Committee (brief and petition filed)
·Phil Mondor, Development & Building Review Group (brief filed)
·Jim Anderson, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Brian Riera, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Donalda Viaud, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Dierdre Bradshaw, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Tom Walker, Vancouver Compressed Workweek Network
·Louise Marphis (letters from City employees in support of the compressed work week filed)
·David Murphy
·Graham Lougheed
The following is a summary of the points made by the foregoing speakers:
·reverting to a 5-day schedule will create negative consequences for virtually everyone who is involved with the City: hardship for employees; increased costs to City; loss of volunteers for the community; increase in traffic; and a serious setback in labour relations;
·supervisors and managers have not found an instance where the four-day week affected customer service; any problems have less to do with the four-day week than lack of staff to do work;
·the City will be less attractive as an employer; the best and brightest will not come to work at the City;
·the big bone of contention on last contract talks with IBEW was the City’s requirement for flexibility of hours; elimination of compressed work week is an act of betrayal;
·the perceived benefit of the compressed work week has been the single most effective means to hold cost of living increases and overall remuneration for City of Vancouver engineers below market value; salaries are 15% below the BC market mean;
·a large number of organizations have some degree of compressed work week; a growing group of private companies are adopting Vancouver’s compressed work week to recruit and retain qualified staff and increase morale and productivity;
·the compressed work week has been a key factor in accommodating single mothers and care givers who might not otherwise be able to arrange or afford to pay for child care five days per week;
·cancellation of the compressed work week will not be cost neutral for employees because of added commuting, child care, and other costs;
·cancellation of the compressed work week will not be cost neutral for the City or taxpayer because it will likely result in higher staff turnover, increased training costs, a reduction in unreported overtime due to reduced staff morale, increased absenteeism due to medical and dental visits on City time, and a loss of some of the most marketable people;
·instead of accepting the recommendation to cancel the compressed work week, Council should instruct staff and management to work together to improve areas which need improvement, in a coordinated and accountable manner, using a number of suggested solutions under the following broad categories: better scheduling of staff and work, effective backup, customer communications and reconfirming the commitment;
·the real issue with the compressed work week is customer service; if customers receive excellent service, the compressed work week will not be an issue;
·the compressed work week is a significant Transportation Demand Management measure and makes an important contribution to reducing the demand for travel; it also reduces the number of trips, reduces congestion, and reduces vehicle emissions;
·the compressed work week is a reality almost everywhere in the public sector and more and more in the private sector;
·the City Manager’s report gives no documentation to support his arguments for potential cost savings by reverting to a five day week; however there would besignificant negative impacts, including a reduction in time spent with families.
The Chair noted, due to time constraints, the remainder of the speakers will be heard at a special meeting of the Standing Committee to be held on Monday, May 25, at 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers.
REPORT TO COUNCIL
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
ON CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS
MAY 14, 1998
A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on City Services and Budgets was held on Thursday, May 14, 1998 at 9:30 a.m., in Council Chambers, Third Floor, City Hall.

PRESENT:

Councillor George Puil, Chair
Mayor Philip Owen
Councillor Don Bellamy
Councillor Nancy A. Chiavario
Councillor Jennifer Clarke
Councillor Alan Herbert
Councillor Lynne Kennedy
Councillor Daniel Lee
Councillor Don Lee
Councillor Gordon Price
Councillor Sam Sullivan

CITY MANAGER'S
OFFICE:

Ken Dobell, City Manager

CLERK TO THE
COMMITTEE:

