Studies show the state's initiative to move 17,000 employees to a four-day work week will likely create a happier, more productive workforce. But those studies are based on employee surveys, not actual production numbers. Getting real efficiency data in a world of desk jobs and customer service isn't for the faint of heart.

History repeated

During the 1970s, the country was dealing with quality of life issues and energy costs, with businesses and governments exploring moves to a four-day work week with 10-hour days.

A multiplicity of studies tried to determine the most efficient work week, but it wasn't so difficult to do back then, Facer says. Much of the work was factory-based, and counting the number of widgets produced per worker per day was easy.

Facer and others at BYU have done employee response surveys (sitting quietly in a filing cabinet since 2004 until this year) but don't have actual productivity results. They are now working on other studies in earnest. The first was to interview 150 human resource directors across the country about the impact of the four-day work week.

"HR directors do indicate that they have seen increases in productivity and declines in absenteeism," Facer said. "So far it appears we're telling the right story."

What they know

Much has been made of state workers trying to find extended day care for their kids. Facer says it's a legitimate concern but only in the short-term.

"Child care was very rarely mentioned as a problem," he said of the HR director survey. Furthermore, heavily-LDS Utah tends to have fewer women in the workplace, which may reduce the impact on child care needs.

The market will likely adjust, and there are already day cares open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. But as hard as it may be for an employee to work 10 hours a day in a government office, it's more so when you're watching a room full of kids.

"It's a very long day to ask anybody to work that many hours in a day care," said Robyn Higginson, owner of ABC Kiddy World in Provo.

Higginson doesn't have any plans to match the state's move to a 10-hour day, saying that there aren't enough state employees with kids at her business to justify the expense. Instead, parents will often have a spouse or grandparent pick up the child.

"They've accommodated themselves for it."

Where the four-day work week could have a real long-term impact is with older employees, Facer said.

"They literally think they don't have the stamina to go on for 10 hours," he said.

Focus of the research

Facer and others at BYU started a new round of employee surveys this week.

They want to explore more carefully a range of issues including:

• Choice vs. mandate. State employees here weren't given much choice in the four-day work week experiment. BYU researchers want to know if that impacts their happiness at work. "In some ways that's the Utah question," Facer said.

• Behaviors on the extra day off. With a permanent three day weekend, what are state employees going to do with their time? Errands? Volunteer work? Family time?

"We have no idea," Facer said, "but we're going to ask now."