Working eight 9 hour shifts/pay period?

[Civex]

Has anyone ever had this type of schedule? Supervisor is considering allowing me to work 4 days/week, 9 hour shifts. I wouldn't get the luxury of 3 day weekends-we are too small of a department, but I would get a week day off each week.

Only potential downside I can see is less time with my infant son in the evening-he is still pretty early to bed, but I'd get back an entire day every 2 weeks. (I'm currently working nine 8 hour shifts.)

Thoughts? I can't see a negative, but I want to analyze it before agreeing.

[nereo]

I've done this on several occasions and it really worked well for me.  I used the day off mid-week to do all the home chores that normally ate up part of my weekend (cleaning, laundry, small home repairs), which meant that my weekeneds felt a lot more free.  It also meant that I could go shopping mid-week without crowds, which resulted in a sizeable time-savings.

I will say it's not for everyone though.  The added hour can feel enormously long until you get used to it, and depending on what your employers expectations are, it can be difficult to match the productivity in 4 long days as you get in 5 slightly shorter days.  I've even seen studies that suggest that working 6 days of 5 hours yields about the same productivity as the typically 4x8hr, despite fewer actual hours worked. 

IF you have a choice, take Wednesday off.

[Penn42]

I'm a fan of "condensed" work weeks.  I'd be on 4 10's all the time if I could.  My day is pretty much completely ate up by an 8 hour workday anyway.  Adding a couple extra hours on days that aren't mine in exchange for a whole day that is mine is so worth it.

[Sugaree]

I work what my job call a 5-4-9 schedule where I work 9 hour days Mon-Thur and 8 hours every other Friday.  I like it.  I've been working an hour of OT every day and can say that a 4-10 schedule would be awesome.  Especially given that my commute is about 30 miles each way.  I'm not sure how I'd feel about my off day being a random weekday, but it's a good way to get stuff done that has to be done during business hours.

[Civex]

I've done this on several occasions and it really worked well for me.  I used the day off mid-week to do all the home chores that normally ate up part of my weekend (cleaning, laundry, small home repairs), which meant that my weekeneds felt a lot more free.  It also meant that I could go shopping mid-week without crowds, which resulted in a sizeable time-savings.

I will say it's not for everyone though.  The added hour can feel enormously long until you get used to it, and depending on what your employers expectations are, it can be difficult to match the productivity in 4 long days as you get in 5 slightly shorter days.  I've even seen studies that suggest that working 6 days of 5 hours yields about the same productivity as the typically 4x8hr, despite fewer actual hours worked. 

IF you have a choice, take Wednesday off.

Why Wednesday? I have had every other Wednesday off, so I would likely keep that, but was thinking that Tuesday would be smarter if I got to pick. My thoughts were we are closed for the Monday holidays, so if I have Tuesday off, I get a 4 day weekend without requesting it.

The majority of my work is scheduled between 9-3 and can't really be shifted to another day/time, its kind of "on demand"-so I think the longer days would allow me to work on projects (which we have all been struggling to fit into a 9-5 type schedule) outside of our busy time.

I worked 10s and 12s for about 5 years cumulatively; I really enjoyed working four 10s, but the 12s were too much (I had a 90 minute round trip commute on top of the 12s)-BUT this was pre kids. The biggest draw for me on this is that my wife works alternating weekends, so the extra weekday off would result in a large percentage increase in time we get spend as a family.

Thanks for the replies/thoughts!

[ender]

I'm a bit confused why you're too small of a department to get every other weekend 3 days - how many people are there that makes this the case?

Logistically the only time this sort of thing makes sense is if you are a large department where too many people would want those days. There are basically four different days that contribute to 3 day weekends - each Monday/Friday of both weeks, so unless you have 5+ people wanting to do this, you can always have everyone get 3 day weekends and still only be short 1 person total.

[Civex]

We are less than a 10 person department, and there are only 3 of us that have the credentials to do my job (and we really can't function without 2). We have two people from an outside department that are willing to pick up shifts to help us out, but asking them for every Friday would make taking that day off difficult for them and their regular coworkers in their home department.

The days I have off, someone from another department generally covers. We can function with 2/3 staff members on Fridays and often do, but if I had every other Friday off, it would effectively remove 50% of Fridays off for the other people I work with.

There are 3 of us with my license-my boss, my counterpart (?), and myself. Counterpart and I would go to longer days to hopefully tackle some of the regulatory projects that have come up and on our week days off we would flex someone in from another department to help cover. Hopefully that makes more sense.

[nereo]

I've done this on several occasions and it really worked well for me.  I used the day off mid-week to do all the home chores that normally ate up part of my weekend (cleaning, laundry, small home repairs), which meant that my weekeneds felt a lot more free.  It also meant that I could go shopping mid-week without crowds, which resulted in a sizeable time-savings.

I will say it's not for everyone though.  The added hour can feel enormously long until you get used to it, and depending on what your employers expectations are, it can be difficult to match the productivity in 4 long days as you get in 5 slightly shorter days.  I've even seen studies that suggest that working 6 days of 5 hours yields about the same productivity as the typically 4x8hr, despite fewer actual hours worked. 

IF you have a choice, take Wednesday off.

Why Wednesday? I have had every other Wednesday off, so I would likely keep that, but was thinking that Tuesday would be smarter if I got to pick. My thoughts were we are closed for the Monday holidays, so if I have Tuesday off, I get a 4 day weekend without requesting it.

Well you said you couldn't take Monday or Friday off to give a 3 day weekend, so that was out. 
For me personally, taking of Wednesday was the most relaxing.  It meant most weeks I had two days off (weekend), worked two weeks, had a day off to 'do everything' (laundry, errands, cook, clean etc), then two days off before the weekend again.
Taking off a Tuesday meant I was working just one day after a weekend before my next day off, then three days in a row.  By the time I got to Saturday I had a list of tasks to do at home that ate up my entire Saturday.  Thursday is a bit better but still not very balanced.

Yeah, taking tuesdays off can be nice when you have a 3 day weekend (making it a 4 day weekend), but those are few and far between - something like 7 or 8 per year.  The other ~40ish weeks I'd like the break mid-week.  Plus you do get a bonus on Thankgiving of a 5 day weekend. 

Just my experienced and preferences.

[ender]

We are less than a 10 person department, and there are only 3 of us that have the credentials to do my job (and we really can't function without 2). We have two people from an outside department that are willing to pick up shifts to help us out, but asking them for every Friday would make taking that day off difficult for them and their regular coworkers in their home department.

The days I have off, someone from another department generally covers. We can function with 2/3 staff members on Fridays and often do, but if I had every other Friday off, it would effectively remove 50% of Fridays off for the other people I work with.

There are 3 of us with my license-my boss, my counterpart (?), and myself. Counterpart and I would go to longer days to hopefully tackle some of the regulatory projects that have come up and on our week days off we would flex someone in from another department to help cover. Hopefully that makes more sense.

You can also take Mondays off for 3-day weekends, it doesn't have to be a Friday.

[Imma]

It sounds great to me! Personally, I don't really feel the difference between working 8 or 9 hours, but the difference between working 4 days instead of 5 is massive. When I get home after work I'm tired and I don't get much done, it doesn't matter if I worked 6, 8, 9 or 10 hours, but I get a lot of stuff done when I'm home all day.

I would also think that spending an entire day with your child would be great, but it's up to you to decide whether seeing him/her a bit less on the other days of the week would be worth the sacrifice.

[Gondolin]

I currently work “9/80” with every other Friday off. It’s a great schedule and I would struggle to go back.