Tarja Tuominen
ADOPTION OF MINUTES
The Minutes of the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting of April 23, 1998, were adopted.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Review of Proposed Partnership with Richmond
for the Joint Production of Asphalt File: 5801
The Committee had before it an Administrative Report, dated April 6, 1998, in which the General Manager of Engineering Service presented the results of an independent analysis of a proposed partnership agreement between the Cities of Vancouver and Richmond for the production of asphalt, and recommends the financial partnership proceed. cont’d
Clause No. 1 (Cont’d)
Don Brynildsen, Assistant City Engineer, Streets, presented a brief overview of the report, noting KPMG, the independent analyst, concurs with the original Engineering Department analysis.
Anthony Toth, BC Road Builders & Heavy Construction Association, advised he felt Council had made a commitment that the independent analyst would contact industry representatives as part of the analysis. However, neither Mr. Toth’s organization, nor other private industry representatives were contacted. The analysis shows an anti-market, anti-private sector bias. His Association is still opposed to the renewal of City activity in the asphalt business. There is a high production overcapacity in the Lower Mainland; no government should exacerbate the problem.
The following motion by the Mayor was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,
RECOMMENDED
THAT the General Manager of Engineering Services be authorized to pursue a financial partnership with the City of Richmond for asphalt supply and to report back to Council for final approval.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
2. Compressed Work Week File: 1302
The Committee had before it an Administrative Report, dated April 23, 1998, in which the City Manager, in consultation with the Corporate Management Team, responded to Council’s request to report on the compressed work week and sought approval to give notice to terminate the compressed work week.
Ken Dobell, City Manager, briefly reviewed the report. The four-day week has existed for over twenty years. However, workers are not always available to answer questions, and it is not always practical to keep someone else informed. It is a disruption to the work of those outside and inside. Some other organizations have some forms of compressed work
cont’d
Clause No. 2 (Cont’d)
weeks, such as nine-day fortnight, however the rest of the world is reverting to a five day work week. In addition, some staff work a four-day week while others work a five-day week which creates equity issues and internal pressure to move to a four-day week.
The following spoke in support of retaining the compressed work week:
·Rick Gates, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Brian Porter, Vancouver Association of Civic Managerial & Professional Staff (brief filed)
·Michael Flynn, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 213
·Jody Andrews, Engineering Department Professional Employees Group (brief filed)
·Trish French and Cliff Caprani, Compressed Work Week Steering Committee (brief and petition filed)
·Phil Mondor, Development & Building Review Group (brief filed)
·Jim Anderson, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Brian Riera, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Donalda Viaud, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Dierdre Bradshaw, CUPE 15 (brief filed)
·Tom Walker, Vancouver Compressed Workweek Network
·Louise Marphis (letters from City employees in support of the compressed work week filed)
·David Murphy
·Graham Lougheed
The following is a summary of the points made by the foregoing speakers:
·reverting to a 5-day schedule will create negative consequences for virtually everyone who is involved with the City: hardship for employees; increased costs to City; loss of volunteers for the community; increase in traffic; and a serious setback in labour relations;
·supervisors and managers have not found an instance where the four-day week affected customer service; any problems have less to do with the four-day week than lack of staff to do work;
·the City will be less attractive as an employer; the best and brightest will not come to work at the City;
·the big bone of contention on last contract talks with IBEW was the City’s requirement for flexibility of hours; elimination of compressed work week is an act of betrayal;
cont’d
Clause No. 2 (Cont’d)
·the perceived benefit of the compressed work week has been the single most effective means to hold cost of living increases and overall remuneration for City of Vancouver engineers below market value; salaries are 15% below the BC market mean;
·a large number of organizations have some degree of compressed work week; a growing group of private companies are adopting Vancouver’s compressed work week to recruit and retain qualified staff and increase morale and productivity;
·the compressed work week has been a key factor in accommodating single mothers and care givers who might not otherwise be able to arrange or afford to pay for child care five days per week;
·cancellation of the compressed work week will not be cost neutral for employees because of added commuting, child care, and other costs;
·cancellation of the compressed work week will not be cost neutral for the City or taxpayer because it will likely result in higher staff turnover, increased training costs, a reduction in unreported overtime due to reduced staff morale, increased absenteeism due to medical and dental visits on City time, and a loss of some of the most marketable people;
·instead of accepting the recommendation to cancel the compressed work week, Council should instruct staff and management to work together to improve areas which need improvement, in a coordinated and accountable manner, using a number of suggested solutions under the following broad categories: better scheduling of staff and work, effective backup, customer communications and reconfirming the commitment;
·the real issue with the compressed work week is customer service; if customers receive excellent service, the compressed work week will not be an issue;
·the compressed work week is a significant Transportation Demand Management measure and makes an important contribution to reducing the demand for travel; it also reduces the number of trips, reduces congestion, and reduces vehicle emissions;
·the compressed work week is a reality almost everywhere in the public sector and more and more in the private sector;
·the City Manager’s report gives no documentation to support his arguments for potential cost savings by reverting to a five day week; however there would be significant negative impacts, including a reduction in time spent with families.
The Chair noted, due to time constraints, the remainder of the speakers will be heard at a special meeting of the Standing Committee to be held on Monday, May 25, at 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers.

