Beginning 1 September, civil servants will work on Wednesday afternoons instead of Thursdays, according to a memorandum prepared by the Communications Ministry.
The only exception to the new rule will be civil servants who work at Parliament on a Thursday afternoon, when plenary sessions of the House of Representatives take place.
Currently, the official working hours for civil servants are 7.30am to 2.30pm Monday to Friday, except for Thursdays, when the day officially ends at 6.00pm.
The change to civil service working hours is part of the Communications Ministry’s overall plans to ease traffic congestion. The main reason is to unblock the terrible traffic jams that Nicosia usually suffers between 6.00pm and 7.00pm on Thursdays. As shops are closed on a Wednesday afternoon, public employees heading home at those times after the change should cause far less congestion.
Another benefit will be to improve access to government services, since many private sector employees do not work on Wednesday afternoons and so will be able to visit government offices midweek.
The measure will be officially announced two months before it is due to be implemented. By Cyprus’ standards, it has taken a remarkably short time – less than a year – to move from an idea to change something in the public sector to full implementation.
The idea first surfaced in October 2008. Since then, the Communications Ministry completed a number of studies, the civil service union PASYDY was consulted and gave its approval, the Council of Ministers was informed, and all the pieces of the jigsaw now seem to be in place.
One of the studies commissioned by the Ministry was a survey of public opinion, which was designed to include the civil servants themselves. According to the results of the survey, which was carried out in the last week of April 2009, 71 per cent of all respondents were in favour of the move. Of the civil servants surveyed, a full 87 per cent were in favour. Of the reasons given for approving the move, 61 per cent referred to being better served by the public sector on Wednesdays compared to Thursdays.
Shopkeepers’ union POVEK’s General Secretary Stephanos Koursaris told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that his union views the announcement “favourably”, as this will be “helpful to citizens”. Koursaris added: “In fact, we think civil servants should work an extra afternoon a week, to help citizens even more.”
