Utah state employees to start four-day week

Plan that will affect 17,000 workers aims to save energy

By Mike Stark, Associated Press

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Starting next month, it will be "TGIT" for Utah state employees. As in: "Thank God It's Thursday."

In a yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state's energy costs and commuters' gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees.

They will put in 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday, and have Fridays off, freeing them to golf, shop, spend time with the kids or do anything else that strikes their fancy. They will get paid the same as before.

"One of the jokes is that one of the biggest benefits will be for golf courses," said Ryan Walker, 49, an information technology director.

The order issued by Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman will affect about 17,000 out of 24,000 executive branch employees. It will not cover state police officers, prison guards or employees of the courts or Utah's public universities. Also, state-run liquor stores will stay open on Fridays.

The compressed workweek could prove inconvenient to those who need state services and find certain offices closed on Fridays. Also, some parents may have to rearrange child care to accommodate their longer hours, and bus, and commuter train schedules might have to be adjusted.

But many are excited about the idea. "I'm thrilled," said Rose Kenworthy, 58, an executive secretary at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. Sheldon Wood, 48, who writes property tax software, plans on using his three-day weekends to go into the mountains to hike and bike with his wife, also a state employee.

Turning off the lights, the heat and the air conditioning on Fridays in 1,000 of 3,000 government buildings will save about $3 million a year out of a state budget of $11 billion, according to the governor's spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley. The state will also save on gasoline used by official vehicles.

The four-day workweek could also be good for the environment.

"We feel like we can reduce the CO2 or the ozone by around over 3,000 metric tons, as well as have an impact on our air pollution," said Kim Hood, executive director of the Department of Administrative Services.