4/10 Work Week

In June 2024, CRI ran a “test’ schedule of working 10 hours -4 days a week. Company President, Maureen Neisess, began to evaluate employee work life balance and felt more time with family and time away from the job brings a fresher minds and energy. The summertime was a great opportunity to determine how this schedule change would impact CRI.

Two critical factors were considered: CRI’s high-quality standards for every assembly could not be impacted and customers’ due dates had to be met.

After 8 weeks, the determination was the schedule worked and worked well! Machines were running longer and jobs being completed sooner as there was more time in the workday. Employees could use Fridays for everything from doctor’s appointments to reducing childcare costs. This allowed for a more consistent manufacturing floor schedule and efficiency increased. Jobs were consistently done in the same high-quality manner CRI had always held as our standard.

The schedule has become the regular working hours for the CRI team. Additional benefits that CRI has seen are allowing delivery of customer requested expedite jobs, increasing capacity as needed, and training on Fridays, when required.

CRI employees are a tremendous asset. The team is well trained and very skilled. Allowing more time with family and enjoying life outside of work lets them know they are valued.