Six-day working week plan hailed

Islamabad: The people from different walks of life have welcomed the plans for increasing the number of weekly working days from five to six were reported, saying the move will increase the efficiency of government department and organisations and increase economic activity in the country.

In October 2011, the then PPP government had announced two-day weekend on Saturdays and Sundays for its, semi-government and private institutions as an energy conservation move over street protests against the frequent power outages.

The succeeding PML-N government followed the five-day working week. However, now as the PTI has formed government in the centre after winning elections and the energy crisis has eased, the Cabinet Divisions has proposed the restoration of the one-day weekend i.e. Sundays.

The businesspersons and industrialists welcomed the idea saying it will help decrease the cost of production and doing business and increase production and productivity and thus, ensuring faster economic activity in the country.

They said they even felt that since the country’s economic conditions weren’t good, the entire population should work in their respective fields throughout the week as corrective measures. The people also felt that the shorter weekend would ensure the presence of staff members of government organisations on duty six days a week to their relief.

They complained that currently as the weekend occurred on Saturdays and Sundays, many employees of government and semi-government departments and organisations left duty in the middle of the day on Fridays to claim break from work for two and a half days.

The people said the practice not only stressed out common visitors but also decreased the efficiency of government organisations. They said there’s no justification for a long weekend especially when the reason for which it was introduced (energy crisis) was no more there.