01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, July 10, 2005

BY FAYE B. ZUCKERMAN
Journal Staff Writer

Edward Mullen gushes about his reduced work hours during the summer months.

In June, July and most of August he can leave work on weekdays at 4 p.m. rather than 5. An avid kayaker, he has his boat in the water by 4:30.

"As a result, I nearly get five hours of daylight," said Mullen, a 56-year-old senior instrument maker for Brown University's Division of Biology and Medicine. "I have worked eight different places and no one has offered anything close to this."

This summer Mullen, a 14-year Brown employee, shaves 2 1/2 hours off his workweek by coming in at 8 a.m. He'll return to his 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday a week before students return to school in late August.

So, while Mullen paddles away in the late afternoon, most of us remain indoors tied to our desks. Yet he's not alone in working extra-flexible hours during the treasured summer months. According to a national survey of 2,000 human resources professionals in April by the Society for Human Resource Management, about 19 percent of companies follow a policy of switching to "summer hours."

"The summer is so short. It's a shame to not take advantage of it," said Mullen. "This adds to the quality of the work conditions."

In the survey, companies reported that they accommodate their employees in lots of different ways. Most simply allow their 40 hours to be worked at a different time:

Some 9 percent implement a compressed work schedule, in which employees complete 40 hours in four days and receive the fifth day off. It's called a 4/40.

Less than 1 percent of the companies offer a 9/80 policy, which allow for a day off every other week.

Some 4 percent require workers to put in 40 hours per week in the summer, as in the winter, but allow employees to start earlier in the day.

A small number of the employers in the survey actually shorten the hours worked:

One percent follow Brown's policy of shaving a few hours off the workweek to give employees a shorter workday.

One percent give a day off weekly without requiring workers to complete 40 hours per week.

Some 4 percent implement a half-day off in the summer.

Susan Tracey Conley looks forward to having every other Friday off between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Conley is in charge of sales and marketing for Pawtucket's Tracey Gear and Precision Shaft, which was founded by her father 65 years ago and is run by Conley, 55, and four of her brothers. In June, July and August, the administrative staff switches to a 9/80 week.

"For me, I get extra free time to be with my family," she said. "It's one less day to deal with traffic."

The 33 workers who manufacture gears, pulleys, sprockets, replacement parts for machinery, such as elevators, printing presses and roller coasters, can leave at noon on Friday once they have worked 40 hours during the week. The company opens a half-hour earlier, at 6:30 a.m., to give employees extra time to complete the hours.

"We are pretty much empty by noon on Friday," she said. "Most people are able to pursue interests. For example, two employees (Armand Dube of Swansea, and Frank Furness of Westport) can devote extra time to their hobby of training and racing pigeons."

FOR THE UNDER-35 CROWD, work-life issues, including such policies as summer hours, rated first when they were asked to name the top five attributes of job satisfaction, said Frank Scanlan, a spokesman for the Society for Human Resource Management, based in Alexandria, Va. Folks over age 35 rated it number three, after benefits and compensation.

"For an organization to offer work-life balance programs doesn't require much, especially if the employees are completing 40 hours in a week," Scanlan said. "It increases morale and has hiring advantages."

Career management consultant Rita B. Allen of Waltham, Mass., agrees. She said flexible work schedules have become imperative for businesses to look at to retain and recruit talent.

"It's a business strategy that is becoming a necessity to compete in the marketplace," said Allen, who also chairs the Creative Work Options Network, a special interest group at the New England Human Resource Association. "Many more companies than you think offer these kinds of programs but have not yet formalized them."

No organization in Rhode Island seems to keep statistics on businesses' summer hours, so we asked Journal readers in our Sunday LIFEstyles and daily Lifebeat sections to tell us if their workweek becomes more flexible as the weather warms. We heard from plenty of them.

Tammy King Walsh, manager of human resources for the American Mathematical Society in Providence, embraces flexible hours, and she confirmed Scanlan's and Allen's theory: "They are a desirable recruiting tool," she said.

