Kirk Johnson has a report on the controversy surrounding Utah’s 4-day, 10-hour workweek for nonemergency state employees. Basically, state legislators don’t like the idea, as many believe that the 10-hour day is a fiction. What we do know is that this approach has saved the state money on heating and cooling costs, it has reduced traffic congestion, and it seems to have improved the quality of life for state workers. And why should we care about that? Well, it potentially means that the state can retain employees at lower compensation levels. One reason is that fuel savings represent an effective increase in disposable income, i.e., Fridays off, even with 10-hour days, constitute a raise. This would also be true if some of the remaining work days were spent at home.

Moreover, the 4-day workweek is forcing the state to improve the remote delivery of services:

“I think government should be open five days a week, particularly in these tough economic times,” said Darren Rogers, who works in the Utah Department of Workforce Services, which handles things like unemployment benefits and training. “I have found it’s hard to do the work and sometimes hard to get everyone scheduled within those four days,” he said.
One benefit, managers say, is that Friday closings have compelled Utah to improve its online services, offering ways of, say, filing for unemployment benefits that did not require a visit to a state office.

Now, if I were working in the Utah Department of Workforce Services, I might be concerned about this precedent: if the state government improves online services, perhaps the state government will need fewer workers.

This is why I think the repeal leaders are being short-sighted:

Mr. Noel, the repeal leader in the Legislature, said he had heard from business leaders frustrated by Friday closings, but also from many constituents who felt that state workers were being coddled by three-day weekends that many people in private industry would covet. Fairness and equity in tough economic times, he said, emerged as a consideration.
“People look at this and say, ‘They’re working only four days; they need to be working just like we’re working,’ ” he said. Mr. Noel said he thought that enough votes could be assembled to override the governor’s veto in coming weeks, but that no specific plan was in place yet to try.

I understand the logic of this, yet it is also true that a large and growing number of private employers are embracing telecommuting and nontraditional schedules to get the most of their workforce. If the 4/10 system lowers costs, and if it teaches state government to do more than less, it is an unambiguous winner.