Reintroducing two day weekend system in government offices

These days, normal life in Nepal has been severely hit by the ever increasing load shedding schedule imposed by the authorities after the government officially declared 'power crisis' in the country. Everytime I talk to my family in Nepal, our conversation orbits around this problem because almost all the daily activities are somehow dictated by the electricity. I can feel the intensity of the havoc to some extent. The initial public anger is slowly turning into sheer helplessness as experts are engaged in debating on relevance of the government's decision to install diesel power stations at some strategic locations in the country. The entire state is affected by the problem and people are looking for sort of ideas that could provide them with some ease, if not a complete relief.

I was going through the report submitted by the government appointed 'committee for solving the load shedding problem'. It's been quite some time since the committee completed its research and suggested the government with few recommendations. I will discuss viability of the other recommendations in detail next time but this time, I am going to talk about one particular suggestion made by the committee that drew my attention: the recommendation of reintroducing two day weekend system in the government offices instead of the present one day weekend concept.

This is not the first time when the issue of one-day or two-day weekend system has become a subject of discussion in the country. In August 1999, the government introduced two day weekend system in the government offices within the Kathmandu Valley on a trial basis. At that time, the government employees in the valley enjoyed two holidays on Saturday and Sunday whereas, rest of the country continued to be content with one day weekend. The government had changed the office time, however in the valley, in order to make-up the total working hours. In the valley, the office hours changed from 10.00 AM-4.00 PM to 9.00 AM-5.00 PM all five days. However, after a period of around one year and half, the government decided to cut off the additional holiday on Sunday and made it same throughout the country with only Saturday as weekend.

(Sketch courtesy: www.cartoonstock.com)

While deciding against the two-day weekend system, the government must have considered the negative impact of the system. Among others, the main problem faced particularly by the low level employees was punctuality i.e. attending the office at sharp 9.00 AM. The changed time as felt by them was a bit inconvenient due to the lack of reliable transportation facility as well as the prevailing weather conditions particularly in winter. Another problem was associated with food habits. Employees were in a dilemma whether to eat early at home or to have lunch at office. And with no separate arrangement for the lunch time as well as no lunch allowance by the government, employees found it difficult to cope up with the new office hours. Hence, it was not any surprise that several employees used to come office late and the practice had become more or less acceptable. There was a growing concern that the general public could not get timely services from the government offices owing to late arrival of the staff in their offices, and in many cases, postponement of works for next day.

But, while analyzing the overall impact of the two-day weekend system few other factors must also be considered. The system was introduced only in the Kathmandu valley which resulted in a negative opinion within the employees working outside the valley. Employees stationed outside the valley started thinking themselves somewhat underprivileged. The government should have introduced a single and unitary rule throughout the state in order that any changed context be effective.

In accordance with the international standard of working days, it's not a secret that two-day weekend system is an accepted norm. Even during the trial introduction of the two-day holiday system earlier, the government had ensured that the change does not make any difference in the total working hours. However, the system failed at the implementation front as such, the services delivered to the common public suffered. So, should it be a closed chapter now? A reintroduction of the two-day weekend system does not deserve a second go at all??

The current electricity crisis is taking an abnormal shape every passing day. Among others, the usage of electricity in the government offices is very high. Making strict rules and regulations of electricity usage in such offices is mandatory. Also, addition of one extra holiday may prove handy. Likewise, the fuel consumption by vehicles of the government institutions will go down considerably once we have an extra holiday. This will decrease the pollution level and ease out the traffic volume (at least for one additional day). Here, I recall one of my friends arguing that what if the problem persists? Should we continue increasing the number of holidays? Definitely not! The idea is to optimize the advantages without overlooking the international norms. I think the government should ensure that the reintroduction of the system does not hamper in the services delivered to the public. At the same time, the employees should also be punctual, loyal and dedicated to their duties and responsibilities. Commitment is the key here: both on the part of the employees as well as the government!