Assistant City Manager Richard Manning said the city will start a new work schedule that allows city offices to remain open longer while still letting employees work 80 hours over two weeks, but working longer days to make every other Friday a day off.

Orem follows Layton and Mapleton in adopting the nine-day/80-hour plan.

Manning said city employees had suggested a four-day week, but it didn't make much sense financially due to the design of Orem's City Center. The Orem Public Library is at the north end of the building, and shares a heating/cooling system with the rest of city offices. "From a cost-savings perspective, we didn't see a payoff," Manning said.

Under the new proposal, city offices will open at 7:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday and close at 5:30 p.m. Fridays will offer an 8 a.m.-5 p.m. schedule. Manning said employees will get only a half-hour for lunch Mondays through Thursdays, but individual employees will have their starting times staggered by a half-hour.

The result: City offices will be open four extra hours a week.

Some employees - police officers, firefighters and public works crews - are not on the new schedule.

Manning said the schedule gives employees a 10 percent cut in commuting costs and will give them time for family activities in the evening.

Robert Bradshaw, Mapleton's city administrator, said the nine-day work schedule it inaugurated last month has been a "win-win" for the city and employees, especially in contrast with the state's four-day/10-hour schedule.

dmeyers@sltrib.com