Eighty percent of you think a four-day work week is a great idea, so many of you are probably about to have a few minutes of Utah envy right about now. Next month, Utah state employees will put in 10-hour days four days a week, opening up Fridays for whatever they please. There are some issues with the compressed work week like child-care for longer working hours and public transportation, but many workers are already busy planning how they'll spend their extra free time.
The initiative is built around reducing the state's energy costs and commuter's gas bills, and Utah is the first state to experiment with the four-day work week for its employees. Public offices will extend their hours to accommodate working residents that need to use their services before and after regular work hours. Other states considering moving to a condensed work week will be paying close attention to how energy bills and employee productivity will be affected.
Piquadro
Azzedine Alaia
Cheap Monday
I'm jealous! Hopefully this goes well and becomes a more standard practice by the time I graduate and join the workforce fulltime.
1I wish I could go back on a 4x10. I absolutely loved having three days off in a row.
2Dear God let this go well so other states will embrace it as well. I already work 10+ hours a day just due to the nature of my job!
3i'm jealous too, here's hoping that it will come to pa!!
4Yea I am pretty jealous too!
5I dunno though...10 hours of work a day? That would be hard with part-time school!
As a Commonwealth Of Virginia employee, I'm going to advocate that we switch to a 4 day weekend, although gas has just hit the $4 mark. I want nothing more than to work from home in PJs and sweat pants.
6I work in Virginia and hope they do this. Yay four day work week!
7I'm not sure it's really "extra free time." They'll still be working 40 hours per week; the 8 hours off have just shifted from evening to Friday.
8We just moved here and my husband's job is 4 days, it is wonderful having a 3 day weekend.
9come on wisconsin, you can pass this too!!!!
10i live in utah, but sadly my job is not state governed so i'll still be on the 5 day schedule. however i think it's an AMAZING idea and have nothing but praise for the decision.
11this is def. a great decision. i hope more states tag along.
12I'm ready to move to Utah!
13My company offered this up to us. I elected not to do it though, because currently I work 8:45 - 6pm. My bf works 2pm - 11pm. The only time of day we see each other is on his dinner break, from 7pm - 8pm. Because I get off work at 6pm, I have enough time to go home, cook, and have supper ready when he walks in the door at 7:15. (If I didn't cook he'd eat Qdoba burritos & Wendy's double cheeseburgers every day. Waste of $ AND bad for him.)
But if I went to the 4 day, I would have to work 8am - 7pm. Which means him & I wouldn't get to eat a healthy relaxing dinner & catch up. PLUS I would be less likely to get up early & go to the gym. I just didn't think the benefits outweighed the downsides.
I currently ride my bike to work 3x a week though, so that helps.
14My boyfriend's company does this; we live in Vermont. He loves it; he gets to bang the work out and have an extra day off.
I think we should shorten the overall work week to 35 hrs; anything over that should be overtime. Personally I think we Americans work too much. There's not a good work/life balance in this country.
15Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.