The state of Utah recently decided that it could save money by letting it’s employees work four day work weeks. Employees will work 10 hours a day and receive the same pay as usual. My mother, a nurse, actually had this set-up for a long time. She quite enjoys it and finds that she can get errands done on her off day that were otherwise difficult or impossible. Many banks just aren’t open past the 9-5 hours that many people work.

So how much money will it save? Reduced energy costs of state buildings will save the state 3 million dollars of it’s 11 billion dollar budget. For those keeping track at home we are talking about 0.027% of the budget. The state government also looks to save money on state vehicles, but can’t quantify the savings.

It’s a little curious that such a small percentage of savings would trigger such a big change. Perhaps the thought is that the state employees will go out and support businesses on their new day off. The aforementioned article did mention that golf courses are looking forward to having people come in on the three day weekend.

I think there are a lot of reasons for a four day work-week, I’m just not entirely convinced that saving money as Utah says it will is one of them. I like to think that they could come up with ways to save a lot more money.