With her June 2009 wedding date approaching, Lindsay Leiterman has a lot of planning left to do -- which is why the county's new alternative work schedules appealed to her.

Leiterman, an environmental planner with the Department of Planning and Zoning and the Office of Environmental Sustainability, last month started working eight nine-hour days and one eight-hour day every two weeks, giving her every other Friday off to make wedding arrangements.

"I was very excited by it," said Leiterman, 27. "It allows you to get a lot of things done you can't do normally."

Leiterman is not alone. About 150 county employees in six departments have signed up for alternative work schedules since Howard County Executive Kenneth Ulman offered them in early July.

Though the cutoff period for the program has ended, county officials say managers still have some flexibility in allowing employees to change their hours. Todd Allen, director of the Office of Human Resources, said he'd still be willing to allow his employees to adjust their hours in the future if they ask.

Flexible work hours have been in place for years in some county departments, such as Recreation and Parks, Public Works and Fire and Rescue. Other employees have been allowed more flexible hours only during the summer.

Rising gas prices prompted Ulman to expand the program, which he said would cut fuel costs, boost employee morale and help the environment by taking cars off the road one day per week. The county executive continues to check in with department heads to see how it's working, county spokeswoman Alex King said.

Each supervisor had to determine how many employees were interested in a flex schedule, who would be allowed to take it and then shift employees to make sure the changes didn't have a negative impact on services, King said.

The county has 2,400 full-time employees, including police and firefighters who often work other than a normal 9-to-5 workday.

Employees had three options to consider: working four 10-hour days per week; nine days every two weeks, as Leiterman is doing; or working a regular eight-hour shift but coming in earlier or later than usual.

Allen said that since last month, five of his employees in the Human Resources Department have signed up for 10-hour days, two come in earlier than usual and one works nine days every two weeks. After one month of the new schedule, Allen said he's had no complaints from the public or his staff.

Department supervisors in every department can switch the schedules or eliminate them, if needed, but Allen said as long as the departments operate smoothly, there's no reason not to continue the altered schedules.

Flex schedules not new

Workers in the County Council offices have for years switched to a flex schedule in the summer. This year, for the first time, they will continue it into the fall.

The program will be reviewed in January to see how it's working, and staff will change back to regular hours during county budget season in April and May, said County Council Chairwoman Courtney Watson.

"We have found that it's a morale booster for the employees and we haven't seen a decrease in productivity," said Watson, an Ellicott City Democrat.

Watson said she supports Ulman's push to expand alternative schedules throughout the county.

"From our perspective, we think it's a great idea to offer flexibility to employees for many, many reasons," Watson said. "It boosts morale; it can increase productivity; it allows people a better quality of life.

"At the same time, we expect it'll be monitored to make sure we don't lose efficiency."

The Recreation and Parks Department switched to four-day workweeks for some employees in the early 1980s, in part because it was easier to finish work at one park during a single 10-hour shift rather than move equipment back and forth over two days, said Joann Frush, 47, an operations supervisor with the department.

Employees call in sick and ask to take days off less frequently, she said. In addition, working from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday means employees who commute are able to beat rush-hour traffic in the morning and afternoon.

"I just had a baby, so I love it," said Juan Rivera , 39, a park maintenance worker who's been on 10-hour days for more than a year.

"I can schedule all the doctor appointments on that day off. I wouldn't want to go back to an eight-hour shift."

Although some school districts around the country have switched to four-day school weeks to save on fuel costs, the Howard County school system is not considering such a move, a schools spokeswoman said.

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