PrintHow often does Utah, of all places, get mentioned as a hotbed of public-policy innovation? Not often. But, last August, the state carried out a rather novel idea: Shift all government employees to a four-day workweek. No, this wasn't the French approach. Workers would still put in their 40 hours; they'd just toil in the office for ten hours a day, Monday through Thursday, and then get Friday off. The experiment's been going on for a year and the results are finally in—the state actually saved a fair bit on energy costs. Scientific American reports:
For those workplaces, there's no longer a need to turn on the lights, elevators or computers on Fridays—nor do janitors need to clean vacant buildings. Electric bills have dropped even further during the summer, thanks to less air-conditioning: Friday's midday hours have been replaced by cooler mornings and evenings on Monday through Thursday. As of May, the state had saved $1.8 million. ...
An interim report released by the Utah state government in February projected a drop of at least 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually from Friday building shutdowns. If reductions in greenhouse gases from commuting are included, the state would check the generation of at least 12,000 metric tons of CO2—the equivalent of taking about 2,300 cars off the road for one year.
Not bad, though how does it balance against increased electricity use at home? Also notable is that workers seem to love the new arrangement: A survey conducted by Brigham Young's Lori Wadsworth found that 82 percent of employees want to keep the four-day workweek. What's more, workers don't get exhausted by the ten-hour days, as originally feared; instead, they enjoy less stress, spend more time with their families, require fewer sick days, and exercise more. (Utahans also seem to be using the free days to volunteer.) Other states like New York are now thinking about trying the idea out for themselves.
In fact, the Scientific American piece might actually understate the benefits of a four-day workweek. As Aaron Newton has calculated, some 106 million Americans drive to work alone each day, an average of 16 miles each way. Cutting out one workday's worth of commuting would not only lower U.S. oil imports by 5 to 10 percent, it would also prevent thousands of traffic fatalities, as well as cut down on the costs of road maintenance, since people tend to drive less on weekends. And workers would see a real income boost by saving on gas. (Newton also points out that if you staggered the four-day workweeks, you could clear up a lot of traffic congestion, though I'm not sure how practical that would be.) What's not to love?
(Flickr photo credit: Martin Taylor)
--Bradford Plumer
COMMENTS (10)
The pace of life and business is too fast on the coasts, not least because they are engaged in a good deal of international business. So while Utes can use the extra day off to help mail letters to Californians warning about the dangers of gay marriage, the receivers of such letters in California are busy working for people who prepare contracts or are contract-preparers themselves.
I don't think the four-day work week is a bad idea at all--in fact, I would welcome it. I just don't think business owners in New York or California are going to warm to the concept as fast a Utah people.
The pace of life and business is too fast on the coasts, not least because they are engaged in a good deal of international business. So while Utes can use the extra day off to help mail letters to Californians warning about the dangers of gay marriage, the receivers of such letters in California are busy working for people who prepare contracts or are contract-preparers themselves.
I don't think the four-day work week is a bad idea at all--in fact, I would welcome it. I just don't think business owners in New York or California are going to warm to the concept as fast a Utah people.
I don't know, dylan; in my experience, very little actually gets done on the coasts on Fridays anyway. At least here in Washington, if you haven't sent that email or fax by noon on Friday, you might as well wait until Monday, because it ain't gonna be acted on until next week anyway.
However, New York and LA might not embrace this until we take the idea to its logical conclusion: The 40-hour workday. You work 40 hours a day, one day a week, and take the other six off.
I don't know, dylan; in my experience, very little actually gets done on the coasts on Fridays anyway. At least here in Washington, if you haven't sent that email or fax by noon on Friday, you might as well wait until Monday, because it ain't gonna be acted on until next week anyway.
However, New York and LA might not embrace this until we take the idea to its logical conclusion: The 40-hour workday. You work 40 hours a day, one day a week, and take the other six off.
How about a 4 day workweek of 8 hour days? Those of us who have strenuous hobbies that are the substance of our self-acutalization whose job is just a way to make money to live rather than a "career" would despise a job requiring all of our waking hours 4 days a week.
I am not sure when American work culture will wake up to the idea of diminishing marginal utility. I am a distance runner and I cannot run twice as far in 2 hours as I can in 1 hour. And I reckon at work, a person's 8th hour is far less productive that their first - more hours doesn't necessarily mean more work. I am in favor of 6 hours of real work then go home rather than 8 hours of "bei ... view full comment
How about a 4 day workweek of 8 hour days? Those of us who have strenuous hobbies that are the substance of our self-acutalization whose job is just a way to make money to live rather than a "career" would despise a job requiring all of our waking hours 4 days a week.
I am not sure when American work culture will wake up to the idea of diminishing marginal utility. I am a distance runner and I cannot run twice as far in 2 hours as I can in 1 hour. And I reckon at work, a person's 8th hour is far less productive that their first - more hours doesn't necessarily mean more work. I am in favor of 6 hours of real work then go home rather than 8 hours of "being at work" with 2+ of it taking mini-breaks to make the long day mentally tolerable. If I suggested that you be able to run 50 miles in 5 hours just because you can run 10 mile sin one hour, you'd think I was insane and ignoring a crucial fact about human durability, but we continue to think that working less hours would mean lost productivity. Ever notice all the comments at TNR and all over the web occur during work hours? I wonder why.
