When Lynnette Harris heard that her employer, the state of Utah, was requiring employees to take a one-week unpaid furlough as a way to meet the current budget crunch, her first thought was that is was a much better alternative than making layoffs.

Her second thought was that she would finally have time to wade through her book club's selection this month: the 900-page classic, Don Quixote .

"You can grouse about the furlough, but you can also look at it another way. So, I choose to think that I'll be home to have a girls' spa day with my daughter. I'll clean out a couple of closets while the witnesses are at school and won't stop me from donating things they haven't used in years to a local second-hand store," says Harris, who works for Utah State University's School of Agriculture. "I'll cook some things I don't normally have time for because of work."

Pati Brown, who works for the State of California's museums and historical parks, says she will use her two-day a month furlough, as mandated by the state, to paint her master bedroom, fix the patio cover, perhaps schedule a doctor's appointment, get some car repairs taken care of and maybe even get her hair done.

All this, she says, will be made easier and more enjoyable because her significant other -- also a state employee -- will be furloughed at the same time.

"The furlough just reduces the pressure you have trying to get things done while you're working all the time," Brown says. "Suddenly, I have this day off. I can do the things I need to do without shorting my employer or using a sick day."

While Harris and Brown admit that the financial hit they will take from unpaid furloughs won't be easy, they also say they are looking forward to some time away from jobs that often have encroached on their ability to take care of private business or spend time with family and friends. Some workers have indicated they will use time off to take vacations, or even to have medical procedures such as surgery.

These furloughs are different from vacations or sick leave, however, because even in those instances employees have been known to work, or at least check their voice messages or e-mail. But under these furlough agreements, most employees are not allowed to check their e-mail or do any sort of work. If they do, says Littler Mendelson lawyer Alison Hightower, it can entitle workers to be paid.

That seems to take some pressure off workers who are told by employers, in no uncertain terms, that they are not to work while on furlough. That's quite a switch for many workers who have been pressured in a 24/7 world to try to keep up with an increasing workload and a demand by managers to be constantly available.

"I think it will be a mentally healthy thing, because you don't have a choice. You've got to take off," Brown says. "I'd like to predict that this may permanently alter the American work force once people adjust to the lower income."

Lori Long, a human resource management expert who has written on work/life balance, agrees with that assessment, and says that employers also may be surprised to find more than a financial benefit from furloughing workers.

"Workers may become more efficient because they know they have to get work done in less time. And, because these workers are going to be less stressed when they've had some time off, I think they're going to be happier and more productive and creative," Long says. "We may find that a temporary solution becomes a permanent solution."

For right now, Brown and Harris say they are viewing the furloughs favorably because they hope they will help avoid any layoffs.

"My husband is self-employed and his business has really been down, so I need this job for the money and the health insurance. If we take these furloughs for the greater good -- to keep anyone from losing their job -- then how can that be a bad thing? Sure, it's going to cost us, but it also has made me really look at what we need, and what we just think we need," Harris says.

Harris says that her life, with three children and two parents working, is often hectic, a nonstop blur of constant obligations and activities. "Shifting gears might not be the worst thing for us," she says.

Anita Bruzzese can be reached c/o Business Editor, Gannett News Service, 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Va 22107.