• Ryan Elkins
• Jul 3,2008
• In: News, The Office

Utah Goes 4 Long

Gov. Jon Huntsman announced a plan to move 80% of the state’s workforce to 4 day work weeks by August. For those of you unaware of how this works, it means you work for 10 hours per day instead of 8, so you spend the same amount of time working, you just condense it into 4 days. This gives you a 3 day weekend every week.

It is a mandatory change but won’t affect everyone. According to USA Today:

The change will apply to about 17,000 employees, roughly 80% of the state workforce, Huntsman says. Public universities, the state court system, prisons and other critical services will be exempt. Residents still will have sufficient access to state offices, many staying open from 7 a.m.- 6 p.m., and more than 800 state services are available online, he says.

I think this could be a good thing. Maybe some offices will be open in time for me to actually visit them when I need to. The article goes on to say that it is being done mostly for environmental and cost saving measures. I guess I could see that but it seems like people would just use their extra day off to be out and about which could just make things worse.

Maybe more importantly:

Beyond the energy and financial implications, the four-day work week is a quality-of-life issue for many. Huntsman says it is especially popular among younger employees and that his action will make Utah more competitive in luring talent.

Facer agrees that an improved “work-life balance” often results from a shorter work week.

“More and more young workers are entering the work force,” Facer says. “They’re looking for ways to enhance their work-life balance. Alternative work schedules offer more of this work-life balance than do traditional work schedules.”

I’m wondering if this will start to trickle down to the private sector as well. I, for one, wouldn’t mind going to a 4 day work week. I think it sounds pretty nice. Then again, maybe I would just end up with more stuff to do on the weekends…