Utah’s Four-Day Workweek Falls Short of Savings Goal

by | Jan 23, 2009

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utah.jpgLast summer, Utah began testing four-day workweek for state employees. But the state says the program isn’t saving as much money as expected, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

When Gov. Jon Huntsman made the switch to a four-day workweek, he set a goal of increasing energy efficiency 20 percent by 2020. However, employees often came to work on Fridays and volatile temperatures and energy prices made reaching the goal increasingly difficult.

Originally, Huntsman’s staff set a target of closing 1,000 of the state’s 6,000 buildings on Fridays. But so far it has only been able to close 900 buildings, of which, 500 are leased. This reduces the ability to save on energy costs, according to John Harrington, the state’s buildings energy manager.

It remains to be seen whether the shorter workweek will be successful for states like New Hampshire and Washington, which also started testing the four-day workweek last year.

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