I read the Sunday editorial ("Reconsider four-day workweek," July 25) and was amazed that the Deseret News would publish such a poorly thought out opinion piece. There is no question that the 10-hour work day has not saved as much as predicted. Just using a little logic would have divined that. The problem with the editorial is it veers off on the tangent of worker productivity as it relates to hours actually worked. It states that "some government workers" are "cutting corners on their workdays."
I have no idea how an audit could come up with hard data to prove that some workers are cutting corners, unless you had an auditor actually standing in an office and watching and counting the number of hours a person works and checking what they report on their time sheets. It is true that many workers do eat their lunch at their desk, but not so they can go home early. Every state employee understands that the minimum number of hours you must be at work is ten and half hours. Those employees who eat their lunch at their desk are working through their lunch half hour. Of course, there are a few who try to cheat, but for every one who does, I could find 100 others who are working more than the required 40 hours per week. For every one who counts time working during their commute as work time, there are hundreds more who work at home and during the commute without charging the state for the time.
What a shame it is to see the Deseret News painting such a poor picture of state employees, when the exact opposite is true.
Michael Davis
Sandy