Four-day work week only at feasibility study stage, PSD clarifies

 

The Public Service Department clarified today that its proposal for a four-day work week is only at the feasibility study stage.

This comes after the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public Service (Cuepacs) said it is not suitable for Malaysia and that there are other more urgent labour issues to be resolved.

PSD director-general Mohd Shafiq Abdullah said: "The department is open to receiving holistic input from stakeholders so that an empirical study on the feasibility of this proposal can be made.

"As it is, several countries have already started trialling the four-day work week.

"However, the PSD feels this should be approached more holistically, especially in considering its suitability and effectiveness within the Malaysian public services structure."

In weighing out this proposal, Mohd Shafiq said, the PSD is also cognisant of its role in the country's economic recovery.

UK experiment

Earlier, Ceupacs president Adnan Mat said the government should instead focus on the welfare of civil servants facing rising cost of living, and improve the delivery of public services, instead of studying the feasibility of a four-day work week.

Last week, the Public Service Department said it has set up a special team to study the implementation of a four-day working week.

Last month, more than 3,300 employees in the UK commenced a six-month pilot study on a four-day work week.

Some 70 companies are taking part in the study coordinated by three non-profit organisations, a labour think-tank and researchers at three universities in the US and UK, ABC News reported.

The workers will be paid the same amount as if they were working a five-day week, and they are expected to maintain the same level of productivity while working 80 percent of their normal hours.

Among the reasons for trialling a shorter work week are labour shortages, the rise of work-from-home culture and a greater appreciation for work-life balance amid the pandemic.

Similar programmes have been run in Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States, but there have been no official studies as yet.

Some researchers have criticised the UK experiment design, among others saying that there is no control group to compare with the four-day weekers. - Mkini