Desperate times call for desperate measures. So say officials in Orange County, N.Y., who, in a bid to wring hundreds of extra work hours out of employees, have canceled coffee breaks.
Faced with a $7.5 million budget gap, County Executive Edward Diana told department administrators to scrap the time-honored tradition of giving workers two paid 15-minute recesses, reports the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, N.Y.
“The financial impact on this county demands looking for ways to save money,” Diana told the paper. “There’s nothing in our contract dealing with formal breaks. We decided we’re not going to do it anymore.”
State law and union contracts only require the county to provide a 30-minute meal break for employees who work at least six consecutive hours.
According to county calculations, saying no to ‘Joe’ even for just the 1,395 workers in the county’s three largest agencies amounts to 698 additional work hours, or the equivalent of 87 more employees on the job per day.
“That’s fuzzy math,” Glenn Blackman, chief negotiator for Civil Service Employees Association in Poughkeepsie told the Herald-Record. The union, which represents county workers, filed grievances about the policy change.
“That kind of arithmetic might work if you’re producing widgets and the assembly line shuts down when everyone goes on break,” Blackman added. “Orange County isn’t going to shut down. The work gets done.”
The move may well backfire, as the decaffeinating of the employees may result in lower productivity.
The good news? Bathroom trips are still allowed, although they’re less urgent in the absence of coffee intake.
The new policy could also trigger infighting among the workers, pitting those who rely on caffeine to keep them going against those who prefer nicotine: The new policy doesn’t affect smoking breaks.
Additional belt-tightening measures being undertaken include curbing overtime, canceling equipment purchases and leaving job vacancies open.
