9/80 Work Schedule: The Manager’s Guide

Just about 100 years ago, Henry Ford popularized the five-day, 40-hour work week. Since then, most of the working world has operated on that schedule or something similar.

But there are other options, folks! And many of us do different work than Ford assembly-line workers.

In this article, we break down everything you’ll need to know about the 9/80 work schedule which allows for an extra workday off ever other week. Use the links below to jump to a section that interests you the most.

• What is the 9/80 schedule?
• Schedule examples
• 9/80 agreement template
• Benefits
• Downsides
• Companies using the schedule
• How to implement
• > Where to find flex-schedule jobs

 

What is the 9/80 work schedule?

During a two-week period, the employee works 80 hours across nine working days instead of 10.

The idea is to take off every other Friday and spread those eight Friday hours of work over the other nine working days. Here is the two-week schedule:

• Week 1: Monday – Thursday for 9 hours per day, Friday for eight hours (44 hours total)
• Week 2: Monday – Thursday for 9 hours per day, Friday is off (36 hours total)

 

How many hours is a 9/80 schedule?

The 9/80 work schedule has 80 hours of work over two weeks, a typical setup, but with every other Friday off. One week, an employee works 44 hours. The next week, the employee works 36 hours.

Most people call it the 9/80 compressed schedule since you have nine work days and 80 hours over of work compressed into those days. Some might call it the 5-4/9 schedule because you work five days one week and four the next, totaling nine over the two-week period.

 

9/80 work schedule calendar

Here is a 2023 calendar for the 9/80 week. Fridays off are marked in green and US federal holidays marked in blue. These would be the typical days off for a company using this schedule.

Download the image | Use the template in Canva

 

9/80 Work Schedule Examples

These are the types of 9/80 schedules you can implement. In the next section, we provide a 9/80 schedule template you can download and make your own.

 

Standard 9/80

For visual learners, here is a typical 9/80 schedule template for a full month. Most 9/80 organizations operate with this template. The schedule compresses 10 business days into nine over a two-week period with one set weekday off for all employees every other week.

Curious to know, “What does the 9/80 work schedule look like?” Here is the two-week schedule:

• Week 1: Monday – Thursday for 9 hours per day, Friday for eight hours (44 hours total)
• Week 2: Monday – Thursday for 9 hours per day, Friday is off (36 hours total)

Download the image | Use the template in Canva

 

Flexible 9/80 Work Schedule

A flexible 9/80 schedule could mean a few different things depending on the company:

• Any individual employee works the 9/80 schedule but chooses their day off (rather than all having the same one)
• Every employee works the 9/80 schedule but has flexibility to adjust their start and end times within the day

Learn more about flexible work schedules.

 

9/80 Shift Schedule

Some teams need to have employees present during all business hours, like a local government or teams that offer support, for example. Others need to have staff 24/7, like a hospital. For those scenarios, organizations can apply the 9/80 schedule in shifts. This is how it works:

• Group 1: Works the 9/80 schedule with every other Monday off.
• Group: 2: Works the 9/80 schedule with every other Friday off.

With that two-week shift schedule, eight days have every employee working. Every other Friday has 50% staff and every other Monday has 50% staff.

 

Optional 9/80 Work Schedule

Since the 9/80 work week is a compressed schedule, employees are still working 40 hours per week (or 80 over two weeks). For that reason, you can always choose to make the 9/80 schedule optional for your employees.

• Some employees may choose to work a standard five-day, 40-hour work week
• Others may choose to work a 9/80 week

 

Similar Schedules

If you’re looking for other ideas, these alternative work schedules are similar (although not necessarily the same amount of hours:

• Four-day work week (or 32-hour work week): Four, eight hour days per week
• 4/10: Four, 10-hour work days per week
• 9/72: Eight-hour workdays with every other Friday off
• Half-day Friday: Eight-hour workdays on Monday – Thursday, then four hours on Friday.

 

9/80 Schedule Agreement Template

If you’d like to offer your employees the option to work a 9/80 schedule, you may be looking for an agreement template to make your own. I’ve made a template that you can work with in Canva, Google Docs (or download to Microsoft Word), or a PDF.

Keep in mind: This template is not legal advice. Please advise your HR or legal team first to determine the right language for your 9/80 work agreement depending on your type of organization, employee status, state or country, etc.

Use the template in Canva | Use the template in Google Docs | Download a PDF

 

Benefits Of The 9/80 Work Week

The 9/80 schedule comes with benefits for the employees and the company. At BAE Systems, 17,000 of the 18,000 of the employees (as of 2007 but the company still works the schedule today) in the group work the 9/80 schedule. “I’ve had employees say that they stay here because of 9/80,” says Amy Shevlin, vice president of human resources, “Both for themselves and their families, who now rely on the extra weekend day for family activities and time at home.”

