Utah’s Four-day Workweek Experiment: Did It Work?
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on April 14, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Last August, Utah instituted a four-day workweek for 17,000 government employees. They started working four 10-hour days instead of five eight-hour days. They all get every Friday off and their pay is unaffected. The hope was that, with many agencies closed on Friday, the state could save money on utilities:
“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.”
So did it work? Yes and no. The energy savings have been less impressive than the state hoped because they can’t figure out how to turn things off:
“So far, energy use has been reduced—but only by 13 percent. Each of Utah’s 900 government buildings is unique. State energy managers have to figure out how to turn everything off on Fridays—especially the massive heating and air conditioning units.”
But by every other measure, the new system has been hugely successful. Seventy percent of the workers affected like the change and the amount of time off they’re taking is actually down significantly (because, presumably, overall job satisfaction is higher). There’s also less driving on Fridays now, which helps the environment.
And what are people doing with their time off? They invest in their children and build social capital. Robert Putnam would be proud:
“Every Friday morning now, [Sonia] Smith volunteers at her son’s school. She helps students with their spelling tests and relishes the extra time with her son. Smith’s family and baby sitter adjusted their schedules to enable her to work the adjusted hours.”
In short: it’s all gravy (if slightly less gravy than hoped for in energy savings). And we can assume the energy managers will eventually figure out how to turn the heating systems off and Utah will reap the full 20 percent energy savings soon.
Other states have been watching Utah’s experiment with interest. Are there any reasons not to do this everywhere?
DISCUSSION: 31 Comments
Sounds like a sound plan. Saving the environment and keeping work satisfaction high. 3 day weekends are always welcome.
The article, “Utah’s Four Day Work Week Experiment: Did it Work?” I read in the Washington Post, that this idea is not unique to Utah; that other government agencies are thinking about converting to the same thing at least in Virginia. In Virginia where I live, it hasn’t happened here yet. But in Washington, DC’s federal government system, they have something that is even more cost effective than four day work weeks. It is called telecommuting. This is a very modern idea that has come along because a lot of people have their own computers and can work at home. That’s right! The DC government has let some of their employees work at home on their own computers and earn a salary. It is a cost cutting measure. The reason more employers haven’t done this even though it is cost effective is because they don’t trust that their employees would actually work without being supervised. But some employers are getting used to the idea because they are usually in such dire straights to make ends meet. This sounds better to me than a four day work week because I wouldn’t want to work ten hours a day unless I was getting paid overtime. How would they even know how to calculate overtime? The idea of having three days off sounds great. Maybe, I’d even help myself make ends meet to see if I could get a job one or two days extra a week. Or, I’d just use the time to relax and reflect. However, getting back to the idea of the telecommuting, I’d be able to sleep in. I could still be at work at eight o’clock and sit in front of my computer with my pajamas on. Who would see me? I live alone. Or, no professional would see you if you didn’t live alone. You could also shower later depending on if you do live with someone how that would go over. They’ve done a few studies on people who have home businesses and it goes farther than that. They say these people dress in a “fig leaf” because they have no reason to go out the door anywhere. That is the new business suit. For years now, it is said in studies that ten percent of people have their own home businesses which is not the same as telecommuting because you work for yourself. Of course, if you have your own home business, it is sometimes hard to get contracts from clients because they think all you will do is sit in front of the TV and not work. I personally now someone who has a home business of her own and like the studies on this issue suggest, she tells me that she has trouble with some potential contractors trusting her that the work will get done because it is a home business with the usual distractions. The distractions are the TV, the children, the dog, the refrigerator, the bed, vacations and running around on personal errands. And it’s pretty darn hard to even consider that where you live and let your hair down as being a professional uptight place where you’re supposed to work. Welcome to the twenty-first century! It will be very interesting.
What about productivity? As a bioinformatician, I know that any more than 5 or 6 hours straight really fries my brain. I can’t imagine that people get the same amount done in hours 9 and 10 that they would on a day where their mind is fully rested. This may be less of a problem if your job involves mindless paper-pushing, but I have to believe that it has a measurable effect.
My workplace (a family-owned publishing company) made this 4-day workweek an option for us last summer. Having a day off allowed those employees with families to spend more time with them, and gave people like me time to work on other interests, like music pursuits or internships. The (very apparent) downside was that lots of us had trouble keeping our eyes open, staring at a computer screen for ten hours straight… let alone being productive.
I have a question… Why, given the compounded advancements in productivity and efficiency, haven’t we reduced the work week to 4 days w/ one working 8 hours or the work day to 6 hours or so with one working 5 hours a week? I thought the whole point of technology was to alleviate human beings of menial and lengthy work days.. Seems it was only intended to fatten profit margins.
I would love this! Unfortunately, I work in a school… I got to be there every day of the week. Arrgh! As far as working in front of a computer 10 hours a day, I don’t think it is a problem. I often do it anyway. It is well worth it if I get an extra free day!
