A four-day work week could be in effect for some state workers within months.
That's according to the Governor who is exploring the idea with the unions. She says if it goes through, it will be soon since it's being done in the name of efficiency.

The state is looking at 4 ten hour days instead of 5, 8 hour days for some workers across whole departments -- and soon.

"I'm not going to spend the next two years dickering around over how this is going to be implemented if we're going to do it we need to move forward and do it. "'We're looking at a couple of departments right now and over the next couple of weeks we have meetings with the unions and we'll make some decision," Governor Linda Lingle says.


The departments of human resources development and also business, economic development and tourism could be up first. Efficiencies are gained from less driving and gas for the employee, less utilities usage and expense for the state buildings. But not all departments are good candidates.


"A lot of our buildings are metered in a central location so even if we had one department who went to a 4 day work week and you could shut down that one floor you still can't meter it separately so you wouldn't really know if there was a savings or not," Lingle adds.

The largest state union in talks with the governor about it says it could work.

HGEA Executive Director, Randy Perreira says that,"there is really no issue that we have found to be an obstacle to prevent reaching an agreement."

Largely because the kinks have been worked out with smaller-scale 4-day schedules already within the departments of agriculture, transportation and human services.

He continues, "In any kind of voluntary program we've managed to resolve all of the issues that have faced us. If there's any attempt to involuntarily impose a change in schedule, that's where things get really dicey," Perreira said.

The union says the schedule can be great for some -- one less day of driving to work, one more day of free time, but it could actually be harder on others.


"There are different challenges in people's lives, and whether it be a second job, child care, adult care, those are the kinds of things that can really complicate it," Perriera said.


The HGEA union leaders says they've already had one meeting with the state and have another one set next week. They say breaks aren't an issue at this point because of the 10-hour shifts already available.