Switching Work Week

Over the years, we have undergone a few major changes. This includes, but not limited to switching our exempt employees from current to one week in arrears, changing our pay system from outsourced to in house, upgrading our timekeeping system, and switching which Friday is pay day.

Our most recent change is to our work week. Changing a work week is tricky stuff. A lot of communication needs to be involved. This includes communication with supervisors and managers and also to the employees. Things that need to be communicated are changes to schedules, if any, and most importantly, changes to paychecks. Another task is to update our compliance documents so we are prepared when the auditors come a visiting.

During our recent change, we switched from a 5/40 schedule (working 40 hours within 5 days) to a 9/80 schedule. A 9/80 schedule is working 80 hours within 9 days and having the 10th day off. Employees would work 9 hours Monday through Thursday and 8 hours on Friday and then 9 hours Monday through Thursday with Friday off, rinse and repeat. The Friday where 8 hours is worked, 4 hours go in Week 1 and 4 hours go to Week 2. In order to do this, you need to change the work week to half way through Friday. This can be accomplished on any pay cycle. We happen to be on a bi-weekly cycle. This new schedule includes production and office employees and is used to save on costs. The entire plant is shut down on the ‘off’ Friday. This saves on everything from electricity for lights, computers, and equipment to the water that flushes the toilets. It also saves employees in gas for commuting to work that extra day. It may not seem like much in a day, but it does add up.

When switching work weeks, you need to keep in mind some extra review is required. Employers, specifically, the payroll department needs to review the hours that overlap on the work week change. In our case, we switched the work week by 12 hours. We have to review the work week as it was originally and then review the work week with the change. If overtime is greater in either week, it must be paid. We must look at each employee timecard and determine in favor of the employee. We have around 1200 employees. We have a big project for the month of June. Section 2.6-1 of the Payroll Source is an excellent guide for this type of review.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions that would make a transition like this easier?
Brain Two