T.G.I.T. - Four Day Work Week Success In Utah

by Annina Bergman | August 25, 2009 at 10:52 am

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About a year ago Utah Governor Jon Hunstman introduced the 4 day work week, and it has proven to be a success. The Working 4 Utah initiative put 17,000 out of 24,000 executive branch employees on a 10 hour a day, four day work week, with a three day weekend, and it seems the employees are liking the change.

Not only are the workers able to avoid rush hour, but it seems the four day work week also lead to energy savings. State officers in Utah reported that Fridays at home cuts state energy use by 13%. Utah also saved $1,8 million in operational costs.

Other states, among them Texas and Florida, are in the process of introducing similar programs.

While we’ve come to take it for granted, the the Monday-through-Friday, 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek has only been the standard since 1938 when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed. It made plenty of sense at the time, and improved the lives of loads of American workers who regularly endured dangerously long hours with scant free time. But, in reality, the Monday-through-Friday grind was rather arbitrary, and as Utah’s experiment has already shown, it could well be time for a rethink.

More of the benefits of a four day work week can be found on Good.