‘As a taxpayer, I’d pay them 20% less’: Jake criticizes San Juan County’s 32-hour workweek

After San Juan County implemented a 32-hour workweek, residents reported less burnout, and the county saw a spike in job applications.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, had a blunter take: employees have been “phoning it in.”

Jake: As a taxpayer, I would say, ‘pay them 20% less’

Jake pointed to a model called the 180-100 model, where workers in the county are getting 100% pay, working 80% of the hours, while still producing 100%, but he viewed that as a reason to pay the workers 20% less.

“Maybe it’s my cynical nature, but to me, if we’re paying somebody five days of work that they’re able to accomplish with the 100-80-100 model, that says that these people have been phoning it in. They’re slacking off on the job,” he said. “I’m not saying every single second that you’re working there needs to be sweat on your brow, but if you’re now trying to spin it as a good idea, I, as a taxpayer, would say, ‘No, pay them 20% less.'”

Spike acknowledged that employees were being paid for 40 hours despite not having 40 hours of work to do.

“We have been paying people 40 hours a week, and there isn’t 40 hours’ worth of work to do. So they’ve been spinning their wheels,” Spike said. “If you’ve got people who are taking 40 hours to do 32 hours of work each week, you can look and say we understand that 20% of your time is not being used effectively, what if we didn’t make you come in?”

Less turnover can save businesses money

However, Spike noted that since the change, lower burnout rates in San Juan County have reduced turnover, saving businesses money on hiring and training.

“One of the hardest things employers go through is finding the right people when you need them. When people turn over because they burn out or get a better, more attractive job, the cost of finding and training people is a lot of money,” Spike said. “They’re finding that if people just get an easier work week, they’re keeping their people. They’re saving money by not retraining and finding new employees.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.