WELLINGTON - If you stop by Wellington's offices today you'll find most of them closed for business. That's because the village has officially converted to a four-day work week and most offices will now be closed on Fridays.

The Safe Neighborhoods Office, however, will continue to stay open and take any phone calls the Village receives. And some employees like senior managers will work from home.

Originally the new four day work week was suppose to start Oct. 2 but after the Village Council raised some concerns the implementation was delayed until council approved it at the end of September, said Assistant Village Manager John Bonde.

Bonde said the Village came up with the idea when they were looking for ways to save money. He estimates the idea will save the village about $300,000 a year.

Bonde said the council voted for the four-day work week on a six-month trial basis. At the end of six months staff will give a report on whether or not the village is saving money and if there has been a "diminishing the level of service."

Two concerns of the Village Council had been whether or not phone calls would be answered by a live person and if any of the employees objected. Bonde said transferring all the phone calls to the Safe Neighborhoods office took care of the first concern. The Safe Neighborhoods Office will be open seven days a week. While only a few employees had a conflict with the longer hours. But those employees have been accommodated, Bonde said.

The new village hours will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Bonde said the village looked at other municipalities that have already done this as examples. Boynton Beach switched to a four-day work week June 12.

"It seems to be working well. People are adjusting to it," said Wayne Segal, spokesperson for Boynton Beach. "We're all enjoying our extra day off. There haven't been any problems so far. We've only heard positive things."

Segal said one of the benefits is that residents can now conduct business with the city before or after they go to work.

"It's really convenient for a number of people," he said. He said they're estimating that it will save the City about $150,000 a year.

"This is certainly nothing new. It's what happening in the workforce right now," Bonde said. "People will be using their cars less, we'll be using less electricity and there will be other indirect benefits. There will probably be some issues that arise but we'll deal with them."