Saved by the Carbon Footprint

If you haven't heard in the news already, according to experts, Utah was the first state to implement a mandatory four-day work week for most of its state employees. This should come as no surprise since we were hard-hit by the rediculus gas prices of this past year. In a USA Today article from June 30, 2008 Governor Jon Huntsman said he was making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers more flexibility.

This is a positive environmental issue that seems to be impacting other states to make the change. The four-day work week initiative in Utah was scheduled to begin on August 4, 2008. As you probably have, I had forgotten about this intiative that was reported last year. Fox News reported today some of the effects of the change on one of its programs. Since I wanted to share the results with you, I took my research a step further by going to the Utah Government's website to view the interim report.

The February 2009 report as you can imagine, revealed positive results.

Here's a list of the evironmental benefits and interim results/"summary of early indicators":

• Energy
  Benefit: state savings on building operational costs, as well as spreading the load on transportation infrastructure.
  
  Interim Results:
  - $203,177 reduction in custodial service contracts this year.
  - Early energy usage data indicates that ½ of the buildings in the study are achieving 10 to 20 percent+ energy usage reductions.
  
  
• Environment
  Benefit: reduced energy usage correlates to reduced CO2 emissions.
  
  Interim Results:
  - Estimated reduction of 12,652 metric tons of greenhouse emissions produced annually.
  - Estimated reduction of 744,000 gallons of gasoline consumed annually.

While I covered only the environmental impact of the initiative, it is easy to imagine that the affected employees are offering no complaints to their new three-day weekend. This was a great way for the Governor to offer a work-life balance for his employees. Who wouldn't want to be off on Fridays? The report mentioned that 70 percent of the affected employees prefer the 4/10 schedule; employee turnover rates have decreased; and employee absenteeism has decreased. I don't know about you, but I would lobby to clone this Governor and place him in all of the United States if this initiative goes as planned. He's not only displayed his comittment to a greener environment, but he showed that he cares about his citizens in the process. His overall impact will be widely appreciated once this bug spreads.

I hope you're enjoying your week!

XO
Tia