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The governor has gotten an earful about the four-day workweek. Most of the calls coming in to the governor's office are against the state's four-day workweek.
According to phone records requested by the Deseret News, 28 people called or e-mailed Huntsman's office to complain about the change during a two-month period ending in late September. Seven contacted the office to say they favored the program that started on Aug. 4.
In fact, spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley says opponents outnumbered supporters by a 4-to-1 margin, but that may be because people are often quicker to call with concerns than they are with praise. She says, "I think that generally people call in when they have a concern, or to have a question answered, rather than just to say 'Hey that's great.'"
Some of those include messages that the new schedule ignores the needs of employees with children. Others e-mailed in to suggest every other Friday have open hours at state offices.
But there were positive calls saying the governor is trying to make a difference. There have also been calls from other states, cities and organizations curious about how the schedule is going. Roskelley says, "We've really had a lot of interest from people wanting to know how we are measuring, how it's working and a lot of those different questions."
But 389 calls about the program have been with questions, not opinions.
Huntsman instituted the one-year pilot plan to save on energy costs by shutting down most state offices on Fridays.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
(The Deseret News contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
