4 Day work week for parts and service

[CAPTCHEAP]

Any thoughts on the 4 day work week for parts and service? Who will it benefit the most? What are the pro's and con's? Looking outside the box any input would be helpful.

[robc]

General comments and I'll let other be more specific.

(1) adds capacity by extending the day - always a nice thing.

(2) the vast majority of technicians love the schedule.

(3) the biggest headache is carry-over

(4) second biggest is handling vacations, sick days, training, etc.

[sz]

About 8 years ago when I was a parts advisor we had a 4 day work week for a little over a summer. It was great. We were open 7-7 M-F and 7-4 on Sat. As parts advisors our schedule over 4 weeks was MTWT, MTWT, WTFS, WTFS. It gave us, 1 - 1 day weekend, 2 - 3 day weekends, and 1 - 5 day weekend. I didn't have to use any vacation that summer!

Now as for if it was cost effective, I do not know the details as I was only an advisor. But it did only last 1 summer so it must not have been!

Edit below.

BTW, our techs were not on the same schedule and did not like it. As I now recall, I think the techs were the main reason we gave it up.

[This message has been edited by sz (edited 04-25-2007).]

[fixops]

Just remember the phrase "when used as directed".

I love the idea of the 4 day work week... always have and always will. Just keep in mind the feasable reasons for implementing it:

*You have NO downturn in volume of work.

*You have NO space to add a productive tech.

*Your shop hours already include extended hours.

*You are missing opportunity because your schedule is booked too far in advance.

*You can't upsell because there are never any additional available hours to sell.

*All of your techs are already producing high levels of % of productivity, yet you still have far too many carry-overs each day.

The fact of the matter is, as Rob pointed out, is to EXTEND the work day, not reduce the tech's physical time at work. If your desired end result is to purely increase production... GO!

If you're merely doing it because someone else is doing it, or you don't have the volume of work or the required number of technicians to make it work, it's a trainwreck waiting to happen.

And it DOES require a certain number of techs to work. Imagine a shop with 4 techs: 1 is off, 1 is on vacation and 1 called in sick... don't laugh, I've seen it happen.

Proceed with caution and make sure you're doing it for all the right reasons. DON'T rush into it... take the time to make an intelligent decision, NOT a popular decision.