• 8am to 3pm new working hours
• Confusion prevails in govt departments; SBP notifies five working days

ISLAMABAD: The federal government did not restore the Saturday weekly off despite protests by employees, sticking to the six-day routine, but notified new reduced working hours.

On the other hand, confusion over the new work schedule prevailed in the corporate sector, autonomous bodies and even banks.

According to a notification issued by the Establishment Division, government offices will remain open from 8am to 3pm with a 30-minute break at 1pm whereas the timings on Friday will be 8am to 1pm.

Earlier, the timings were 9am to 5pm with two weekly holidays on Saturday and Sunday.

After assuming office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif abolished Saturday off, but kept the working hours unchanged from 9am to 5pm.

As a result, there was resentment among the employees, especially among the lower staff who staged protests, demanding restoration of Saturday weekly off.

The two-day weekly holidays were introduced by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in 2011, with the objective to conserve energy.

The then Punjab chief minister, Shehbaz Sharif had criticised the PPP government over the decision, saying that the provincial government had not been consulted on the two-weekly holidays.

Meanwhile, following the Establishment Division’s notification, managements in the corporate sector and autonomous bodies remained confused over the restoration of Saturday as working day.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) were the only regulatory bodies to follow the directive and observe the six-working day routine.

On the other hand, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday announced revised bank timings with five working days.

“The State Bank of Pakistan will observe following working days and timings with immediate effect: Monday to Thursday from 9am to 5:30pm with prayer/lunch break from 1:30pm to 2:15pm whereas on Friday office hours will be from 9am to 6pm with prayer/lunch break from 1pm to 2:30pm,” the central bank said in a statement.

“Further, in order to ensure the availability of basic banking facilities to business community and public at large, banks and MFBs [microfinance banks] may open their selected branches situated in major cities, business centres, commercial markets and hubs, ports, etc. on Saturdays as per their business requirements,” it added.

However, as the authorities were waiting for a decision by the Establishment Division about the number of working days, bank employees were informed by their seniors that they would have to be at work on Saturday (today).

Most regulatory bodies, meanwhile, decided to continue with the weekly Saturday off.

These include the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

“The regulatory bodies were observing five days a week even before the two-weekly holidays were notified in October 2011,” said a senior official of one of the autonomous bodies.

“This is because we do not fall under the purview of the Establishment Division, and any decision in this regard has to be taken by the relevant authority itself,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the working of the SECP has been affected following the implementation of the new timings.

The SECP offices will remain open on Saturday whereas the stock market as well as the corporate sector will observe five working days and therefore will remain closed on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2022