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 Considerations
For the employers
- 4/40 Schedule
A 4/40 schedule is mostly appropriate for office-based jobs that do not usually require many hours of overtime work. A 10-hour day should allow employees to complete more work and employers to avoid overtime payments.
- 9/80 Schedule
Some employers may not find a 4/40 ideal as there is less continuation in job responsibilities when an employee has one day off every week. However, employers may still strongly wish to retain skilled employees in a full-time position. In such scenarios, employers may choose to adopt a 9/80 schedule instead, when the 10th day off falls on an off-peak day.
- 3/12 Schedule
In certain industries, there are fixed peak days in the week, e.g. weekends. As most full-time employees work a five-day workweek, these organisations would have to pay overtime to employees to meet the peak periods which fall outside regular working hours, or hire more part-time employees to cover these periods. They would be wise to consider the growing pool of employees who would be willing to work longer hours in the day in exchange for fewer work days.
Employers can also consider a 3/13 workday schedule for office-based staff. However, under the Employment Act, a 13-hour workday is not allowed for
(a) Workmen
(b) Employees who are in receipt of a salary not exceeding $1,600.
A compressed workweek may not be feasible when
(a) Work requires serving customers during set hours
(b) Work has daily deadlines
(c) All employees need to be present at job site at all times
Attached is a sample checklist on issues to
consider before implementing a Compressed Workweek.
If the barriers to compressed workweek cannot be resolved, the organisation / employee may consider other types of flexible work arrangements.
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