Category: Compressed Workweeks Red Dot Corporation, Tukwila

• CEO: Randy Gardiner, President
• PM: Bill Flint, Vice President
• ETC: Sid Greenewald, Personnel Assistant

Employees petition for compressed workweeks
Red Dot Corporation, a Diamond Award winner in 1995 for an exemplary program, has a long history of being innovative when it comes to commute trip reduction. In 1972, a group of employees read an article in a Canadian newspaper about an organization with 10-hour shifts four days a week. They decided to approach management with this unusual concept.

Representing Red Dot Corporation (From left to right): Richard Hay, Sid Greenewald.

Red Dot, which manufactures truck and large vehicle heating and air conditioning units, has long considered the welfare of its employees its top priority when making business decisions. When the production line employees asked to try what we now call compressed workweeks, management set up a 90-day trial. All production line employees switched to working 10 hours a day, Monday through Thursday.

When the Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Law went into effect in 1993, management decided it needed to make some more changes. Red Dot is not well served by transit and, with ample free parking, management knew it would be difficult to convince employees to give up their cars. Nevertheless, Red Dot established subsidies of $15 per month for employees commuting via transit and vanpools. To encourage carpools, they provide free on-site oil changes on a quarterly basis for carpools of three or more people. In addition, carpools and vanpools receive preferred parking. Sid Greenewald, employee transportation coordinator, coordinates an internal ridematch service that has managed to put 84 employees into carpools. The company also provides a guaranteed ride home in case of emergency or illness and quarterly raffles off Commuter Bonus Plus vouchers for employees who carpool, vanpool, ride the bus, walk, or bicycle to work.

But the biggest boost to Red Dot's CTR efforts came when management decided to offer compressed workweeks to all employees, including those who work in office and production support. Fifty of the 110 employees in this category chose to switch to compressed workweeks.

Win/win situation
Implementing compressed workweeks has done more than help Red Dot comply with the CTR Law. Maintenance on production line machinery is done on Fridays, when workers are home, thus eliminating down time during production hours. Wear and tear on the machinery is less due to one fewer start up and shut down every week. Annual utility savings are estimated at $96,000.

Employees enjoy the three-day weekends and the savings in commuting costs and day care. There is less absenteeism, and employees do not have to use vacation time or sick leave to take care of personal business or appointments with doctors and dentists. They simply schedule the appointments for Fridays. The few occasions when overtime is necessary, workers know they will still get a two-day weekend.

In all, Red Dot's program has reduced single occupant vehicle commute trips by over 15,000 round-trips per year. That goes a long way in reducing congestion on our highways and reducing air pollution. It also has made production more efficient and cost effective and aided in employee retention and recruitment.

*Some definitions: An “ETC” is the staff-level employee transportation coordinator responsible for the daily administration of the transportation program; “PM” is the transportation program manager; and “CEO” refers to the top management-level person at the worksite. “SOV” stands for single-occupant vehicle, and “CTR” for commute trip reduction. 

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