If you had the choice and your job permitted it, would you rather work five 8-hour days or four 10-hour days?

Thought so.

Most of Clackamas County’s 2,000 employees (60 percent) last week began working four 10-hour shifts. The county’s offices will be closed Friday and open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Emergency service workers will stick to their usual schedule, and the whole idea will be reviewed after a year.

It’s not entirely a new idea.

People who work in law enforcement, emergency services, the medical profession and even newspapers are no strangers to so-called “4/10s.” But most of them work weekends in jobs or industries that are staffed pretty much 24/7. So the 4/10 split makes sense for scheduling employees to cover rotating day, swing and graveyard shifts.

What makes Clackamas County’s move newsworthy is that it is the state’s largest government agency to switch to 4/10s to accomplish work that has traditionally taken place during regular business hours.

But I’m hoping the 4/10 work model spreads.

Not only will the public have access to county offices before and after regular business hours, but closing one day a week would save energy and ease traffic congestion on Friday.

Not entirely, however: I expect some people might travel to parent-teacher conferences, take college classes, learn new job skills, attend more events, and even start cottage industries. Even if they got more sleep or exercise, that would be a good thing for personal health and well-being.

I’ve seen this first-hand among friends who work 4/10s in law enforcement, the medical profession, some manufacturing jobs and newspapers, for that matter.

They’ve finished college degrees, learned musical instruments, taken part in civic activities (and one unfortunate amateur play) and just get out more to visit with friends, putter in the garden or take a weekend trip to the coast.

It’s good for the economy, too. You can operate a cottage or online business three days a week. People do.

We reported a year ago that employees say they value free time more than money.

Cynics might say that people would just lie on the couch and sleep or watch television. Some likely would. But wouldn’t testing that theory be worthwhile?

Theresa Novak is city editor at the Corvallis Gazette-Times. She can be reached at theresa.novak@lee.net.