In January 2025, the Town launched a six-month pilot program for administrative staff. Administrative employees shifted to a four-day schedule, working from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a 30-minute paid lunch. The pilot was intentionally designed to evaluate not only employee satisfaction but also the operational impacts on service delivery and resident access.

Employee feedback before the pilot demonstrated strong support for the initiative. More than 91 percent of respondents favored testing the four-day work week. Survey respondents anticipated improvements in work-life balance, citing reduced commuting time, lower fuel and toll expenses, and greater flexibility for managing personal appointments without using vacation or sick leave. These anticipated benefits were particularly meaningful given that 57 percent of respondents lived outside the Town limits with a commute exceeding 15 minutes.

In addition to improving the employee experience, Town leadership recognized that offering a four-day work week could serve as a competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining talented employees in an increasingly competitive labor market. The schedule reflects the Town's commitment to employee well-being while helping differentiate Little Elm as an employer of choice within local government.

A key lesson from the pilot was the importance of proactively planning for customer communication. Rather than simply announcing the new schedule, the Town developed a comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide for employees working in facilities that remained open to the public on Fridays. The guide served as a reference tool, equipping frontline staff with consistent answers to common questions about administrative services, office hours, online resources, and alternative ways residents could access services while administrative offices were closed. This ensured that regardless of where a resident interacted with the Town, they received accurate and consistent information.

The Town also relied on data to guide its decision-making. Before implementing the pilot, staff analyzed historical Friday customer traffic, including phone calls and walk-in visits during the previous 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. operating hours. The analysis showed that demand for administrative services during that timeframe was consistently low and that the services residents accessed were already available through the Town's online platforms. This data provided confidence that transitioning to a four-day schedule would have minimal impact on customer service.

Not every department was able to close on Fridays, which provided another important lesson in the value of flexibility. Some of the departments operating public-facing facilities seven days a week or maintaining essential services were able to adjust internal schedules to ensure continuous coverage while still providing each full-time employee with three days off each week. Allowing departments to tailor schedules based on operational needs helped maintain service levels while extending the benefits of the initiative across the organization.

By the end of the six-month pilot, employee feedback remained overwhelmingly positive, reinforcing the Town's decision to permanently adopt the four-day work week for eligible staff. In the post-pilot survey, 91 percent of responding employees indicated that their work-life balance had “significantly improved”. Additionally, 69 percent indicated that the new schedule had increased their productivity at work. No respondents indicated that the four-day work week had caused any challenges related to customer service or caused any changes in team collaboration and communication.

Furthermore, since implementing the four-day work week, the Town has experienced an increase in average employee tenure, a reduction in employee turnover, and an improvement in employee retention, reinforcing the value of the initiative as both a workforce and organizational strategy.

The experience demonstrated that successful implementation requires more than adjusting work schedules. It depends on thoughtful planning, employee engagement, clear communication, and the use of operational data to inform decisions.

For local governments considering a similar initiative, Little Elm's experience offers several key takeaways:

• Use employee surveys to understand concerns, measure support, and evaluate outcomes.

• Analyze customer demand and service utilization before making operational changes.

• Develop communication tools that equip frontline employees to answer resident questions consistently.

• Leverage online services to maintain resident access when administrative offices are closed.

• Allow departments flexibility to tailor schedules while maintaining service expectations.

• Evaluate success using both employee feedback and operational performance metrics rather than assumptions.

By approaching the four-day work week as a data-driven pilot instead of an immediate permanent change, the Town of Little Elm was able to validate its assumptions, make informed adjustments, and ultimately strengthen both employee well-being and organizational effectiveness without compromising the quality of service provided to its residents.

For more information on the Town of Little Elm’s Alternative Work program contact Caitlan Biggs, Assistant Town Manager at Caitlan.biggs@littleelm.gov.

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