Her organization offers employees the option to work 37.5 hours in four days and receive the fifth day off all year round. But, she noted, most employees take advantage of it only during the summer. Many take Friday off; some pick Monday.

"A lot of people sail or have a weekend house," she said. "They can get boats ready or head off to a long weekend."

Rumford's Penny Pina, who has worked for the mathematical society for 32 years, used the first few weeks of three-day weekends to clean up her house. She will spend the rest of the summer developing a freelance graphics business.

A TRIP TO ITALY a decade ago inspired Providence lawyer Ronald W. Del Sesto, 64, to make some changes when he and and his wife, Deborah, saw that Italian businesses shut down at noon for families to have lunch together. They marveled at how society functioned efficiently around a midday break. He said that the people appeared happy and content.

Del Sesto decided to try out a similar scenario, letting his staff leave the office an hour early, at 4, on week days in July and August. He said that his attempt to create a nicer work environment and allow life out of the office to be more pleasant has paid off.

"I have longevity with staff. A law office is only as good as its staff. Retaining them is critical and clients are more comfortable seeing familiar faces," he said. "I have overheard my staff say that it's great to spend more time with families."

Paul and Janice Morin, who have owned Morin's Aquarium and Pet Center in Johnston for the past two years, had to juggle schedules during the summer months because so many employees asked for Sundays off.

They knew from their own experience how important family get-togethers are on Sundays in the summer, so, because business generally slows then, they decided to shut the store on Sundays in July and August.

"Immediately, we saw an improvement in morale," Paul Morin said.

Other employers thought of summer hours because they needed them for their own families, and their staff ended up benefitting too.

Chiropractor Amy Westrick, 41, decided to squeeze the workweek at her practice, Eastside Chiropractic Center, into 4 1/2 days for the summer so she could spend more time in the nice weather with her daughter. After two weeks, she is thoroughly enjoying the extra time, and she said her employees are happy about it too.

Others reporting that their companies implement summer hours include Annette Miller, 61, at New England Action Sports; Mary Ann Sheridan-Woods, 57, the special events coordinator for St. Francis Chapel and City Ministry Center in Providence; and Rehoboth's Brooke Fitzsimmons, 26, who works for a magazine based in Manhattan.

Fitzsimmons said that most of her friends in the publishing industry switch over to a summer schedule, and advertising agencies frequently offer a half-day on Friday.

Rebecca Heaton of Swan Point Cemetery on the East Side of Providence said that employees there get out 30 minutes earlier by taking a shorter lunch, and can leave the office at 1 p.m. on Fridays starting June 1 and ending Labor Day weekend.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS and colleges in Rhode Island typically open earlier in the day and allow employees to leave in the late afternoon during the slower summer season. One reason has been the lack of air-conditioning in many of the buildings, which become too hot in July and August.

Joan C. Countryman, who retired on June 30 as head of Providence's private girls' school, Lincoln, said she inherited the policy of working one hour less and having Fridays off during the summer. Rather than 8 to 4:30, staff at the Lincoln school come in at 8:30 and leave at 4 until the third week of August.

"It's a time of renewal. You can regroup and have some time to plan," Countryman said. "It's nice for the staff to have a different rhythm."

For the last few Fridays, Hasbro's senior vice president of corporate communications Wayne Charness, 51, has rushed around his office trying to finish up by noon. He has squeezed his 40 hours into 4 1/2 days and is eager to get home to his family.

"We (at Hasbro) started leaving at noon about two years ago. It's for departments who can do it," he said. "It's a great benefit and everybody who qualifies really takes advantage of it."

Laura Stack, a Denver-based expert on productivity and author of the new book Leave the Office Earlier, puts her stamp of approval on summer hours.

"Summer schedules force workers to use their time efficiently and wisely so they can finish up and get out of the office," she said in a telephone interview (for tips on how to do that, see accompanying story). "Employees may start giving an extra level of production if they feel you are saying to them, 'I will scratch your back if you scratch mine.' "