Boulder County government will begin a pilot program Jan. 4 that tests a four-day work week for several county offices and departments, officials announced Tuesday.
For the first four months of 2021, about a third of the county’s offices and departments — those involved in administrative, planning and non-emergency walk-in services — will operate on a Monday-to-Thursday extended hours schedule, with no public services offered on Fridays, officials said in a news release.
Officials said each of the participating offices and departments will have some scheduling discretion in continuing a minimum 40-hour week for full-time employees.
Law enforcement, 20th Judicial District courts, emergency services, snow removal, and other 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week operations will continue as usual and will not be impacted by any of the pilot program’s scheduling changes.
Boulder County officials said they will be measuring the pilot program’s impact on employee productivity, public satisfaction, and cost savings. At the end of April, the county will look at data and feedback from participating offices and departments and determine its next steps.
“One of the surprising benefits coming from the COVID-19 closure of public buildings is that Boulder County has been able to give residents more options for accessing many public services, which don’t require driving to physical offices during specific business hours,” Michelle Krezek, chief of staff for the Boulder County Commissioners’ Office, said in the news release.
“These changes have also allowed us to rethink how our employees provide these services, which allows for expanded access for the public, cost savings for the taxpayers, and a better working environment for our employees,” Krezek said.
Participating offices and departments will increase “open” hours Monday through Thursday to give additional public access to services on those days. Because many county walk-in services have been replaced temporarily with remote services because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the offices and departments participating in the pilot will be open for either remote public access by phone or email during certain hours of the day or by in-person services from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. instead of the previous and current 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. schedules for most of those offices.
County officials said extending the hours for the affected departments and offices “will provide greater flexibility for community members and is expected to decrease energy use and costs associated with maintaining in-person facilities five days per week.”
Besides the extended half-hour at the start and end of each Monday through Thursday, county staff will have time outside of their public-facing hours to complete their workload.
Officials said, for example, the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office’s Motor Vehicle Division employees will have time outside “open” hours to return phone calls/reply to emails from the public Monday through Thursday. Likewise, staff from other offices and departments will be able to catch up on project and administrative work when they’re not interacting with the public.
The list of offices and departments that plan to begin the three-month-long pilot on Jan. 4 include: the County Assessor’s Office; the Board of County Commissioners; the Clerk and Recorder Office’s Elections, Motor Vehicle, and Recording Divisions; the County Human Resources Department; and the Public Works Department, including that department’s Transportation and Resource Conservation divisions.
The Community Planning and Permitting Department will be moving to the four-days-a-week schedule starting Feb. 1 in order to work with customers and staff in January on scheduling, officials said. The Hazardous Materials Management Facility, part of the Resource Conservation Division, will continue its usual schedule of being open to the public on Fridays and closed on Mondays.
This pilot program follows Jefferson and Adams counties’ adoption of four-day work weeks earlier this year.
Boulder County officials said they are initiating their program “under the condition that the pilot could end at any time.” They said, “Even with positive outcomes, the county may decide not to institute the four-day work week on a permanent basis.”
A website listing county departments, agencies and offices, along with links that people can use to contact those offices to know when they’re open and under what conditions, can be viewed at tinyurl.com/yaqw53ue.
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