VARIATIONS OF THE FIVE-DAY WEEK 57

is closed; those with two years’ service are paid for six
Saturdays; and for each additional year of service, up to
ten, payment it made for two additional Saturdays. Employees
 with ten or more consecutive years of service receive
pay for the full twenty-two Saturdays on which the plant
is closed during the vear.

[nTerMITTENT F1vE-DAY WEEK OPERATION
The five-day week with a decrease of hours per week and
without wage reductions has been used by many companies
as a device for reducing production during periods of slack
demand or business depression, but such instances hardly
deserve consideration in a study of the five-day week as an
accepted and regular working schedule.
Obviously, a contraction in the demand for a product
usually calls for temporary curtailment of output. Business
policy differs as to the best means for bringing about such
curtailment. Some executives believe that the plant should
continue to operate on full schedule as long as possible, and
that reduction in output should be effected by weeding out
the least desirable employees. Probably the majority of
executives, however, believe it important to conserve their
working force in order that it may function promptly when
normal operation is resumed. There is also a growing disinclination
 among them, in a period of general depression, to
aggravate a bad situation by adding to unemployment at a
time when opportunities for securing other employment are
few. Consequently, these executives gradually reduce their
hours of operation per week, and the first step in such a
reduction 1s often the five-day schedule. If the business
recession or the falling off in demand for production is not
severe, they may not consider it necessary to make further
reduction in working time.
The duration of the emergency necessitating five-day week
operation may be limited, and regular operation may be
resumed after only a few weeks or months. On the other
hand, there are instances when protracted depression in the
industry or a chronic condition of over-production require the
retention of the five-day schedule for a number of years. But
so long as management does not consider the five-day week
z