Could a 4-day week work here?
July 2nd, 2008 by KimUtah next month will become the first state to institute a mandatory four-day work week for most state employees, following the example of other local governments across the nation that are trying to scale back energy costs:
Gov. Jon Huntsman, a first-term Republican, says he’s making the change to reduce the state’s carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers more flexibility.
…
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.
The story doesn’t say how many hours employees would have to work on each of those four days to make up for the lost fifth day, but another USA Today story says employees in other places that have switched to four-day weeks generally work four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days. For the most part, the changes are being driven by rising gas prices — employees have requested shorter workweeks to cut back on driving costs.
Utah’s goal is to cut back energy use by 20 percent by 2015.
Hawaii’s goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels by 2020. It will be interesting to see if any work week changes will be considered here, where the average price of gas today is $4.34, compared to Utah, where the average price is $4.10 today. I’m guessing that the average commute for someone in Hawaii compared to someone in Utah may be shorter, but seeing how traffic is becoming increasingly congested here, well, I’m not sure.
Our ears perked up over at the Advertiser at reports of some rural schools on the mainland switching to four-day school weeks because of high energy costs, both for the school and students, who may have to commute from far away. After a few calls, however, I couldn’t find any schools here, including the colleges and universities, that were considering switching to a four-day school week.
Hawaii’s seven community colleges statewide “are in geographic regions that are supposedly in people’s neighborhoods,” Susan Lee, marketing director for the UH community college system, told me.
The community college system also offers education through outreach centers or extension programs in rural or less-served areas, Lee said. “I think we just try to reach out to the students in that sense,” she added.
Just something to think about as many of us enjoy this four-day week. I guess we’ll see what happens when gas hits $5 a gallon …
Tags: energy, environment, gas prices, on the road, work
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I never thought about that. I definitely wouldn’t mind a four-day work week and I’m sure others would love it, too.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 am
I hope gas reaches $20/gallon. Imagine the changes!
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 am
Hmm Utah.. isn’t that the state where lots of people do polygamy also? I don’t know about that state..
Oh well, a four day work week could be nice, however, if you’re self employed you might hate the idea too…. Also, if it has to be compensated with extra workhours during the day, I rather keep a 5 day workweek.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:17 am
There are a few programs at the Community Colleges are are four-day programs. At Hawaii Community College (I’m not sure but) a few technical programs (Auto mech, welding, etc.) are held Monday to Thursday. The idea was that these students already work or that they commute long distances to class.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 am
I’d prefer the option of working from home. My company offers it for some employees; the catch is that you’re on call for 24 hours. But the benefits are pretty good: never have to deal with traffic, take care of odd chores whenevers, work in your underwear, etc.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:48 am
I hate to say it, but a lot of people already have a 4-day work week, calling in sick when they’re not really sick!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
it’s been done here before. the police did it with the previous chief (before correa) and loved it. i have a cop friend and she said it helped with morale and staffing issues. nurses also do it regularly because of the awkward hours they keep in hospitals. there’s usually some union hurdles, but it could work here no problem.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
my company has this thing called “RDO” or Regular Day Off. the way it works is its a 2 week system.
The first week you work
9 hours M-Th, 8 hours Fri.
The 2nd week you work 9 hours M-Th, & Friday off.
I tried that for a little while, but we then got busy, and it hasn’t stopped since, so I would’ve been working OT for all those Fridays anyways. So we all got off of it and work a regular 8 hour day every day.
It was also very frustrating too, when trying to contact or get help on that Friday when someone was off and there was no one to cover for him/her.
It was staggered here so that some people would have Monday off instead of Friday, so that way there was some coverage.
I worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (in Maine) temporarily for a few months last year and they work the same schedule. I never could understand how they could do it, as they are ALWAYS busy, and people are always working on Friday. Talk about lots of OT $$$ spent. And that was the shipyard that was to be BRAC’d the other year but pointed the finger at the Pearl Harbor Shipyard and said “Hey, we’re more efficient than them, close them down!” That irritated me the whole time I was there.
Anyways, to make a long story short. It has its pros and cons. We’ll see how Utah handles the situation. Working 10 hour days seem a VERY long time. Factor in maybe a hours drive to and from work, and you’ll be burnt out quick. Also, how would schools and child care programs work out to match the state’s system? The kids gotta go somewhere while the parents are working.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:45 am
So what would happen if there is a holiday on one of the four work days? Then you would lose 10 hours instead of the normal 8. But, that would be nice. People could get part time jobs during the other three days.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Jorge:
We’re on the 8 - 9hrs and 1 - 8hrs flex work schedule. If a holiday falls on one of the 9hr days, you have to make up an hour or take an hour of vacation or switch the 1 8hr day so it falls on the holiday since our company will only pay you 8hrs for the holiday off. If the holiday should happen to fall on your day off, you’re owed 8 hours of time off. When we take off for vacation, We’re pretty flexible, thus ‘flex work schedule’. You also need an understanding boss.
