Green Options » four-day work week

State Takes Lazy Way to Cut Carbon 13%

Susan Kraemer — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:05:06 +0000

Utah’s move to a four-day workweek of 10 hour days for government workers has cut energy usage by 13 percent, and once they figure out how to turn off giant office air conditioning and heating units while they’re out of the office, it could rise to the hoped for 20%. Out of a state budget of $11 billion, they have saved $3 million on electricity and gas for 125 state-owned buildings.

Are You Ready for a Four Day Work Week?

Robin Shreeves — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:21:10 +0000

There is an interesting explanation about how our five day, forty hour work week standard almost wasn’t in the book Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic. It seems that in 1933, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would make thirty hours the official work week for Americans. Anything past that would have been overtime. It was voted down by a few votes in the House in favor of President Roosevelt’s New Deal Program. The thirty hour work week would have allowed for more job sharing, something that was sorely needed in the years following 1929’s Black Friday. The five day, forty hour work week, however, became the U.S. standard.

Of course, in many cases, that forty hour work week has gotten stretched to 45, 46 or more hours. When workers add their commute to and from work to their working hours, it begins to add up to a lot of time away from home and family.

Things are beginning to change, however, and many companies, local government work places, and even some schools are beginning to change to a four day work week, many tacking an extra two hours on to the remaining four days to make up the time.

What’s bringing about these changes? The economy, the rise in energy and fuel prices, and a concern for the environment can all be cited as reasons for the change to the four day work week.

The environmental advantages of this trend are many.

Three-Day Weekend Could be a Gas-Saver

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:59:37 +0000

Here’s an idea even the most un-green person could warm up to: a four-day work week.

Several communities across the U.S. are considering four-day work weeks for government employees as a way to reduce commuting demands and gas consumption. The various efforts have typically been inspired by today’s record-high fuel prices, but the idea promises other benefits too: lower greenhouse gas emissions, happier and more well-rested employees and cost savings elsewhere (i.e., less energy to cool/heat and light offices, reduced need for work-time child-care, etc.).