(KYTX) -- We've all heard the song and most of us live the life: working nine to five, five days a week. But some East Texas companies are breaking the mold.
There aren't that many companies doing it, but the ones that have made the switch are finding a lot to like. The concept is pretty simple. You come to work for ten hours a day, and in return for the extra hours, you get a three day weekend.
When we found out Sweet Shop U.S.A. was running more than 100 employees on the four/ten schedule, a trip to Mount Pleasant was just too sweet to pass up.
Inside their retail store, you'd never imagine the work that goes into a piece of candy.
"Of course these are our famous Texas Brags," Sweet Shop COO Mandy Hughes said as she pointed at a long display case. "You may know them as a turtle, but we call them brags because we like to brag about them."
During our visit, they were making more to brag about back in the factory, but a supply problem meant one variety is delayed.
"So we're not going to get that one?" Hughes asked production manager Perla Ruiz.
"It's because we have no labels," Ruiz said.
Ruiz is one of the people who works the ten-hour shifts.
"We always make sure that the brags are coming out perfect."
It's been several years now, but after working a job that took her away from her family on the weekends, the four-day work week was Ruiz's recipe for a new beginning.
"It is a little tougher at the beginning," Ruiz said. "You get to have more time to spend with your family and kids, and to do personal time."
At East Texas Vascular Associates in Tyler, Fay Green keeps doctors, nurses and other staff on a schedule that has to live up to patients' most serious medical demands.
"A lot of my girls work quite a distance," Green said. "For instance Frankston, Brownsboro, and they asked if they could work four tens."
ETVA made the switch when gas started going up and found out morale went through the roof.
"It really is very helpful to have everyone comfortable with the hours that they work," Green said.
Back at the factory, they're putting the finishing touches on a new product that's part of a private label program. It's something that would have taken longer in the past.
"We've gotten more productivity out of [the employees] during those four days."
Now, they're cutting out the waste.
"It also helps us on electric bills because, you know, being in the candy business during the summer, it gets really hot," Hughes said.
The schedule also reduced turnover and improved efficiency at the beginning of shifts.
Since we sat down with East Texas Vascular Associates last year, they've started moving away from using the four-day work week. They tell us doctors found it difficult to work with different staffing levels depending on the day of the week, so most staff are now working traditional schedules instead.
Even though there aren't many companies using the four-day work week in East Texas, we did manage to dig up a few more. The Target distribution center north of Tyler, and several manufacturing companies in Longview have employees working four ten-hour days.