What I think would happen in your example is that you will have to make up 2hrs, either vacation/sick/stay late.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:50 am
I wonder… Well, during my travels to Italia (Italy) two years ago I noticed something: Italians love their Sundays off, and I mean OFF. Ninety-five percent of everything there is closed on Sundays, and if they happen to be open they’re almost always closed by noon. I recall a meat shop I went to while in Firenze (Florence). I decided to buy some chicken there since my euros were running short for the week. I notice a nice selection of different meats; chicken, pork, fish, but mostly beef. To make things short I wanted to cook something for my flat-mates for having taken me out the night before. I planned out a little feast for all three of them. Well, there are two others, but they’re usually never home. It was around noon. I walked over to the meat shop and, you guessed it, they were closed… Guess what else? It was sunday. I was curious, so I asked a few people where everyone was. Well, they replied, “E ‘Domenica Tutto è chiusa.” I didn’t know what it meant ’til later. My flat mate told me it meant: “It is sunday everything is closed”.
Sunday is family day and no one works. I really don’t want to say “EVERYONE,” but “everyone” seemed happy.
So, yes I think it would work out well, especially in Hawaii. Hawaii’s culture and it’s people are very laid back. A four day work week would indeed work out very well, just don’t let it end up on a ballot. I know it would be a good thing for the people of Hawaii, but unfortunately people in Hawaii don’t like change. This is all just my opinion. Self Employed people would benefit the most since it will allow them time to relax and have the choice to do things they may or may not have had the time to do. Less stress and you live longer… =)
July 4th, 2008 at 1:55 am
one more thing… Happy July 4th everyone…
July 5th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Theoretically a 4-day work week sounds great, especially from an employee’s viewpoint. But there are some people who do not care to work 10 hours a day for a variety of reasons - small kids, too tiresome, etc. However, from the employer’s perspective, a real downside is employee productivity. Many jobs are tiring not only phisically but mentally as well. Consequently, a person’s productivity will likely go down relative to an 8 hour day. This has to be balanced with the overall cost savings from the employee’s standpoint (less commuting) and the possible increased cost of the employer to maintain productivity.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I am lucky enough to have several options:
1) multiple work sites. I have a desk in one of our locations in town and i have a desk at our corporate headquarters in kapolei. i live in town, so i work out of the town office 2-3 times a week to save gas.
2) working from home. occasionally i will work from home, like when i am slightly under the weather or if i have an appointment or meeting with a vendor closer to home in the middle of the day.
3) avoiding rush hour. I wake up and check my email to see if there is anything urgent waiting for me or if there are any low hanging fruit i can take care of from my home computer right away. after i take care of those things i get ready for work and leave the house around 8:15am. leaving after 8am makes my commute time much shorter than if i left the house an hour earlier and also saves me gas.
there are many ways to save on energy costs if people are willing to think creatively. and as for state offices, i’d sacrifice having them open on friday if they would open later on the other days of the week. it would be very convenient to be able to get things done after work.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:50 am
In response to chawan_cut posting; my company BAE SYSTEMS Inc. (Maryland), also instituted the same policy. We also have this thing called “RDO” or Regular Day Off. The way it works is it’s a 2 week system. The first week is called A week and you work 9 hours Monday-Thursday, and Friday everybody gets that day off. The 2nd week is called B week you work 9 hours Monday-Friday. My work day begins at five a.m. in the morning and end at two p.m. in the afternoon. I love it because I beat the traffic both going to work and going back home.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:57 am
As one of the Advertiser’s mobile journalists (”mojos”), I, too, work from home for the most part. I’ve been given a cell phone, lap top and wireless card and have been sent out into the community to talk to people and gather news stories in East Oahu. My commute to the Advertiser building on Kapiolani isn’t far — we ARE an island after all — but it’s nice to be able to save on gas in that sense.
At the same time, I still feel there’s no easy instant message/email/cell phone substitute for being able to sit next to and talk to your colleagues or tell your editor about a story face-to-face — especially in the news business. If more companies are going to move towards the concept of employees working a few or all their days at home, we’re going to need to find a way to stay better connected and make sure we don’t forget the value of real human interaction.