PURDUE UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE BUSINESS MANAGER AND ASSISTANT TREASURER
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA 47907

To: Administrative Officers and Heads of Departments

Re: BUSINESS OFFICE MEMORANDUM NO. 50

Changes in Work Week to Provide a Forty Hour Schedule for Members of the Service Staff

Effective Date: 1 July 1956

Schools, divisions and departments of the University will be permitted to reduce their weekly work schedules for members of the Service Staff to forty hours, as soon as is practicable after 1 July 1956, and as operational and fiscal problems encountered in the change are resolved. Where possible, the normal or standard workweek should be five days per week, eight hours per day; however, classes, laboratories and related shop supply, or instructional activities will be operated as in the past to meet the requirements of the work load in each situation.

All offices of the University will continue to be operated on the five-day week as in the past, with those offices which deal with the public also open on Saturday morning and manned by a skeleton work force. In no instance is the content of this memorandum to be construed as reducing any regularly scheduled workweek to less than forty hours.

It is recognized that with the variety of activities and services which are found in the departments employing people on the Service Staff, a standard daily schedule of hours cannot be used throughout the University. The Purdue Memorial Union, Women's Residence Halls, Residence Halls for Men, and departments providing services which must continue for more than eight hours per day and/or five days per week are permitted the same latitude for deviations from the standard work week as has been permitted in the past. It is expected that early and late shifts in food service and housekeeping activities will be continued, Twenty-four hour coverage will continue to be necessary in such departments as the Heating and Power Plant, Safety and Security, etc. The Director of the Physical Plant and others similarly responsible will provide for emergency service and maintenance calls outside regular weekly hours and on weekends. However, all departments which will not operate on a standard five-day week, 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, are requested to notify the Executive Secretary of the Committee on Clerical-Service Personnel of the daily time schedules and work weeks and identify groups of employees who will regularly deviate from this standard workweek.

The forty-hour week with attendant regulations stated herein is not intended to affect the operation of farms and outlying units, all of which will continue to be operated as in the past.

The existing annual vacation and sick leave is not intended to be changed by the reduction in the work week. The number of work days of vacation and sick leave accrued each year will be the same number as the regularly scheduled work days in two calendar weeks (or in the case of vacation, three weeks for those with over tan years of service). In prorating the accrual of leave, it will be necessary to use fractional days per month rather than whole days.

The availability of personnel is not expected to increase; and particularly during the years of expansion and growth, it is going to be most necessary to make the most efficient use of manpower during this shortened workweek. Each supervisor and department head is challenged to use methods and devices for reducing additional personnel requirements. Work simplification, labor-saving equipment, elimination of lost time, improved planning and scheduling of work, and improved supervision are some management tools for accomplishing the goal.

It is expected that there will be a certain number of questions and problems while the various departments arc, adjusting to the shorter workweek. However, the scheduling of classes and related operations should not be affected. It is believed that special problems can be worked out without undue difficulty.

L. J. Freehafer
Business Manager and
Assistant Treasure