A report reveals that one out of six employees working a four-day work week has a second job.
Dan Lentell, an independent councillor, has proposed a formal monitoring of second job after new statistics showed that 16% of council staff were working elsewhere on paid days off.
He told Personnel Today that he was “100% in favor of our society moving (wherever possible) to more four-in seven models of work. What’s the use of all this technology if we are working longer than medieval serfs to live? What’s going on at SCDC, however, is nutster than a squirrel brunch.
Lentell asked how residents would benefit from staff who work another job on top of their full-time salary.
SCDC pays its employees the full salary if they complete their roles in 80% or more of their time.
In 2024 Robertson Cooper’s survey on health and well-being found that 16% staff worked other paid jobs during their days off, compared to 1% in 2023 when the trial began. The council’s waste management team has not yet participated in the trial.
SCDC said that the figures are “not surprising”, as it knew about the second jobs of the employees before the trial started, including evening cleaning.
A spokesperson stated: ” In the shared waste service, it is not uncommon for colleagues to work second part-time.”
The council emphasized that it was not the trial itself which caused the practice to exist.
Elliot Keck is the head of campaigns for the TaxPayers’ Alliance. He said that local taxpayers are right to be concerned about council staff who have multiple jobs and will not be in a position to provide the quality services they expect.
“South Cambridgeshire District Council has embarked on an experiment reckless that could fail residents and leave workers burned out. The council bosses need to end the trial and concentrate on the needs of the residents of South Cambridgeshire.
On 14 January, the motion will be debated. It states that the “full time compensation should reflect the full-time commitment to duties and responsibilities” of the Council.
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