• Home
  • :
  • :
  • Member Center
  • :
  • Make This Your Home Page
  • :
  • Special Offers


LOCAL NEWS

TV

Cars.com
cars.com  Find a Car
 Find a Dealer
 Sell Your Car
Other Services
 MoveCenter
 Datingcenter

Firms offer a 4-day week to help employees save on gas

11:43 AM CDT on Thursday, July 10, 2008

By MONIKA DIAZ / WFAA-TV

Video
Monika Diaz reports
July 9, 2008
MORE: News 8 video

When paying high gas prices, something has got to go.

A new online survey says this is what we are giving up:

• We are eating out 35 percent less.

• Entertainment budgets are cut by 31 percent.

• Grocery bills are down 27 percent.

• 21 percent are cutting out vacations.

Some companies are giving employees' budgets relief by offering a four-day week.

Every time, college student, Edwin Ochoa, gets in the car, he worries about gas prices.

On a busy work week, he is filling up every three or four days, at $25 a pop.

"I'm going to have to find some other job, a way to make up for that," said Edwin Ochoa, a Dallas Concilio employee.

But now Dallas Concilio is giving him some relief - a four-day work week.

"We thought since the summer slows down a little bit, and gas prices are high, it was a good way for them to conserve their gas and their money," said Elizabeth Rubalcava from Dallas Concilio.

Three weeks ago, the Automotive Service Association, changed to four-day work weeks.

"If we can't pay them more, we can give them tangible benefits in other areas, paying less for gasoline is one of them," said Ron Pyle, ASA president.

ASA employee, Brie Ragland, commutes 60 miles a day from her home in Frisco to her job.

How much is she saving?

On a five-day work week, Ragland spends an average of $40 a week, $160 a month and close to $2,000 a year on gas, just to get to and from her job.

"I was filling up twice a week," said Ragland.

On a four-day schedule, she is filling up less - gas expenses are $32 a week, $128 a month and close to $1,600 a year.

Cutting a day off her commute puts $384 a year in her pocket.

For Ragland, the schedule switch makes sense.

"I get to work in a better mood. I get home in a better mood. Everything is better," she said.

E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com.