Utahns to get say about 4-day workweek

Utahns are going to be surveyed soon to see how they like the four-day workweek for most state government agencies, lawmakers were told Wednesday.

The poll, expected to cost the state about $13,000, will be used by Gov. Gary Herbert to decide whether the shortened workweek started in August 2008 by his predecessor continues.

Herbert has also asked that local governments weigh in on how they're affected by most state offices being open longer hours Mondays through Thursdays but closed Fridays.

Members of the Legislature's Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee had hoped to have that information Wednesday, but the results aren't expected until the end of the month.

The committee did hear a final report on energy savings for the four-day workweek established by former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who anticipated a $3 million annual reduction in utility bills plus additional benefits to the environment.

But Mike Hansen of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget said the actual savings was about $500,000, a 10 percent drop in consumption. He said there have been other savings, including $200,000 in janitorial services and decreased use of the state motor pool.

Hansen said that when the initial savings estimate was made, energy costs were expected to go up rather than fall. "We don't have a crystal ball," he said.

Herbert's bottom line is not the amount of energy savings but the impact on the public as well as local governments, Hansen said. "To him, these dollar figures are not the drivers," he said.

Jeff Herring, executive director of the state Department of Human Resource Management, said that since the four-day workweek began, overtime by state employees has dropped nearly 161,000 hours for a savings of $4.1 million.

However, Herring said he does not know how much of that decline can be attributed to the new schedule.

Committee chairman Sen. Pete Knudsen, R-Brigham City, asked that lawmakers be given the survey findings as soon as the governor gets them.

Rep. Janice Fisher, D-West Valley, said she hopes that is before the committee's final interim meeting in mid-November.

"We've been hearing and talking about this information for months," Fisher said.

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