The meeting adjourned at 12:05 p.m.
City of Vancouver
Inter-Office Correspondence

HUMAN RESOURCE SERVICES
DATE: 10 June 1998
MEMO TO: Mayor and Members of Council
COPY TO: CMT Members
Ulli Watkiss, City Clerk
FROM: Marilyn Clark, Director of Human Resources

SUBJECT: Compressed Work Week

Attached is information you requested and some additional background to assist you in your decision with respect to the Compressed Work Week for City staff:
1. A glossary of terms
2. Survey results of ages of children of staff who would be impacted by the elimination of the compressed work week. Employees with children under age 7 were asked to respond; CUPE Local 15 asked them to respond with respect to children under the age of 13 and if they had others for whom they had some responsibility for care. Of 283 responses received by noon June 9, 169 employees indicated they had children under the age of 7; another 79 reported children ages 7 to 12; 35 employees indicated some responsibility for others. The survey questionnaire is also attached for your information, along with the Union’s recommendations to staff.
3 A graph showing a comparison between CUPE Local 15 salaries and comparable positions in the British Columbia market, as reported in the 1997 KPMG Salary Survey, as well as the comparison of annual earnings of specified jobs in the City (top step) and those in the KPMG British Columbia market.
4. Average paid sick leave of staff represented by CUPE Local 15 in Vancouver and other GVRD jurisdictions. Statistics Canada reports that on average, each full-time employee in 1997 lost 7.4 days over the year for personal reasons, 6.2 for illness and 1.2 for personal or family demands.
5. Collective Agreement Comparison within B.C. for paid vacation and statutory holidays. Unionized CUPE members working for the City have benefits inthese areas that are about average relative to the other large employers; if we exclude the large health care employers, City employees are above average in time off.
6. There is not good current information with respect to total compensation comparisons. Our best information indicates that the value of benefits at the City and in the market is about the same and adds 30% to the paid compensation for the job.
Glossary of Terms - Compressed Work Week
1.Compressed Work Week - the normal hours an employee works are compressed into fewer days but the total hours they work remain the same - they may compress their hours into four days a week (as in the City); nine days every two weeks as in the Parks administrative office; fourteen days in fifteen working days as do some Provincial ministries.
2.Four Day Week - a form of Compressed Work Week which compresses the regular weekly hours into four longer days each week.
3.Nine Day Fortnight - a form of Compressed Work Week which compresses the regular bi-weekly hours into nine days instead of ten.
4.Flexible Working Arrangements - can include a Compressed Work Week; modified start and finish times which may be at the employee or the employer option; job share; telecommuting; core hours. The City currently has all of the foregoing with the exception of telecommuting and core hours.
5.Flextime - individuals have core hours when they are expected to be at work (eg. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). The balance of their day can be worked in a fashion that meets their personal needs which may include starting early, working late, or a combination depending on personal and organizational commitments.
6.Flexplace - telecommuting - generally for two days a week an employee works from their home office, reporting to work in the normal way on all other working days. Unions are not always supportive. CUPE Local 15 has turned down one request for telecommuting; we are scheduled to meet with them to discuss during the term of this agreement.
7.Flexible hours - includes an ability to have individuals start early or work late in order to accommodate meetings and flex their hours during the balance of the week. This occurs in the City. Parks recreation staff have flexible hours that provide them the ability to work as short a day as four hours, as long as eleven hours, but normal weekly hours, in order to deliver recreation services during the extended hours the community centres are open.
8.Job Sharing - two or more individuals share the responsibilities and the pay of one full time job. We have had a formal agreement with CUPE Local 15 since 1989 that provides a framework for job sharing. We also have examples of exempt staff job sharing.
9.Telework - work from home with electronic hook-ups.
City of Vancouver/June, 1998
City of Vancouver
Inter-Office Correspondence
HUMAN RESOURCE SERVICES
Date: May 25, 1998
Memo to: Staff on Compressed Workweek with Children under 7
From: Marilyn Clark, Director of Human Resources
Subject: Compressed Work Week
Council has asked us to provide them with information with respect to the number of employees who would be impacted by the elimination of the compressed work week who have children under the age of seven. If this applies to you, kindly complete the following questionnaire and return it to Human Resource Services by Friday, June 5.
1. I have ____ children under age 7
2. My child/children are ages ____________________
3. My child/children are cared for by:
My spouse/partner/their other parent Yes _____ No _____
Other family member Yes _____ No _____
Attending family day care Yes _____ No _____
Attending licensed day care Yes _____ No _____
Other (please describe)
3. My current total costs for daycare are:
Less than $400 per month Yes _____ No _____
From $400 to $599 Yes _____ No _____
From $600 to $799 Yes _____ No _____
$800 or more Yes _____ No _____
Elimination of the Compressed Work Week will add $ ______ to my day care costs.
4. My current workweek is: Four day week _____ Nine day fortnight _____ Job Share _____
Other Arrangement (please describe) ____________________________
I am a regular full time/part time employee of the City on a Compressed Work Week.

Name Department
Attachments to this Report that do not have electronic copy are available on file in the City Clerk's Office.
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