Washington, DC, USA. As fuel and energy costs continue to soar to record highs, a growing number of states are offering more of their public employees compressed workweeks to hold down states’ energy spending and give long-distance commuters some relief from paying high gas prices.

 

 

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.(R), announcing on June 26 the most comprehensive plan in the country, ordered about 17,000 state employees to a 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. work schedule Mondays through Thursdays — a plan set to begin the first week of August and continue for at least a year. Essential services, such as highway patrols, courts, public schools and colleges, will not be affected by the changes, which are expected to save the state $3 million, Lisa Roskelley, the governor’s spokeswoman, said.

 

Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina already have offered optional compressed workweeks to a handful of its state employees, while a smattering of other states — Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Vermont among them — are considering expanding existing programs to more state agencies.

 

Utah stands alone as the only to state to make four-day workweeks mandatory for agencies and shut down offices on Fridays. About 1,000 of the 3,000 state buildings will be closed that day under the new plan.

 

Departments in other states with similar programs remain open five days a week, but stagger workers’ schedules, although many have for years offered flex-time and four-day schedules to some employees.

 

Supporters say four-day workweeks help commuter-clogged roads, give people access to government services for longer hours, reduce emissions and conserve energy at state facilities — a residual benefit that saves taxpayers money. Keeping workers home once a week also appeals to rural states where mass transit is limited or nonexistent.

 

Critics of the compressed workweek charge that it’s an inconvenience for the customers government is required to serve. Others argue the extended workdays burden those who require daycare for children or have special commuting arrangements. Even advocates say four-day work weeks aren’t for all employees

Concentrating on one task for 10 hours a day can also be tiresome or unbearable for some state employees, such as those investigating child abuse, said Kay Durnett, executive director of the Arkansas State Employees Association (ASEA). 

 

But the benefits of a shorter workweek are obvious to 52-year-old Craig Tuck of Higgins Lake, Mich., who drives 148 miles a day working for the Michigan Department of Community health.

 

Tuck says he puts $150 of gas in his Buick Regal every week and makes slightly more than $20 an hour as a 15-year state employee. Switching jobs isn’t an option, because unemployment in Michigan’s struggling economy is so high. Moving closer to work wouldn’t lead to savings either, he said, because his fiancé would have to travel farther to her job.

 

Two weeks ago, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) announced that her office was considering workweek alternatives to help commuters save fuel.

 

“While I know that the nature of the job and the needs of certain customers prevent telecommuting and flex schedules from a viable option for every position in state government, it does make sense for many positions,” Granholm said in a June 16 statement.

 

Tuck and other state employees in his facility advocate compressing their workweeks to the 10-hours-a-day, four-day schedule.

 

“I’m glad the governor has seen this as a problem, but I’m saddened that we had to get to this point to support [alternatives],” Tuck said.

 

But while Ohio’s economy, like Michigan’s, is also struggling from a waning manufacturing industry and high unemployment, state officials there say government services and their customers come first.

 

“Agencies should use a compressed workweek schedule only when a specific business process warrants such a schedule,” a Feb. 2 government memo from the Department of Administrative Services reads. “In most situations, personal circumstances should not be a fact or in the decision to utilize a compressed workweek schedule.”

 

State lawmakers in Arkansas have agreed to study a four-day workweek plan from state Sen. Tracy Steele (D). Fewer than half of Arkansas state agencies, boards and commissions offer flex-time policies, which allow workers to adjust their work schedules, ASEA’s Durnett said.

 

About 400 people use ASEA’s vanpool program, and many more have been placed on a waiting list because demand is so high, she said.

 

In Kentucky, 15 of 33 eligible employees in the secretary of state’s office are now working with staggered four-day workweeks after the program was introduced in mid-June and will remain in effect for several months as a trial. Productivity has increased and office morale is higher, and some are using the extra time off to work second jobs because of a salary freeze initiated several years ago, said Les Fugate, deputy assistant secretary of state.

 

In a recent study, researchers from Brigham Young University (BYU) showed that city employees in Spanish Fork, Utah, who work four 10-hour days a week, reported less at-home conflict, which the workers said increased efficiency at work and job satisfaction.

 

In Oklahoma, state Rep. Mike Shelton (D) and the Oklahoma Public Employees Association are pushing to close government offices one day a week.

 

“Hardworking state employees need a break, and without a pay increase, a condensed work schedule is the best way to give it to them,” Shelton said in a news release ahead of a July 9 hearing about four-day workweeks.

 

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) has ordered each state agency to adopt a policy for telecommuting and alternate work schedules by Sept. 1. Spokeswoman Caitlin Kelleher said the government, as the state’s largest employer, is considering establishing satellite offices in Albuquerque, N.M., to keep workers from having to commute to Santa Fe.

 

The Florida attorney general’s office started offering four-day workweeks to about 500 employees last month, 100 of whom have joined the summertime program. The South Carolina Department of Transportation also introduced a summer pilot program June 16, and about 11 percent of the department's employees has enrolled.

 

Vermont State Sen. Vincent Illuzzi (R) proposed on June 17 shifting state government and public schools to a shortened workweek. Delaware lawmakers considered a four-day workweek bill this session, but it died in committee, and three West Virginia lawmakers sponsored a resolution to study shortened workweeks for government employees.

 

Some state universities and community colleges are moving to four-day work weeks for the summer, and the trend has emerged in numerous city, county and other local governments.

 

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