Ottawa Valley communities considering four-day work week for municipal employees

It's often heard as talk around the water cooler in offices, but at town halls across Ontario, employees have switched to a four-day work week.

"Well, I think it's coming out of the pandemic," says Scott Vokey, executive director of the Ontario Municipal Administrators' Association.

"People are just looking for change, looking for a redress on work-life balance."

Seven rural municipalities across Ontario have implemented a four-day work week for staff, along with two municipalities in eastern Canada and one in Alberta.

The main driver of the work week change is a search for the coveted work-life balance. Municipal employers also see the four-day work week as a tool to attract and retain employees in a competitive job market.

In eastern Ontario, officials in Arnprior and Renfrew tell CTV News they are considering the idea.

"We're looking at a policy around that, and those are some of the ideas that are coming forward from our staff that we're looking at as options for sure," Arnprior CAO Robin Paquette said.

In the municipalities where it has been implemented, the four-day work week is an option, with employees taking Monday, Friday, or neither off.

Vokey says that service and availability to the public remain the priority for towns making the change, and those that have changed their working schedule have increased their hours.

"Jane, employee number one, you've signed on to work Monday to Thursday, but it's an extra hour," explains Vokey.

"It's an extra hour of service to the public. And there might be another person, Bill, who does Tuesday to Friday, same deal. So instead of being open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., they're now open 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m."

Zorra Township was the first to move to a four-day workweek in Ontario. The latest was the Township of Algonquin Highlands.

The township's mayor says morale among staffers is at an all-time high and productivity has remained consistent or improved.

"It's been great," says Liz Danielsen.

"Staff are loving it, it's working really well. We're getting the business of the municipality done the same as we were before."

Danielsen says of the 40 full-time employees at the township, only two did not switch to a four-day work week due to childcare reasons.

Paquette says rural Ontario has a chance to prove the model is successful in different circumstances.

"There's an understanding that small municipalities might have more flexibility in their policies and in their workforces, and gives us an opportunity to be a testing ground for these kind of changes."

Many workers across the country are hoping this can pave the way to permanent long weekends.

"I see no reason why this would not work for larger municipalities or for businesses," Danielsen said.