Here are the benefits we’ve seen for the individual (employee) and the company (employer):

For Individuals & Freelancers

1. Work-life balance: An additional day off every other week, or 26 per year.
2. Personal time: An additional day for personal use and development
3. Lower cost for childcare: Having every other Friday off can remove the need for a nanny or day care that day
4. Recovery time: Having a three-day weekend every other week helps get downtime away from work, which in turn, helps people be more refreshed at work
5. Less commuting: For office-based companies, you’ll commute nine days instead of ten (saving 10% of your total commute time)

 

For Companies & Managers

1. A way to attract talent: Having 26 extra days off every year is a benefit companies can use to attract more applicants seeking that work-life balance
2. Better employee retention: The 9/80 schedule is unique, and if your employees like it, you’re more likely to keep them with the company long term
3. Happier employees (less burnout): Employees get a longer break every other week making for a happier and potentially more productive team
4. Same amount of hours: Companies can offer this benefit without decreasing work hours at all (if that’s necessary for the organization)

See Also: 22 Four-Day Work Week Benefits

 

Downsides Of The 9/80 Schedule

For Individuals & Freelancers

1. Longer work days: On the nine-hour days, you may lose focus toward the end of the day
2. Shorter evenings: You’ll lose an hour outside of work, potentially hurting your workout routine or time with family on those days

 

For Companies & Managers

1. Less coverage (for customer support): For organizations that need people available during business hours, you lose a day of support every other week
2. Less productive hours: The extra hour in a nine-hour day may be less productive than the hours on a typical Friday
3. Not for everyone: Some people may not like the nine-hours days, which could remove some people from your talent pool (hiring) and current team (retention)
4. Focus on hours instead of output: This schedule is so specific in its way of counting hours that it puts the emphasis on hours rather than output.

 

Companies Using The 9/80 Policy

We scoured the internet for companies that use the 9/80 work week so you could learn from the real policies in use. In the table below, you’ll see all of the 9/80 work schedule companies we could find. You’ll see links to legal documents from 20 years ago to prove it!

The interesting trend I found is that most of these organizations are local governments of defense contractors. It seems like if a competitor or partner is willing to make the schedule change, the next organization will as well.

If you’re interested to learn more about the changing nature of work schedules, take a look at this list of four-day work week companies.

 

How To Implement 9/80 Schedule

Payroll

Gusto does a good job explaining how to change your payroll here to accommodate for the change. To summarize, normal pay weeks run from Sunday to Saturday (seven days). If you kept that format with a 9/80 schedule, you’d be paying four hours of overtime every other week. To implement the 9/80 schedule, you need to track work hours in two-week segments instead.

 

Rollout

Like we recommended with the four-day work week, you can roll out the 9/80 in phases to reach the final, permanent policy. Here are some options:

1. Seasonal: Implement a seasonal 9/80 schedule for the summer. For eight or 10 weeks, try out the policy with all employees. If it goes well, implement the new schedule permanently.
2. Optional: Make this an optional program, not a requirement. Employees could choose to switch at any time.
3. Flexible: Allow employees to choose their day off. If Monday works best for some and Friday for others, allow that choice.

 

Documentation

Depending on how your organization runs, you’ll most likely want to document which employees opted into the 9/80 schedule, when it started, and which days people work. Most organizations that use the 9/80 have an agreement contract in place for employees to sign.

As I mentioned in the section earlier in this article, I’ve made a template that you can work with in Canva, Google Docs (or download to Microsoft Word), or a PDF. Use the links below to get the template.

Keep in mind: This template is not legal advice. Please advise your HR or legal team first to determine the right language for your 9/80 work agreement depending on your type of organization, employee status, state or country, etc.

Use the template in Canva | Use the template in Google Docs | Download a PDF

 

Implementing The 9/80 Work Schedule In California

The 9/80 work schedule is an acceptable alternative work schedule in California if agreed upon by the employer and employee. California Labor Code 510 (section a)  states “Any work in excess of eight hours in one workday and any work in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek… shall be compensated at the rate of no less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay.” Unless “an alternative workweek schedule [is] adopted pursuant to Section 511.” 

If you take a look at our list of organizations using the 9/80 schedule, many of them are cities in California. It’s become a popular alternative work schedule for local governments throughout the state.

Please note: this is not legal advice. Please consult with your legal team before implementing the 9/80 schedule.

 

9/80 Implementation Resources

Throughout the article, we shared a few helpful resources for setting up a 9/80 work work. Here they are again so you can see them all in one place.

	9/80 holiday calendar for 2023 (Download the image | Use the template in Canva)
	9/80 work week template (Download the image | Use the template in Canva)
	9/80 employee agreement template (Use the template in Canva | Use the template in Google Docs | Download a PDF)

 

Where To Find Flexible Jobs

Flexjobs

The first place I’d look is Flexjobs, the world’s biggest job board for remote and flexible work. You’ll find dedicated filters to “flexible” and “alternative” schedules.

Search for alternative work week jobs on Flexjobs.