NIU has switched from a five-day work week to a four-day week to save money on utility costs, said Eddie Williams, associate vice president for Finance and Facilities.

Many of the buildings on campus are closed for an extra day, and faculty and staff schedules had to be changed to accommodate the closures.

Before the change, Williams said, the standard work day went from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During the four-day work week, days begin as early as 7 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.

Library Business Manager Pam Rosenberg said she enjoys the three-day weekends.

“I like having Friday, Saturday and Sunday with my family,” she said.

Pat Boehning, office manager for University Programming and Activities, said she thinks the schedule should be adopted during the fall semester as well.

“I want to see this university take an economical measure and turn the school week into a four-day week this fall,” she said.

Not everyone on campus works the new schedule, however. Custodian Bob Glover remains on the five-day schedule because of a union contract.

“I don’t know if I would want to work the four-day week,” he said. “It’s creating scheduling problems right here [in the Campus Life Building]. The doors are supposed to be locked, but some Fridays you have meetings going on.”

Williams said rearranging schedules has been difficult for some staff and faculty.

“It’s a longer day; it’s a harder day. People are expected to produce what they normally produce, though it is a very difficult thing to ask,” Williams said. “For people trying to work on things like child care, this is very much an inconvenience. It’s not that easy to get extensions on time.”

Williams said the four-day workweek saved about $300,000 last summer.

“I think, of the options we have available, this is one of the better ways to do it to get savings,” he said. “It’s preferable to laying people off.”