Gov. Jon Huntsman will order thousands of state employees to stay home on Fridays as part of a four-day week intended to cut energy costs at government buildings. Seven cities in Utah County already use variations of the four-day schedule, which a BYU study has shown increases employee morale and productivity.

"We would be the first state actually rolling this out," Huntsman said during his monthly KUED news conference.

He appears to be right.

"I can't find information from any state that indicates a mandatory 4-day work week," said Leslie Scott, director of the National Association of State Personnel Executives, based in Lexington, Ky.

Huntsman said Utahns would still have adequate access to government services, with longer hours during the four days and online options. Many offices would be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. so residents could use government services before or after work.

Huntsman is also encouraging state residents to become more Web-savvy, including interactions with the Department of Motor Vehicles and state Driver License Division, which would be closed on Fridays.

He said the public shouldn't worry about long lines and that the DMV gets an undeserved, bad reputation.

"I will tell you, if you want to see how government is working, go to the DMV Office," Huntsman said. "I think people would be impressed to know, first of all, how well our offices are working ... but then the services that are provided online, I mean, I think this is going to allow people to really look at the convenience and the flexibility of the online services we provide, which I'm not sure a lot of people are thinking about."

More than 800 state services are offered online.

Most people only have to go into the DMV offices for new registrations and to deal with impounded vehicles, said Charlie Roberts, spokesman for the Utah State Tax Commission. Updated registrations can be done online or through the mail.

"We estimated that last year there were more than a million people in our offices that didn't need to be there," Roberts said.

About 1,000 of 3,000 state buildings would be closed on Fridays, cutting energy costs by about 20 percent, according to Huntsman's staff.

"We feel like we can reduce the CO2, or the ozone, by around over 3,000 metric tons, as well as have an impact on our air pollution," said Kim Hood, executive director of the Department of Administrative Services.

In addition to saving money, Huntsman said the new schedule could help recruit younger workers who prefer a three-day weekend and help the environment by reducing commutes.

State employees are not represented by a union, but the Utah Public Employees Association has 10,000 dues-paying members. Executive Director Audry Wood said she was not consulted about the four-day week.

Her concerns: workers who need to pick up kids at day care; people going to night school; employees who have a second job.

"This is a huge transition," Wood said. "There are a ton of employees that will love this. We're just hoping that management is flexible in dealing with the adjustments."

The governor said Utah needs to be a leader in finding ways to cut costs, help the environment and raise employee morale.

A recently released Brigham Young University study showed that four 10s improve job satisfaction and productivity. The study was conducted in 2004 for the city of Spanish Fork, which subsequently moved to the new schedule.

"In terms of employee morale, there seems to be a very strong benefit," said professor Rex Facer, from the Romney Institute of Public Management at BYU. One important aspect of the study, Facer said, was employees' perceptions that the work week took less time away from the family and personal interests.

But not all residents found the change helpful and Spanish Fork officials eventually settled on a hybrid schedule that included some 4/10 employees, as well as traditional employees.

The city of Provo ran into the same concerns. The city switched to 4/10s in 2002, but just this year re-opened some of its offices on Friday, including community development, energy, public works and parks and recreation. The move was made because of concerns some in the community raised over access. Utah County cities on some variant of the 4/10 schedule are Spanish Fork, Provo, Highland, Lehi, Payson, Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs.

"This is something that has been done at a local government level, and there's some examples in our own state, and some examples in other states, but has never been done at a statewide level," Huntsman said.

Elsewhere, Oklahoma lawmakers, concerned about gas prices, have encouraged state agencies to adopt the four-day week, while West Virginia lawmakers have requested a study for state, city and county employees, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.