Mini-Editorial: Does the Four-Day Work Week Really Work?

If Gary Herbert is looking for something to instantly distinguish himself from his predecessor, he could, upon taking office, abolish the four-day work week. He'd probably immediately increase the productivity of state government.

That's not likely to happen, but either Herbert or the Legislature really should take a good, hard look at the four-day work week and see if it's fulfilling the intent of Gov. Huntsman who implemented it. My guess is, it isn't. The four-day work week was instituted hastily, with little study or analysis. Since then, no really good examination has been done regarding how much energy is actually being saved, and whether state productivity and customer service have suffered.

The Legislature ought to conduct a good study. I wouldn't be surprised if an objective analysis would show a five-day, eight-hour work week makes more sense. If a four-day work week really saved energy without hurting productivity or customer service, we'd see a lot more private firms embrace it.

Currently, many state buildings are sitting empty three of seven days each week (while still consuming a certain amount of energy even when empty). By contrast, private industry attempts to make more efficient and productive use of facilities and infrastructure, not less. That's why a manufacturing company, for example, adds a graveyard shift and runs its facilities around-the-clock, getting more efficient use from its facilities. We certainly ought not to be constructing new state buildings when many of them are sitting empty three days a week.

The four-day work week is a big deal. It impacts some 20,000 state employees and hundreds of thousands of citizens who deal with the state. We really ought to know if the new work schedule is working.