The Rearranged Work Week

The five-day forty-hour per week work schedule has been the norm in much of industry for many years. In recent years, however, many firms have adopted flex-time and four-day per week schedules. Employees working traditional five-day schedules, flex-time, and four-day schedules report their reactions to these work schedules and perceptions of change experienced or anticipated with a different schedule. Most employees react favorably to a change to flex-time or the four-forty schedule. Preference for one or the other schedule appears to be a function of leisure time orientation, which is related to the age and sex of the worker.