WOW! What a surprise, although I guess it shouldn't be. I worked 4 days per week for 10 years, and not only does it save gas and reduce pollution, you accomplish more at work, and the 3 day break is a huge stress reliever resulting in happier healthier people! I hope someone thinks to monitor sick days before and after the change and reports back.

Nice try. But remember that 93% of Utah's electricity is from coal.

John,
I don't understand your comment... if Utah uses mostly coal for electricity, then this move to a 4 day work week makes an even bigger difference than if we were using less coal. If we were using all renewable energy already (instead of working towards that), there would be no environmentally beneficial reason to move to a 4 day work week.

I suppose Utah has already eliminated overtime for after an eight-hour day. This has been in the works for some time. Before you know it, workers will be back to a five day 48-hour work week with at the same rate as was a 40-hour work week with no overtime pay. I remember in the early 2000s there was a push to make overtime mandatory only after 80 hours in a two week period with no days off between, which if you had two people sharing a position, you could work them with virtually no overtime.

Ten and twelve hour days can be pretty long and non-productive, too. How did we ever get to this trend of eliminating a 40-hour, 5-day week? I agree that we should be more eco-conscious with our government and industries, but let's be just as thoughtful as to how Human Resource departments are going to manipulate our hours to maximize labor versus cost.

And how will the taxpayer be effected by only four days of government services? Not only will he have one less day to make use of that service' do you think the extra two hours will benefit an already time-constrained two-worker family?

I'm all for green, but don't let our sacrifices translate into "greener" benefits for employers.

Yes. Of course that means you should ignore any progress they make in reducing energy used.

Hmm, I certainly see the positive, including people having more days off to actually enjoy life.. But what about the 8 hour day? Hopefully when they come to review it they will ask all the workers which way they prefer it.

Four ten hour days is just exhausting. Four eight hour days would be more sustainable.

We've known for more than a century that when you work more than eight hours, your overall productivity goes down so that you produce only as much as if you had worked eight hours. If you work more than 12 hours, your productivity goes down so much that you lose for the day compared to eight hours.

Working four ten hour days, you will produce the same as four eight hour days, except we will be keeping the lights and air conditioning going for two extra hours a day.

This works for places like government and large non-profits, but most salaried private sector employees are already working 10 hour days, only they are doing it 5 (or 6) days a week.

basis of my point was that lights and/or PC are on either at home or at the office - so that is a wash at best; and much worse if the lights and PC's are not shut down at work on Friday!

Only by generating electricity in a less carbon intensive way will they make a difference.

The only real benefit would be that the fuel spent in commuting on Friday is saved. And that has nothing to do with electricity (yet).

Since I m working 10 hours every day anyhow, I don t think my boss would support this move - but how I wish I was a Utah state worker right now....

Utah Shifts To A More Sustainable Four Day Work Week

Around 17,000 or 20 percent of all Utah state workers will shift to a new four-day, ten-hour work schedule beginning in August as part of the state s one-year Working 4 Utah pilot program to save energy and money.

By shutting down 1,000 buildings statewide on Fridays, an estimated 3,000 metric tons in carbon emissions will also be cut. Admittedly, though the energy and fuel savings is not as great as telecommuting, the idea of a four-day work week is probably more appealing to reluctant employers who are willing to test more moderate, but still viable, alternatives.
...more

I'm actually a big fan of the four day work week idea for everyone. It not only creates a greener business by forcing less travel, but does give employees more days off to hang with the family or pursue personals interests that allow them to recharge. The only real question is whether this means a 40 hour week or a 32 - 36 hour week. Working less overall hours actually promotes greater productivity as many European countries promote fewer hours per week, but have much more productivity than the U.S.

In my job search I've been looking hard for telecommuting opportunities, but they're slow in coming. Employers have been burned too many times for them to allow full-time telecommuting right off the bat. About the only way I could swing it would be if I started my own independent consulting firm, which is not something I want to do.

While four 10 hour days is less desirable than telecommuting, until we break the stigma that telecommuting is a euphemism for slacking off and getting paid for it, we're not going to get much more than this.

I fail to see the energy reduction in this. Now 17,000 plus air conditioners and furnaces will be turned on during hours when they had been turned off. Most people turn up or down while at work these days. Also, they will be driving around all day running errands and going places when in the past they were at work. Will this change really reduce greenhouse gases?

Of course, the State of Utah will save money.

I think the 4-10 hour work week is utterly insane! I do realize that it will save employees a day's gas, but that person is going to be driving that day anyway. So the savings are negligible.

As for the quality of life, you might as well forget it. You'll sacrifice 4 days of your life to get 3 off, while with 5-8 hour days you're not sacrificing anything to get 2 days off.

People actually have lives outside of work, and those extra two hours are tapping into those activities -- whether they be fitness, family, or fun. People only have so much energy, and why waste it working. That idea has been done to death in this country! Our work lives are becoming to relevant to our personal lives, and our work life should not interfere with our personal lives! Our personal lives are where the real joy lies.

I'm down with the 4-8 hour days, with the option of a 5th day if needed. Those European countries are right. The pursuit of the old American dream is ridiculous. The new American dream should be in the pursuit of our personal lives.

You can really tell by the comments who has a State job and who doesn't. It's not as if the workers won't have to pay for that extra day off. Most State jobs, like mine, dealing with the public, are so stressful that turnover is a big problem. Most new workers find they can't handle being screamed at by the public 8 hours a day. With 4 ten hour days, we would then be able to be screamed at an additional 2 hours a day. But then we'd have three days to recuperate instead of two. I hope my State follows suit and goes to the shorter work week.

I beleive in Spain they all work a 4 day work week. 32 hrs a week. I believe it would be beneficial for moms who are raising children. The thought of being home with a child instead of a day-care center is very exciting! Children would like being at home than at a day care center I'm sure. I believe in the long run it would reduce employers expenses and employees could handle the difference in there pay check. That one day off from work they wouldn't need to spend on gas to get to work and again one less day of day care expenses. Remember people we only get one time around on this earth! Do you want to spend all your time at work?? OR would you rather spend it with loved ones?? I wonder how many on there death beds said I should have spent more time at work??

One solution for the energy crisi is a general life-style change to a less pressed less materialistic, more survival oriented mode. American housing can reflect this when people in the exurbs start installing greenhouses and solar/LED offline lighting and using passive solar heating/cooling in their home designs etc., and build all purpose 'Earthship Survival' units in place of the current, and rediculously impractical McMansions. Anyone stupid enough to buy an SUV deserves to work 10 hour/6 day weeks. By simply choosing the practical in the marketplace, over the extravagant, a shorter work week can be feasible, but if you, as an individual, demad the extravegant, expect to pay for it - by working extra hours. A simple set of adjustments to the current American 'entitlement' theory of life will soon allow a happier, but less materialistic and less frenzied lifestyle. Make the changes in your life, and you will be able to throw away the Prozac in a few weeks and smiles will suddenly and spontaneously begin to appear on your face as you realize that mot of your expenses were for hype - not required goods for happy survival