GENERAL SUMMARY

65

Attendance and punctuality were generally found to be
improved as a result of five-day operation. Furthermore,
such a schedule was thought to attract and hold desirable
employees, whose appreciation of the two free days each week
found expression in the volume and quality of their output.
Employers generally were satisfied that the shorter working
schedule has had a pronounced effect in raising the morale
of the working force.
Objections reported to the five-day week, or to certain
features of it, were neither so frequent nor so fundamental as
the advantages cited in its favor. Employers who had
adopted this schedule at the instigation of organized labor,
as a rule considered it an imposition and were disinclined to
see it in a favorable light. Others admitted disadvantages or
handicaps, but did not consider them insurmountable. The
fact that Saturday is an important day in some industries has
made it difficult to accustom purchasers to the fact that the
plant is closed on that day. A few employers expressed disapproval
 that some employees accepted other remunerative
employment on the day that it was believed should be devoted
 to rest and recreation. Others questioned whether the
distribution of Saturday hours over the other five days had
not made these days too long for best results, especially in the
high temperature of the summer and in the longer hours under
 artificial light in the winter. In some cases a decline in
quality of work has been attributed to this cause.
The attitude of employees appears to have been quite universally
 favorable to the five-day schedule, even when it had
resulted in some loss in wage earnings. Married women, in
particular, appreciate the extra time for household duties,
and men value the day for making repairs on their houses
and cultivating their gardens or attending to other personal
matters. Throughout the year one trip to and from the
plant for only a half-day’s earnings is eliminated, and in
the summer months the longer week-end makes possible the
enjoyment of trips farther away from home. General experience
 with the five-day weekly work schedule led both
the employers and employees represented in this study to
favor this arrangement.
Like most departures from prevailing practice, the five