I’ve been asked a few times by administrators to investigate what energy savings OSU might see if we shifted to a 4 day workweek (each day 10 hours). I don’t plan on posting my rather lengthy response here unless someone requests it. But the short answer is, there is indeed some net energy savings potential from the 4 day week, although there are also some potential costs that are hard to quantify.
The brief review I conducted in May of this year led me to believe a 4-day work week would result in savings in utility costs of between 3-5%. I was reminded of my investigation by a post on National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Blog. There, they revisited efforts in the State of Utah to shift to a shortened work week. Utah estimates savings of $1.8 million in utility costs, although this is short of the $3 million they hoped to save. However, just like the costs of the shift, there are savings that are difficult to quantify, such as employee morale and attendance improvement.
What do you think OSU should do? Would you prefer a 4 day work week, or are you working one already? Comment online.
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