From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Kaduna State Government will soon commence a transition to a four-day working week but in the interim, public servants are expected to work from home for one day per week.
The government argues that this 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.
A statement from Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, which was signed by Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, on Monday, stated that the government will begin implementation of the transitional arrangements from 1st December 2021.
“From that date, working hours for public servants hours are adjusted to 8 am – 5 pm, Monday to Friday.
“However, all public servants, other than those in schools and healthcare facilities, will work from home on Fridays,” the statement clarified.
“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,’’ the government promised.
The statement added that the “government will also ramp up its efforts to give public servants access to digital devices and platforms to enable them work effectively from home.”
Adekeye assured that “given the significant investments the state government is making in ICT, it will ensure that most of its automated services deliver the levels of performance required to give citizens seamless access.”
According to him, ‘’senior 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 Special Adviser said 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 a longer transition period to a four-day working week.’’
Adekeye noted that the government’s decision “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.”