It's a good idea in some respects but there are down sides to the 10 hour workday and largely it is efficiency and stress of employees. For someone new to the idea for the employees looks like a blessing to them with 3 day weekends to enjoy. But that soon turns in to 4 day weekends with employees, especially in government jobs that have paid sick leave. They tend to become Monday slackers calling in sick to take longer paid vacations. Then the employees will be putting in a longer day that can mean perhaps a 12-13 hour day with travel times and lunch periods. This alone deteriates efficiency over the long work day and job stess increases. More job accidents and errors happen that can be critical to government and efficiency. The short work week is a money saver in building costs and overhead in utilities but not as much as we may think. Many years ago the 8 hour workday was established by studies as the most efficient for employee's and employers because of the need for stress relief, rest, and job safety. Sometimes trying to save money can be costly and any savings nullified.

Huntsman should spend less time on the national media circuit and more time talking to his employees. He dumped this great plan on state employees with very little notice. He needs to be meeting with groups of employees to discuss some of the less glamorous concerns related to his change - day care, car pools, spouse's work, etc.

I have worked both schedules and much prefer the 4 day work week. I find I am much more productive because I have more time each day to work on a project and may be able to complete it that day instead of having to waste time the next day to determine where I left off and "getting my head" back into the thought process. As to the Monday slackers, admittedly, there are employees that consistently come in late or call in on Mondays AND Fridays. I don't know that any schedule can make those individuals more productive - if they are not motivated to do the job and managers do not enforce the work schedule, that won't change whether it is 4-10's or 5-8's. As far as the longer days adding to accidents and ineeficiency, I don't buy that the 2 extra hours will cause an issue. Many employers in industry already have rotating 4/10 schedules (operating 24/7) and some of those employees end up working back to back shifts at times. There has been no increase in accidents reported for those businesses and productivity has increased for the business (Businesses would not maintain approaches that cost them money/productivity.

I forgot to add, if the individuals call in on Mondays and/or Fridays, they will now eat through their sick leave and their annual leave at a much faster rate and will end up having to take leave without pay or adjust their way of doing business. Instead of 8 hours when they call in, they will have to use 10 hours. The earning of leave time does not change with the schedule change. Maybe those individuals will think twice about calling in when it costs them more....

The REAL savings that the governor doesn't talk about is the 22+ hours of leave time he's taking away from 17,000 state employees. For each of the 11 holidays state employees have to use 2 hours of leave time. At an average pay rate of $15 an hour that $561,000 each year in savings to the state.

Additionally, and more disturbingly, bereavement time, currently 24 hours, will remain 24 hours. That means employees will only be able to take 2 1/2 days off work for bereavement. They'll be forced to use 6 hours of personal leave if they need to travel to a funeral.

I'm not saying that the four-10 schedule is bad, but it would have been nice for the governor to ask anybody in the state's employ how they'd feel about it before making the announcement to grandstand to other "green" governors across the country.

Not entirely true about the holidays. If a holiday falls on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday under the new schedule, employees won't get a day off - rather, they will "bank" 8-hours of holiday leave to be used later, e.g., to make up the difference when a holiday falls on a Monday - Thursday, take as personal leave, etc. Employees aren't losing any holiday leave hours.

This is just another bone-headed move by our "all hat no cattle" governor. Where does he think he has the authority to do this without the input of the legislature and the people the state is supposed to serve in this high tax jurisdiction?

Business happens on Friday too. People need to close loans, register business entities, get driver's licenses, and access state services when the rest of the world does business.

He grandstands on issues the majority of this state clearly does not believe in. I believe most people in this state believe in conservation and responsible use of energy, but also believe that global warming (and the current global cooling--which scientists predict will last for at least 10 years) are natural phenomena that man, despite his large ego, has no power to affect--let alone control. But the real agenda of the global warming people such as Governor Jon is control of the people in their most minute activities.

I can tell you this--I will never vote for the man again.

The unfortunate thing about this new policy is that it was implemented without input and with callous disregard for state employees and their families and the public. Ten hour work days are difficult for employees with children in day care and school or for employees caring for elderly or disabled realtives. The short notice has really put some employees on the spot. In addition, this policy has limited access to services for many citizens who are low income, eldery, or disabled who don't have access to or don't know how to use a computer. The current administration needs to learn to discuss and thoroughly examine issues before they shoot and then aim.

will those of us in the private sector get to work 4 10-hour days per week, as opposed to the 5 or 6 10-hour days per week we're currently working, despite the fact that we don't get paid for those extra hours.

Very Good move by our Governor. These are hard economic times. He has full authority to do this because we elected him. It's great seeing a Governor being proactive in saving money and keeping our great state out of debt, if this was California they wouldn't have changed a thing and gone in to debt to keep things the same way....bad government can stay in Cali.

Bob - Get over yourself and your stereotypes. I am a state employee and work hard at my job. I have not taken a sick day since I had surgery in 1996, 12 years ago. I'm typing this on my break and am going back to work right now. Most state employees are hard-working folks who don't screw around at work any more than you do.

I have worked 5 - 8s, 4 - 9s with 4 hours on Friday, and I have now been working 4 - 10s for the past 6 years.

5 - 8s were horrible. I found that Friday afternoons were a total waste of time.

4 - 9s and 4 hours on Friday was better because you were productive on Friday morning and then you got off early, but you still had a commute 5 days/week.

4 - 10s is the best schedule that I have ever worked. The people that I work with work well Monday through Thursday and we get a 3 day weekend every week. When I take a day off I use 10 hours, which has never been an issue. I commute 2 hours each day, I save the commute and and ~$30/week with a 4 day work week.

When my wife worked full time as a nurse, she worked 3 - 12s and loved it.

I think that it is a good plan and hope that I never have to go back to a traditional work schedule.

Re: When oh when,

No one is stopping you from getting a job with the state or any other employer that pays you for all your time.

Also, very few state employees are allowed to take overtime and even fewer are paid overtime.

State employees were never asked to participate in this plan. How can they speak for us? If the plan is so good, then why did they not look for input from State employees? We found out the news along with everyone else. It doesn't surprise me. We live in a state where those up at the top tell us what we should be doing with our lives and what is best for us and we are suppose to say " Yes Sir, whatever you say sir."

I work for the state and now will have to work 4 tens. I already hate it. It is horrible for anyone with a young family and the state knows it. It was the number-one concern in our staff meeting. I am a republican but our de-loved governor is starting to irk me off. This whole think is quite anti-family. Its also really going to suck when we never see the light of day in the winter 7am-6pm, and have to get to work before the plows.

And there are no paid holidays which fall on Friday this next year, so we will indeed be cheated the 22 hours (state HR is well aware of that also!)

The Holiday issue is a big one for me.

Even if they give us excess hours to bank when the Holiday falls on a Friday, we are still losing hours. We are supposed to get 11 DAYS off, if we are given 8 hours to bank, we still have to work the 40 hours in that week, and we don't get a full day's worth of time off to take somewhere else.

The State must now be about the only employer that gives paid holidays that only gives 80% of Christmas Day off.