SALT LAKE CITY — Utah state workers are adjusting to the four-day workweek, according to a survey of employees.
Gov. Jon Huntsman launched the change in August to save money on energy costs by shutting down most state offices on Fridays.
In a survey of state workers in November, the Utah Department of Human Resource Management found an increasing number were warming to the compressed workweek.
The survey was sent to about 17,000 employees, and about 6,400 responded.
Of those, 77 percent said there were several advantages to the four-day week. That’s 6 percentage points higher than a similar survey in July.
“It certainly looks as though things are improving,” said Jean Mills-Barber, deputy director of the Department of Human Resource Management. “People are moving more to positive or neutral in terms of adjustment” to working four 10-hour days a week.
About 49 percent said they felt more productive with the new schedule, 26 percent said they didn’t and 25 percent were neutral, according to the survey results.
Fewer respondents said they felt the change was a step in the wrong direction compared to the survey in July and fewer said the change presented problems with child care.
Mills-Barber said a demographic breakdown of the survey results will be available next month. Another survey is scheduled for February.
The Utah Public Employees’ Association is withholding judgment on the switch until more information is available.
“People have been pretty quiet about it,” said Todd Sutton, UPEA’s employee representative. “We don’t have complaints that it’s a bad program.”
He said concerns remain about how the change is affecting specific kinds of employees, including those with children, single parents and those with disabilities or special needs. “We don’t know what still needs to be done. We need to know whether the state is addressing certain needs,” he said.
Huntsman’s initiative affects about 17,000 of 24,000 executive-branch employees. It doesn’t cover state police officers, prison guards or employees of the courts or Utah’s public universities.
Turning off the lights, the heat and the air conditioning on Fridays in 1,000 of 3,000 government buildings will save about $3 million a year, according to state estimates.
The change is designed as a one-year pilot program.
