The
standard work week consists of 40 hours, split into 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. For offices that only operate during
business hours, this means 8am - 5pm (with an hour of
unpaid lunch) Monday through Friday. Schedules ordinarily vary from 6am - 3pm to 9am - 6pm. Compressed work weeks are more common in offices with 24 hour up time - the
computer/software industry is a prime example. Compressed work weeks shove more hours of work into a day, meaning more days off. My
work schedule is probably the most
extreme form of
compressed work week - I work 12 hours per day, alternating 3 or 4 days per week. Most compressed work weeks consist of 4 days at 10 hours each - giving the bonus of a regular
long weekend.
Most companies in the valley (
Phoenix) offer a compressed work week for a couple of reasons - to give employees "free days off"
incentive, and to help
air pollution (less days at work means less
smog). All in all, it's a pretty fair trade off. I lose a lot of personal time at the beginning of the week, but I make up for it having every
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off. Every other
Wednesday's not bad either.
This applies to the US - I'm ignorant of the scheduling norms outside my own country. /msg me if you'd like me to expand & include other practices.