CNN employees test-drive the four-day work week

(CNN) -- Can a four-day work week exist at a 24-hour news operation?

Not only did CNN decide to do a series of stories looking at the growing popularity of the four-day work week, but we resolved to try it ourselves and see if it was compatible with our busy schedules.

My coworkers and I at the CNN National Desk volunteered to help answer some very important questions: Can a four-day work week work in a demanding environment like the news industry? How can a four-day work week benefit us? And, what kind of challenges will we face?

Erica Henry is the manager of the National Desk's western region. She is a busy mother of three -- her youngest, Sydney, is only six months old. With the help of her husband and her mother, she juggles career and family. Erica thinks moving to a four-day work week could be a good idea.

"The advantages are having that extra day, a week day, where I can go do things that I'm not able to do on the weekends and to spend an extra day at home with my 6-month-old," said Henry.

She also recognizes there could also be some challenges.

"The disadvantages would be some sort of an imposition on my husband and my mom. Usually my husband and I would do a trade-off where I will do the drop-off and my husband would do the pick-up. Now it might be a situation where my husband will have to do both the pick-up and the drop-off," she said.

The other major setback is that she doesn't expect to save any money on gas.

"My children's camp is literally on the same road I take to get to work. So driving to work and driving back, I'm only driving eleven miles in each direction," said Henry. "If I have an extra day off from work, I'm going to be running errands, and I know that I'm going to drive at least the same amount that I would drive to work, if not more. I argued that I'm going to be driving more on the third day off."

CNN's National Desk editor Scott Thompson is very optimistic about changing his schedule: not only will this help his family life, but it'll also save him time and money.

"That extra day is going to save me just a little bit of extra money," he said sarcastically. "I spend $13-14 a day driving to and from work about 80 miles, so it's going to help out a lot."

Scott also thinks that by adding the extra two hours to each of his work days, he will get an added bonus.

"Working those couple of extra hours, means less time I'm in this traffic. Because by that time a lot of that rush hour traffic will be gone away and it's clear sailing back up to Cherokee County," said Thompson.

Unlike Scott, my commute is not that bad: I live only 8 miles from work. Though I may not save much money on gas, I like the idea of having the extra day off.

I would get to do some things I normally wouldn't be able to do like spend more time with my dogs, go to lunch with friends, run some errands, or make doctor's appointments.

My only concern is for my employer: I'm uncertain how a four-day work week would affect scheduling. Considering we work in a 24/7 news environment, it's very hard to be able to change our schedule to make sure we can accommodate with our company's needs.

For this series, my colleagues and I tried the four-day schedule for just a week. The goal of the project was to hear our predictions and expectations. But expectations and reality are not necessarily the same. Later this year, we will work a four-day schedule for an entire month.

With more time, we'll have a better understanding of how the schedule change will impact our lives personally and professionally. Will we grow to love working the new schedule? Or, will we change our minds about pushing for a four-day work week?

If we really enjoy the change and find a way to solve the other logistical issues, could Thursday become the new Friday for CNN employees?

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