City testing compressed employee work schedule

After approval from the Graham City Council this week, the city will have a four-month trial run for a new compressed work schedule for various city departments.

The departments impacted by the change will be city hall, municipal court, the Library of Graham and the administrative offices of Graham Fire Department and Graham Police Department.

City Manager Eric Garretty presented the proposal as a discussion item during the Thursday, April 11 meeting.

“(City Secretary and Finance Director) Marci (Bueno) has been involved in a project to work with some employees… to look at providing a potential non-monetary benefit to employees by modifying work hours,” Garretty said. “Employees would still work 40 hours a week, but (this) would (be) changing around the hours they actually work while still providing adequate service to the community, but providing employees with some additional time off from what’s been the traditional work week.”

Council Member Jack Little asked how the discussion about changing work hours started during the meeting April 11 and Bueno said the discussion was driven by some city employees.

“I was just getting a lot of employee feedback, mainly us at city hall,” she said. “We work Monday through Friday 8 (a.m.) to 5 (p.m.) We really don’t have a perk like the other departments do, so that really initiated the beginning part.”

The other departments Bueno mentioned include code enforcement and public works, which includes the departments of streets, parks and cemeteries.

These departments currently work a modified schedule of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday with a 30-minute lunch break and Friday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. with no lunch break.

Water and sewer maintenance crews with public works also work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break.

The city said some advantages of implementing the program could include a reduction in stress and a better work and life balance, increases in productivity and a potential for better recruitment and retention of employees.

“Some strategic goals of this compressed work schedule program are to put people first by establishing, measuring and monitoring high standards of customer service,” Garretty said. “(We will) establish clear performance expectations and allow flexibility to hold ourselves accountable. We also think a compressed work schedule would help us retain employees.”

City hall, municipal court and the GFD administrative office, offices will close at 12:15 p.m. Fridays. The GPD administrative office will be closed all day each Friday, with residents being informed to contact 911 for after-hours emergencies.

“It’s not necessarily cookie cutter (with each department),” Garretty said. “Different departments have different demands and what we want to do is ask the council if they would allow for some flexibility to meet those demands.”

The changes to the police and fire administrative offices do not apply to shift personnel at either department as well as other on-call or emergency-essential personnel.

“I want to emphasize that this doesn’t affect the actual fire coverage or police coverage. …Those folks are all on a completely different hourly program, some of which is governed by Texas law in the shifts that the firefighters and rescue people operate on and the police operate on.”

If a holiday falls on a Friday, shortened hours will be observed the Thursday before the holiday.

With the exception of GPD and the library, most holidays would result in city departments being open to the public 3.5 days the week of the holiday. Departments would be open 2.5 days the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The city manager said he expects citizens' concern or misunderstanding of the new schedule along with employee adjustments to the new hours and new utility and billing deadlines.

“The first early Friday closure would be June 7 and then we would come back to council some time on or after Oct. 10 and make a determination on whether or not (the city council) wanted to revert back to the old way,” he said.

Garretty said that the city will be modifying their water disconnection schedule, as well.

“If anyone was scheduled to have their water disconnected for nonpayment the disconnection would only occur Monday to Wednesday,” he said. “... We’re not going to disconnect your water and not provide you with the ability to come in and pay.”

The city has alternative ways to pay for water bills or municipal court tickets — including 24-hour drop off boxes, online at cityofgrahamtexas.com or by automatic bank draft.

Bueno will survey staff during the trial period and resident and customer feedback will be collected by phone by city staff to present at a later date to the Graham City Council.

“We will measure output by determining what type of complaints or praises that we get from our customers, talk to the employees and survey them on how they like this new proposal and collect all that data up to present at the end of the trial period,” Garretty said.

City of Graham Compressed Work Schedule

City Hall

Public Hours
Monday–Thursday – 7:45 a.m. – 5 p.m. (open through lunch)
Friday – 7:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Public Hours: 41.5 hours

Employee Hours
Monday–Thursday – 7:30 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. (1 hour lunch)
Friday – 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (no lunch)
Employee Hours: 40 hours

Municipal Court

Public Hours
Monday–Thursday – 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. (open through lunch)
Friday – 8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Public Hours: 37.75 hours

Employee Hours
Monday–Thursday – 7:30 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. (1 hour lunch)
Friday – 12:30 p.m. (no lunch)
Employee Hours: 40 hours

Library of Graham

Public Hours
Monday – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (open through lunch)
Tuesday–Friday – 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. (open through lunch)
Public Hours: 42 hours

Employee Hours
Monday – 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. (1 hour lunch)
Tuesday–Friday – 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. (1 hour lunch)
Employee Hours: 40 hours

Fire Administration Office

Public Hours
Monday–Thursday – 7:45 a.m. – 5 p.m. (open through lunch)
Friday – 7:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Public Hours: 41.5 hours

Employee Hours
Monday–Thursday – 7:30 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. (1 hour lunch)
Friday – 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (no lunch)
Employee Hours: 40 hours

Police Administration Office

Public Hours
Monday–Thursday – 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. (1 hour lunch)
Employee and Public Hours: 44 hours

Employee Hours
Monday–Thursday – 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. (1 hour lunch)
Employee and Public Hours: 40 hours