State of Utah Work Week
Lynn started his 10 hour work days today. He works for the State of Utah and our governor has decided to close state offices on Fridays to save energy. State employees now work four 10 hour days a week instead of five 8 hour days.
Lynn’s job is working on the computer and network systems for several state offices in Washington County. He carries a lot of equipment around as he gets called to the different offices throughout the day and is pretty much constantly on the go. He came home tired at night after his eight hour days so we’ve both been a little concerned about how this would work out and feel grateful it is only another six months before he retires. He will be 65 in October and needs knee and hip replacements. In February he will have worked for the state for thirty-five years. There have been good benefits and especially in these times we are very grateful for the good retirement plan he’s invested in. For most of the thirty-five years he’s enjoyed his job and especially the people he has worked with. He’s used to the arbitrary changes with the change of every governor and new administration but he’s also glad he’s almost done. Some people think state employees have cushy jobs but I’m here to tell you that the ones in the trenches, at least, work hard long hours for salaries that are generally below what they would make in the private sector. It equalizes somewhat when you factor in the health and retirement benefits. That’s what keeps employees there year after year.
As I watched the news tonight there were mixed feelings voiced by state employees. There are a lot of things to consider. It takes a big bite out of family time four days of the week for people with children still at home. I would think it could be really hard on working mothers. Baby sitting would definitely be a problem for a lot of families. They start earlier in the day now so getting kids off to school is an added headache now. The people who liked the idea seemed to really like the thoughts of having a three day weekend every week. I think if you don’t have these logistic problems with family, or health issues that would make it hard it probably would be exciting.
It isn’t going to be an easy transition for the public … it will be interesting to see how it is accepted having service agencies closed three days in a row. The public is kind of used to being treated like the customer … and things being very convenient.
Lynn has never been a complainer and isn’t about to start now. We’re going to make sure he gets to bed earlier each night so hopefully he’ll be okay, but that’s a long work day for an old man. He has to leave by 6:30 to be there at 7:00 and he’ll get home at 6:30. That gives him a half an hour for lunch. If it doesn’t make him too tired, it will give us one day a week to spend together having fun, which is nice … we like to have fun. In fact, we’re hoping this turns out to be a really good thing for us … it’s good to be optimistic.
