Utah almost had workplace-innovator status. But now they’re just like every other employer, chicken.
Earlier this week, I wrote a column for MSNBC on how successful Utah’s move to a four-day workweek for state employees was. It’s been around since 2008 and has saved the state lots of money as a result and made lots of workers happy. But the legislators decided being out in front in the battle to change the nation’s workplace structure that’s been around since the New Deal was just too much for them to take. Alas, they’ve decided to trash the experiment.
It’s a sad chapter in the struggle in this country to structure the workplace into a 21st Century model and not one based on a 1950s workplace when men were the breadwinners and women stayed home.
Maybe we’re all just not ready for it. (more…)