I don’t buy the “less driving” claim of this. Unless people are sitting in their houses all day, or using some other form of transportation on Fridays, I would be more inclined to believe they’re driving MORE on their day off. Running errands, or going on trips with families…that’s all mileage that wouldn’t be driven if they were at work. I’m not trying to knock the idea. I think that it an work very well in some industries, but I gotta call a foul when I see it.
not cool
Thing is though that the driving people do on their day off is different from a commute to work. The elimination of a work day would eliminate two rush hours each week across the country. A rush hour burns up more gas and causes more pollution than regular driving.
less government work = more good in the world. case in point
Sounds good for the workers but how about those who use their services? One less day a week to get help from the government. That increases the days you can’t get help to 156 days plus holidays a year.
Better Idea – reduce the work week of employees to 32 hours and hire more people to work Friday. Allow more people to work from home. Institute more energy and environmental education programs for government workers making them the most effecient in the nation and an example to all citizens.
Ten hour days make for walking dead men. You are TOO tired to do anything but go to bed during the workweek. Friday you’re too beat to do anything but try to recover. There were good reasons why the Federal Govt. established a 40 hr workweek back when abuses forced govt. regulation.We’re just trying to wring more out of life where, to be honest there isn’t much left to give. We need to consider if it wouldn’t be worthy of consideration to build better products that would LAST. Then we wouldn’t NEED to spend as long working to be able to buy more things intended to fall apart or wear out. We operate on a spiritually unsound basis.We have been willing to push the limits in recent years, accepting small sacrifices for the sake of doing the right thing and making inroads towards a better world. Let’s be willing to make more of those first steps.If some people can only manage as much as to follow the crowd, then lets start new trends. When others want to jump on the bandwagon, we’ll be heading in the right direction.
Hey, I have enjoyed reading everyones comments, I just noticed that there were a lot of comments concerning lowering the hours to 32 a week and hiring more people. I believe what the state was trying to accomplish was to save engery without affecting the current employees or the state financially. Hiring more workers and cutting hours lowers a person’s income and increases the cost to the state. As for being too tired to do anything after work…. 100 years ago all we did was work 12 hours a day 6 days a week. After that we made kids and slept. I think all the free time in developed countries has made us a little lazy. If you can find it online, go look up a schedule of Franklin’s day, from his autobiography, and compare that to our work ethic today. Its quite different.
God Bless
How do I sign up?
Without any of them losing their benefits or cutting their hours? What a great concept. Government saving money, employees getting more time to spend on their personal lives, I just don’t see any downside.
Happier workers with more personal time without taking a cut in money is a very good thing indeed. A way of saving energy and money without it causing any problems or loss to anyone. WOW. That is almost as good as getting 50 miles to a gallon.
As far as less services….
Let me see, open more hours per day during the week and not on Friday. If I work 8 hours everyday, and my government office is open 10 hours 4 days a week, I think that means I have 2 more hours a day that I can get to that government office on 4 days a week than I had before.
That sounds like I actually have more time and a better chance of getting to those government services that I need so often every week.
No bad things come out of going to a 4 day work week.
Heck, maybe if California would go to this 4 day thing, out budget would be balanced.
Having been in construction the busiest day of the week is Friday. We had a similiar plan in our county and what it did to private industry was distructive. While the governement was not working it severely hurt us. Of course governement didn’t care, they loved it.
I work 4, 10’s now. Every other week I choose to add 8 extra hours of overtime on Friday. So, its a win – win for me. 4 ten’s are great.
Texas has done this for YEARS. At least as long as I’ve known…
I think 4 10 hour days would be great! I work 3 twelve hour shifts and do just fine. For those of you that think 4 ten hour shifts would be too difficult, you must be soft from all that down time after work! Like someone said, people used to work much, much longer and harder than we do now. I think the 4 day week would be welcomed by many, help with family time and save energy too.
lol, perhaps an even better question….. What does the picture associated with the article have to do with the article? John Goodman and two other actors sitting in a bowling alley.
In the tech industry, it is common to work 10 to 12 hours per day, often 6 days per week. Some of the progressive companies are sending employees “home” on Fridays to save energy at the office etc. It doesn’t mean that we will work fewer hours, but it actually brings focus to when certain work will be done. If I could just have no commute and no meetings one day per week, my productivity would skyrocket!
to feel human equals a 3 day weekend
Must be great! It would be nice not to have to leave work early to get to the DMV before they close! Sounds like their extended hours might help people visit government agencies after hours-which is always a problem for the 9 to 5 workers.
4 10s is rough on family life. We do 4 10s for the summer where I work, and I hate it. Sure, we get three day weekends, but the Friday is needed to recover from having two less hours available in the evenings Monday through Thursday. I have taken less time off, but it is not because of job satisfaction, it is because Fridays are used for errands and doctors appointments, which is the only benefit, taking time off for necessities without burning sick time or vacation. Trying to get the kids fed and to bed on time is a real chore with two hours less in the evening, though, and and quality time is non-existent for most of the week. I’m going to be pressing my boss for 5 8s next summer. The cost to the family is just too much.