Johnson says change has saved money, increased employee morale

It’s been nearly a year since Tooele County switched to a four-day workweek. So did the move accomplish its intended goals, and is it here to stay?

“We don’t have any plans right now to change it,” said Tooele County Commission Chairwoman Colleen Johnson. “I know the employees love it, and we don’t get a lot of complaints. And the recorder’s office is open on Fridays to record.”

The change from a five-day workweek to working Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. went into affect in October 2008. The switch was designed to cut energy costs by turning off lights, heat and air conditioning on Fridays, and reducing fuel usage.

The county doesn’t have hard numbers in terms of cost-savings realized, but Johnson said there have been some.

“Mike [Jensen, the county auditor] has looked at the utility bills and it’s really hard to tell because the rates change from year to year and the weather pattern was unusual with this year — totally different than last year,” Johnson said. “There have been some savings, but I don’t have an exact dollar amount.”The county followed state government’s example, set last August, in adopting the four-10s schedule. Recently, however, Gov. Gary Herbert has said he is considering whether or not to keep the four-day workweek. He said the state has not achieved the energy savings it expected, and he’s concerned about state services provided to the public and other levels of government being curtailed.

Johnson added if the state does go back to a five-day workweek, the county would take another look at the current schedule.

County officials have noted the new workweek has produced benefits beyond energy savings, such as higher employee morale with a shortened workweek and longer weekends.

“We’ve noticed that because our employees love it,” said Johnson. “The health department said they’d noticed their sick leave was way down [since the change].”A few county offices remain open on Fridays, such as the Tooele and Grantsville senior citizen centers, Children’s Justice Center, main front office for the Sheriff’s Office, and Deseret Peak. The recorder’s office, which was initially closed Fridays, was reopened on Fridays in May after real estate and title agents said the closure wasn’t meeting their needs. The office’s hours are now 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays.

Tooele County Recorder Calleen Peshell said reopening on Fridays has been good for the real estate industry.

“It’s worked out so far,” she said, adding Monday is actually her office’s busiest day of the week. “I don’t know whether it’s cost-effective or not, but the people that want to come in on Friday can, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Grantsville City Mayor Byron Anderson said he believes the county being closed on Fridays has not adversely affected his city.

“It’s working out OK,” he said. “I haven’t had the staff say anything to me about it so I assume they don’t have any problem with it.”

Third District Court Judge Stephen Henriod said it would be better if all corrections agencies worked five days a week, although it hasn’t been an insurmountable problem.

He said the court doesn’t do work for district attorney’s office on Fridays, so they can do city and civil work on Fridays when other offices are closed on that day.

“If I had my preference, they’d work a five-day week, but it hasn’t been a major issue,” Henriod said.

When the state first proposed the four-day workweek schedule, Henriod said he wrote a letter to then Gov. Jon Huntsman explaining the inconvenience the change could cause, particularly with the drug court since Adult Probation and Parole, which primarily does drug analysis for the court, wouldn’t be able to do it on Fridays.

“That basically meant for a substance abuser they would then know that if they did their UA (urinalysis) on a Thursday no one would be able to test them until the following Monday, which meant they could use those drugs that could clear their system. I was very upset,” Henriod said. “What has happened is AP and P [adult probation and parole] has worked hard to make sure problems haven’t been serious and arranged with Valley Mental Health to do UAs on Fridays. Before long, Valley Mental Health will do it on Saturdays, too.”

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com