The Lake Orion architectural firm Stephen Auger and Associates this week announced that the firm has shifted to a four-day, 10-hour-a-day work week.

For the past 10 years the firm has traditionally moved to a four-day schedule starting after Memorial Day and ending with Labor Day. This year, because of skyrocketing gasoline prices, the company said the four-10 schedule may remain in effect indefinitely.  

The long standing 4-10 schedule was one of the reasons SA&A was selected last year as one of Crain’s “Cool Places to Work” in Detroit. 

“When we first applied the 4-10 idea, it was more of an added employee benefit to working with the firm," said Steve Auger, the firm's president. "Now, with gas prices as high as they are and staff commuting from as far away as Detroit and Holly, it just seems like a more practical solution to cost savings.

This scheduling concept has recently been in the news as Oakland County announced it is considering a similar schedule.

By eliminating one work day per week the staff automatically saves 20 percent on fuel costs. 

“That’s something that even the Big 3 are being challenged with,” said Christopher Aller, firm principal and the company’s chief “green architect," accredited by the   Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. “As architects, we have been trying to save energy and help the environment by designing high performance buildings, but now we’re doing it by not working on Fridays. I think that’s something we all can take part in.”

Added Brad Klein, one of the firm's project managers, who has been with the firm for more than 10 years: “We’ve haven’t experienced a problem servicing our clients with this schedule. There are always projects on critical schedules that require overtime, which alters our summer hours schedule, but the client is always our first priority. In the past, employees would rotate their off day between Fridays and Mondays to provide the stable and consistent office environment our clients expect and depend on. But, with today’s extensive use of cell phones, text messaging and e-mail as well as remote access to the company’s computer systems, managing an alternative schedule is a lot less problematic than it used to be. With our firm’s technology our staff can make themselves readily available to clients when needed on off days and can complete most tasks from home.”

SA&A is located in an adaptive reuse of an 1860s-vintage building in the village of Lake Orion.