Five working days a week for government officials; service organisations' meetings to happen this week

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government is once again revitalising the thought of reducing the number of weekly working days in offices to five. The decision is based on the reports of the Administrative Reforms Commission and the Pay Reforms Commission. The meeting with the service organisations chaired by the Chief Secretary will be held online at 5 pm on the 5th.

Although a similar proposal was made earlier, it was stalled due to some conditions. The discussion at that time was to make the fourth Saturday a holiday along with the second Saturday. The service organizations opposed it when the condition was made that the casual leave of the employees would be reduced. The new recommendation is to make every Saturday and Sunday a holiday. The organizations have not taken a stand on this issue.

Supporters point out that it is not necessary for people to visit the offices as the services are becoming online completely. Government offices currently operate for 7 hours a day. From 10.15 am to 5.15 pm in cities and from 10 am to 5 pm in other places. It will be seven and a half hours if the working hours are extended by half an hour in the morning and evening. This will compensate for the holiday on Saturday. If that is to happen, offices that currently start at 10.15 will have to start at 9.15 or 9.30. 5.15 pm will have to be changed to 5.30 or 5.45 pm. Factors including school timings will have to be considered. The benefits to the government include savings on running government vehicles, office expenses, electricity usage, and water.