20

THE FIVE-DAY WEEK

Confining night operation to five nights a week is considered
 by many employers as an advantage in recruiting a
high caliber night force. Difficulty is often encountered in
obtaining an efficient night crew, for the reason that the
steadier and more desirable employees tend to prefer day
work, because of the disorganization of their accustomed
routine caused by reversing the periods for work and rest.
The attraction of the long week-end has, therefore, been
found of considerable assistance in offsetting the disadvantages
 of night work. The general considerations involved in
a working schedule of five nights are quite different from
those connected with the five-day week, and the two forms of
the shortened week schedule are therefore not entirely comparable.

These adaptations or variations of the five-day week principle
 have been discussed briefly because they indicate that,
in addition to the companies that have adopted this schedule
as a permanent basis of operation, others are either experimenting
 with it in a modified form or are applying it as a
temporary expedient. It was shown earlier in this discussion
that many companies now operating on a year-around fiveday
 basis were led to this decision by their experience with
the shortened work week in summer. Therefore, the temporary
 five-day schedule is likely to play an important part
in whatever development may result in future with respect
to the five-day work week principle.