City to go to 4 1/2 day workweek

Most city of Ruston employees are about to get Friday afternoons off.

Beginning March 30, the majority of workers will switch to a new 4 1/2 day workweek. They’ll work from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Fridays.

The workweek will still be 40 hours. Exact configurations of the new schedule may vary by department — for example, public works crews will come in earlier — but the end result will be the same, Mayor Ronny Walker said Wednesday.

The change is designed to give employees a new benefit, Walker said.

“I’m doing this strictly because I was looking for ways to add a benefit, and you can’t always do dollars,” he said. “We’re really doing this for morale and better working conditions for our employees.”

Budgetary savings to the city will be minimal, Walker said.

While the new schedule will include the administrative offices at the fire and police departments, it will not affect patrol officers or firefighters on duty.

The city will also have electrical and other workers on call during off hours, just as it does now, the mayor said.

Walker said the biggest impact would be felt by utility customers who come to City Hall on Friday afternoons to pay their bills.

To ease that transition, the customer service drive-through window will remain open on Friday afternoons for the first two months.

Walker said he and his staff have been mulling the workweek change for some time.

“We just think this will be good for our employees,” Walker said.