Kaduna begins four-day working week

The Kaduna State Government will, on Wednesday, commence a transition to a four-day working week for public servants except teachers and health workers. With the new arrangement, public servants are expected to work from home for one day per week which the government said is aimed at boosting productivity, improve work-life balance and enable workers […]

The Kaduna State Government will, on Wednesday, commence a transition to a four-day working week for public servants except teachers and health workers.

With the new arrangement, public servants are expected to work from home for one day per week which the government said is aimed at boosting productivity, improve work-life balance and enable workers to have more time for their families, rest and for agriculture.

A statement issued by Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Muyiwa Adekeye, on Monday stated that the new measure will take effect from Wednesday, 1st December 2021.

“From that date, working hours for public servants hours 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,” the statement clarified.

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.”

The state government stated that the arrangement 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.

It further stated that government will 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, it will ensure that most of its automated services deliver the levels of performance required to give citizens seamless access,” it stated.

According to the statement, legal and regulatory framework will be in place by January 2022 to enable the organised private sector engage with the process and agree a longer transition period to a four-day working week.