Why stop at 40 hours a week? Focus on serving your customers...and 24/7 isn't too much!
Why stop at 40 hours a week? Focus on serving your customers...and 24/7 isn't too much!
Rhubarbs,
But isn't there the danger that Thursdays will become the 'new Fridays', or that is, the new day when nothing gets done because no one is going to respond until next week?
Plumer,
I like the idea of staggering the four day work weeks to reduce traffic congestion, but then you lose the energy benefits of having the offices closed one extra day per week.
and jerb,
depending what field you are in, a lot of the value of long work hours is that that is the best way to keep services available to clients. A clerk in a store cannot just force him/herself to get a lot of work done ringing people up quickly, and then close shop early without inconveniencing shoppers who w ... view full comment
Rhubarbs,
But isn't there the danger that Thursdays will become the 'new Fridays', or that is, the new day when nothing gets done because no one is going to respond until next week?
Plumer,
I like the idea of staggering the four day work weeks to reduce traffic congestion, but then you lose the energy benefits of having the offices closed one extra day per week.
and jerb,
depending what field you are in, a lot of the value of long work hours is that that is the best way to keep services available to clients. A clerk in a store cannot just force him/herself to get a lot of work done ringing people up quickly, and then close shop early without inconveniencing shoppers who want to show up later. And depending on your commute, showing up for a mere six hour shift might not seem worth it.
There might be a reduction in worker productivity when you have people working 10 hour days. I guess it depends on what they are doing. An alternative is to have 9 hour days and get every other Friday off.
There might be a reduction in worker productivity when you have people working 10 hour days. I guess it depends on what they are doing. An alternative is to have 9 hour days and get every other Friday off.
The problem with staggering the 4-day workweek is that you lose a lot of the savings on heating, A/C, security guards, etc. associated with having the office entirely closed an extra day a week. The advantage is that you're more available to your customers. Depending on your industry, that might be the way you want to go.
I work in cable TV, which is fundamentally a service industry. We have about 2/3 of our staff working staggered 4x10 shifts, some Sun-Weds and others Weds-Sat. Most of them appreciate the "extra day off," and management appreciates having a portion of the workforce available to make service calls after 5:00pm, when more of our customers are ... view full comment
The problem with staggering the 4-day workweek is that you lose a lot of the savings on heating, A/C, security guards, etc. associated with having the office entirely closed an extra day a week. The advantage is that you're more available to your customers. Depending on your industry, that might be the way you want to go.
I work in cable TV, which is fundamentally a service industry. We have about 2/3 of our staff working staggered 4x10 shifts, some Sun-Weds and others Weds-Sat. Most of them appreciate the "extra day off," and management appreciates having a portion of the workforce available to make service calls after 5:00pm, when more of our customers are home. The customers, in turn, appreciate being able to schedule appointments without having to use their precious paid time off -- for those who even have it available to use.
Although I myself am still working the 5x8, I'd love to switch to a 4x10 if my duties allowed that flexibility. I find that being at work isn't all that burdensome, but the morning commute and the tedious routine of preparing for the day are a real drag, so a chance to reduce that nonsense by 20% would make a positive impact on my life almost immediately.
Being at work for the entirity of 4/7ths of my waking days makes life not worth it. There is nothing more depressing to me than having an entire day at someone else's disposal and is precisely why I went into a field that wouldn't require those sorts of hours, at the expense of a modest income.
Being at work for the entirity of 4/7ths of my waking days makes life not worth it. There is nothing more depressing to me than having an entire day at someone else's disposal and is precisely why I went into a field that wouldn't require those sorts of hours, at the expense of a modest income.
And of course, the answer is to hire more people and have everyone work less.
And of course, the answer is to hire more people and have everyone work less.
What a joke. The only reason Plumer champions the 4 day workweek is because it'll allegedly cut down emissions by a little less than 1/5, or so the theory goes.
As appealing as a four day workweek is, it doesn't work. Productivity will decline. You argue that we can fit more work into 4 days than in 5. Sure, in theory we can all work at closer to capacity. But will we? Let's face it, most of our hours at work are spent at the coffee machine ,chatting with co-workers, browsing the web. Depending on the job, most Americans work 25% of the time that they are in the office. But cutting the workweek down to 4 days does not mean we'll jam more work into our ... view full comment
What a joke. The only reason Plumer champions the 4 day workweek is because it'll allegedly cut down emissions by a little less than 1/5, or so the theory goes.
As appealing as a four day workweek is, it doesn't work. Productivity will decline. You argue that we can fit more work into 4 days than in 5. Sure, in theory we can all work at closer to capacity. But will we? Let's face it, most of our hours at work are spent at the coffee machine ,chatting with co-workers, browsing the web. Depending on the job, most Americans work 25% of the time that they are in the office. But cutting the workweek down to 4 days does not mean we'll jam more work into our days. It just means that we'll lose 25% x 1 day of productivity per week.