Hoyer Advocates for a Four-Day Work Week

Like long weekends?

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) is pushing a work week of four, 10-hour days for federal employees.

In a letter, released this week, to the Office of Personnel Management, he asked the agency to "undertake comprehensive analysis of the transitioning to a 4-day work week for all possible federal employees and inform me by August 31, of any additional actions Congress would need to take to implement such a policy by the end of fiscal year 2008."

Hoyer acknowledged that federal agencies and departments "already have discretion to implement alternative work schedules."

That discretion is underlined by an OPM document, "Negotiating Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules," which says a 1982 law "authorizes a versatile and innovative work scheduling program for use in the Federal Government."

The document says "many management officials are finding that the use of flexible and compressed work schedules can help resolve a number of personnel problems." Those problems include employees with dependent-care responsibilities.

The high cost of fuel makes the four-day week all the more important, Hoyer's letter said. "In these times of high gasoline prices, I believe the federal government should do all it can to ensure that federal agencies and departments are appropriately reducing gasoline consumption. This goal can be accomplished with the adoption of personnel policies to limit unnecessary commuting."

He noted that "state and local governments across the nation, including New Mexico, Virginia, and Utah, are implementing 4-day work weeks to conserve energy, reduce fuel consumption, and alleviate congestion."

Flexible hours are important not only for current employees, but also for attracting potential recruits. "Additionally, given current demographic predictions," the document continues, "federal employers will have to offer employees more flexibility in their work lives if they are to successfully recruit and retain qualified workers"

According to OPM, the "use of flexible and compressed work schedules helped agencies recruit for some hard-to-fill jobs and helped agencies retain employees who otherwise would have resigned or been terminated."

Complaints of Bias Decline

Complaints about discrimination in the federal workplace are dropping, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

On Tuesday, EEOC Chairwoman Naomi C. Earp released the Annual Report on the Federal Work Force for fiscal year 2007.