Five-day week to be launched selectively

Five-day week to be launched selectively

JAKARTA (JP): After a trial program that has run for more than
a year, the government has decided that not all of its employees
will enjoy a shorter, five-day working week.

State Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi told a
hearing with the House of Representatives yesterday that the
five-day working week would be introduced in selected provinces
and regencies only. The reason, he said, was that not all areas
are ready for the shorter working week.

Silalahi did not say when the five-day week would be
introduced. He said that a presidential decree on the change was
currently being prepared.

Among the employees who will enjoy the five-day working week
will be those of central government agencies and most provincial
administrations, including Jakarta's.

Most of those who will continue to work six days are the
employees of regency administrations, particularly those in
remote areas.

"Our study has found that the five-day week cannot be
implemented simultaneously," Silalahi told the House's Commission
II, which is responsible for state administration and domestic
politics.

Silalahi said the shorter working week would not be extended
to government agencies which provide vital services, such as
hospitals, fire stations and banks.

The main aim of introducing the shorter working week is to
improve civil servants' productivity and their service to the
public, Silalahi said.

The five-day week will also allow civil servants to save on
transportation and other expenses normally incurred in traveling
to and from work, the minister said. He added that, furthermore,
the shorter working week would enable the government employees
concerned to spend more time with their families.

Hopes that civil servants would be able to spend significantly
longer periods of time with their children were dashed when the
government scrapped a trial run of a five-day week for schools
only one month after it was launched in September last year.

Parents and religious leaders complained that a shorter school
week would mean that their children would have to spend longer
hours at school between Monday and Friday, at the expense of
afternoon religious classes.

Legislators agreed yesterday that the introduction of five-day
working week should be carried out selectively.

Referring to the trial program, Ali Hardi Kiai Demak of the
United Development Party said the longer working hours that the
five-day working entailed had left many government employees with
even less to do, especially in the afternoon. (imn)