John Shiklam
The Kaduna State Government has said it will soon commence transition to a four-day working week for civil servants in the state.
It however said in the interim, civil servants are expected to work from home for one day per week before the full implementation of the policy.
This was contained in a statement issued on Monday by Muyiwa Adekeye, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
The statement said the measure is designed to help boost productivity, improve work-life balance and enable workers to have more time for their families, for rest and for agriculture.
Adekeye said: “The government will begin implementation of the transitional arrangements from 1st December 2021.
“From that date, working hours for public servants are adjusted to 8am-5pm, Monday to Friday.
‘’However, all public servants, other than those in schools and healthcare facilities, will work from home on Fridays.”
According to the statement, “This interim working arrangement will subsist until the government is ready to move to the next stage of the transition which will culminate in the four-day week across all MDAs in the state.
“Government will also ramp up its efforts to give public servants access to digital devices and platforms to enable them work effectively from home.
“Given the significant investments the state government is making in ICT (Information Communication Technology), it will ensure that most of its automated services deliver the levels of performance required to give citizens seamless access.’’
It said senior (government) officials are working on detailed guidelines to ensure that the emergency services and the education and health systems in the state continue to deliver services 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the transition and beyond.
The statement explained that the government expects the required legal and regulatory framework to be in place by January 2022, adding that: ‘’This will also enable the organised private sector to engage with the process and agree on a longer transition period to a four-day working week.’’
Adekeye said the decision of the government, “reflects lessons learnt from managing the Covid-19 pandemic, which required significant relaxations of old working traditions and the ascendance of virtual and remote working arrangements’’.
