Utah Four Day Work Week

How would you like a four day work week? State employees in Utah will get to try it out in August according to Most state workers in Utah shifting to 4-day week by Larry Copeland.

Utah will become the first state to implement a mandatory four day work week. Other states are encouraging their agencies and managers to offer four days work week according to Leslie Scott, executive director of the National Association of State Personnel Directors.

Local government agencies across the United States are changing their schedules to save money, energy and resources. This change will increase energy efficiency cutting spending and provide workers more flexibility. The hope is to improve customer service.

The change in schedule will apply to about 80% of the state government work force, which is about 17,000 people. Universities, state court system, prisons, and other critical services will be exempt. Residents will have access to state offices from 7 am to 6 pm. The hours are of course, Monday through Thursday. Eight hundred services are available online for those "Friday only" users.

Considering how much time is spent driving to work and then being at work, hopefully taxpayers will be able to get their government business done in the new time allotted. The benefit to the customer is the extended hours when the agency is open.

Employees not only get an extra day off but they don't have to pay for gas for the day. The government office reaps the reward of closing its office and having the power shut off for an extra day. Most government offices can't afford to give raises so they are also hoping this will be a bonus to the government employee (in place of the raise).

Taxpayers will be the biggest problem. The taxpayers expect the government offices to be open five days a week. After all, since they are paying for the government service shouldn't the service be available on their time frame? HAH! It's the GOVERNMENT.