This police department is piloting a four-day work week

In his 23 years with the Golden, CO police department, a shorter workday – or work week – was never something Commander Marcus Williams thought about. “This was always considered something of a grind as part of the profession, one of those things you just kind of took with the job.” Chuckling, Commander Williams said he was shocked when he learned everyone in the Department would be on the clock for just 32 hours a week. “You just really couldn’t envision it because you haven’t seen it before.”

In his 23 years with the Golden, Colorado, police department, a shorter workday — or work week — was never something Commander Marcus Williams thought about. “This was always considered something of a grind as part of the profession, one of those things you just kind of took with the job,” he said. Williams said he was shocked when he learned everyone in the department would be on the clock for just 32 hours a week beginning this past July. “You just really couldn’t envision it because you haven’t seen it before,” he said. Calls to shorten the working week have gathered steam in recent years in several countries as millions of employees have switched to remote work, enjoying greater flexibility. The United Auto Workers union, for example, made a four-day work week one of their demands in negotiations with automakers this year (the final contract agreement did not include a shorter workweek). And in a national survey last month most respondents said a compressed workweek would improve their well-being. But while the idea has become more widespread lately, moving an entire police department to that four-day schedule came with a number of challenges. For Golden City Manager Scott Vargo, that was also a clear opportunity.