South Portland will pilot a four-day work week for many city employees beginning the week of Aug. 7.
The change follows a meeting on July 18 in which the city council discussed the decision and voted to approve changes to the Personnel Policy required for the shift. City hall, assessing, and the planning and development buildings will be closed to the public on Fridays. The buildings will open and close later to the public during the remaining weekdays.
The decision follows the city’s efforts to improve recruitment and retention of employees. Starting last fall, the city conducted a study with outside consultant Municipal Resources, Inc., to find solutions. The study researched various trends locally, nationally, and internationally, and also to look at South Portland specifically.
“It’s a very tight labor market and we have been working over the last several years to try and make sure that we remain a competitive employer,” said Stephanie Weaver, South Portland human resources director. “One of the trends or one of the changes that we saw in the workplace that was going on was basically to be closed on Fridays, to be a four-day work week.”
The city also did an employee survey for non-union employees and asked what things employers might do to make workplace more attractive and improve the work/life balance. The vast majority wanted a flexible schedule and 89 percent of the employees were interested in a four-day work week as an option. Each department was worked with to figure out how to best implement the change for each situation.
“I’m really excited about this change,” said Communications Officer Shara Dee. “I think the pandemic has really helped a lot of people really think about their time and about what’s important. This change will really give employees more flexibility over their time and I think that’s great for a whole host of reasons: for people’s wellbeing, for people to have a better work/life balance, and certainly from a recruitment standpoint.
“I think if many people were given the option between a great job where they could work four days a week and a great job where they needed to work five and there was less flexibility, that most people would choose the four-day week. So I’m really excited about the sorts of great talent that this change is going to bring to the city as well. We already have lots of great people on staff, really, really incredible people who work here, too, so I think from a retention standpoint and keeping the great people we have that work in the city on staff, that this is a really great development for the city.”
Union employees in the city are generally in police, fire, and public works. The first and second shifts in the police department have already implemented a four-day work week, and the first was not interested, Weaver said. The fire department already operates on a completely different schedule involving 24-hour shifts. The public works and parks unit has recently come forward with interest in negotiating a four-day work week.
The intent is to make up for the loss of Friday service with expanded access on other weekdays. The hours worked for city employees will remain the same, they will just be distributed differently.
“We’re trying to balance lack of service on Friday with increased service,” said Weaver. “So we’re going to have some earlier hours and some later hours so hopefully people will be able to actually do more, because our hours previously for service to the public were often when people were at work anyhow.”
This change has already been implemented in other communities and well received, said City Manager Scott Morelli.
“We would probably be one of the first of what I would consider to be the larger-tier communities in Maine to go for some sort of a condensed workweek,” Morelli said. “You know, that’s not anything that’s happening in Portland, Bangor, or Lewiston. But it’s been in existence forever in many smaller communities, and the medium-sized communities are actually adopting it. You look at Biddeford, Gorham, Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth, just to name a few. They have adopted this schedule. We have checked in with them. The initial feedback from them is that it has been well received.”
Portland will also be trying a four-day work week with certain departments, Weaver said.
The council discussed the change at its July 18 meeting. The council mostly supported the decision, with some concerns about the impact on the public. Councilor Deqa Dhalac discussed how a four-day work week is already used in several countries, is better environmentally due to more efficient operations, and how the change can be helpful for parents.
The council unanimously approved the action.
“One of the things that I am excited about is on my day off being able to run errands and do things like go to the supermarket and the post office while my kids are off at school and camp,” said Dee. “So that then in the evenings and on weekends, we can spend more quality time together instead of needing to juggle all that at once.”
For more information, visit https://southportland.org/contact-us/updates/press-releases/07-20-23/.
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