Press Release

Oakland County 4/40 Program Gains Momentum

Pontiac, MI, October 15, 2008 Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said today during a news conference that 544 county employees are participating in the four-day, 40-hour workweek program after six months in operation. 

County Executive departments including Management and Budget, Central Services, Human Resources, Health and Human Services, Public Services, Information Technology, Economic Development and Community Affairs, Parks and Recreation and Facilities Management and Operations account for 395 of the total.  Also participating are the Drain Office, Sheriffs Department, District Court and Probate Court.

The Prosecutors Office, Treasurer, Board of Commissioners, Clerk/Register of Deeds and Circuit Court are not participating in the 4/40 program as yet.  However Circuit Court is still looking at the possibility of becoming involved and the Sheriffs Department is considering expanding the program beyond just the Civil Administration Division to members of the command staff.

This program has really caught on and in the coming days I fully expect more county departments to participate, Patterson said. The initial feedback weve received after six months has been extremely positive.

Patterson also pointed out that Karen Jones of the Human Resources Department, who is heading up the program and Nancy Scarlet, Human Resources director, have been speaking to a number of groups around the state about the countys 4/40 program.  For example, they have made presentations to the American Society of Employers and the Michigan Association of Counties.

Oakland County has also received calls from the Mayors office in Denver and the states of New Mexico and Kentucky as well as the local communities of Birmingham, Royal Oak and Davison Township, all expressing interest in starting their own version of the countys 4/40 program.

Joining Patterson at the news conference was Wixom City Manager Mike Dornan whose employees recently went on the four-day, 40-hour work week.  Dornan is pleased with how the program is working out.

Our motivations were purely selfish.  We spent more than a year studying the impact of various cost-savings programs, and found the compressed workweek initiative to be a sound move toward saving our citizens and employees money, said Dornan.  All traditions were new at one time.   It took a lot of courage to make this move, and people were skeptical about the results but during these challenging economic times, were all forced to do things differently.  Now that were a month into our pilot program, were seeing that the city is saving money, while service is actually improved by the expansion of our operating hours.

Also attending the news conference was Steve Groulx, CEO of WorkLife Financial, whose company implemented the 4/40 program on July 14, 2008.  Forty of his employees are on the shortened work week and the majority of the rest indicated in a survey they would consider switching to it if their schedules allowed.

Providing the option of a 4-day work week has given our employees a benefit they want and the flexibility they need to accommodate their lives, Groulx said.  Our employees have noticed a reduction in the amount of fuel they use as well as the amount of time spent commuting to and from work.

When he announced the 4/40 program in May, Patterson said one less day of driving for employees would translate into a 20% reduction in fuel consumption and costs.  By extending the program to 100,000 of Oakland Countys 700,000 member workforce, Patterson estimated $33 million could be saved.

Oakland County Human Resources will conduct a survey this month of managers and employees to determine the effectiveness of the 4/40 program and to see if modifications are needed to make it more attractive to a larger segment of the county workforce.

For media inquiries only, please contact Bob Dustman, Media and Communications Officer, at (248) 858-1048.

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