4 10's

By now just about everyone has heard of the Governor's plan to have All non-critical state employees work four tens. It's been interesting for me as a state employee to listen to, read and partake in the dialog following the govs announcement.

The first thing I need to discuss is that I sense a strong belief in the "lazy government worker" stereotype from reading comments on the Trib and Des news websites and talking with friends and acquaintances. I will agree that government has it's share of lazy workers, but I have worked in the private sector with it's fare share of lazy workers. Many people have replied that they have been working five tens and would love to work only four tens, many of my friends tell me this. To them I say, sounds fine with me and I'll take your salary!

The fact is that many government workers work just as hard as anyone in the private sector. For those who work overtime most do not get paid for the overtime they work (its not in the budget). They work overtime because they are not allowed to hire more workers and so are doing the work of two or three employees. Remember we do have to make it look like we have a small government.

From state employees I have heard everything from joy to resentment, but I hear that on a daily bases for just about any issue. I have co-workers who are in a constant state of disappointment. I started working for the state at four twelves a ten and a four or five, eventually down to four tens. When I went back to school I started my current schedule that I love and will dearly miss, five whatevers as long as I get my forty+ and my work done. I don't mind the four tens I just really love the five whatevers.

Radio West did a great show on four tens the other day. I thought it brought up some interesting aspects from both sides. I have always thought that four tens were more productive then five eights. Thats one less day of morning chatter and afternoon chatter, one less day of spending the morning turning the computer on (that takes a lot longer then it should), I'm already there, working, in the middle of something what's another two hours?

The one less day of driving doesn't do much for me, I live two miles from work and take the bus about half the time. UTA needs to step up and change bus schedules, that has been the biggest complaint that I have heard besides child care is that employees that have been taking the bus will have to drive. They won't "have" to drive but because they will miss the express buses their commute time home triples.

I'm sure that this will save the State money which is good because although I'm a state employee I still pay taxes. (I think many people forget this little detail). I don't believe that it will save employees money from driving less, they will use the extra day to run errands and such, driving just as much if not more.

In the big picure, I'm not sure why we are stuck working in a confined amount of time? One of the guest on the Radio West broadcast points out that with crackberries and laptops employees are working at home, on weekends and on vacation. They are also taking care of personal issues during work hours, paying bills online and personal phone calls.

What I loved about my five whatevers is I don't have to be in the office for forty hours to get my work done. We should be more concerned about the quality and quantity of work being done and less concerned about how much time we spent in our office.