Johor state government may implement a system of four-and-a-half-day work week and two-and-a-half-day week off!
According to a report in The Malay Mail, a senior member of the Johor government has proposed to implement a two-and-a-half-day work week, which means that the state government’s official week off will be changed to a half-day Friday, a full day Saturday and a full day Sunday.
According to the report, Johor civil servants do not have to return to the office after the lunch break on Friday, but directly to Sunday. On Monday morning, civil servants will start a new work week. The proposal is to facilitate Friday prayers for Muslims.
If the Johor government implements the two-and-a-half day week, the working hours from Monday to Thursday will be increased by one hour, from the current 8am to 5pm to 6pm.
If the Johor government finalizes the decision to implement the two-and-a-half day weekly rest system, it may take three months for the state government to implement the new measures in order to synchronize and calibrate the state government’s system.
The Johor state government started to change the weekly vacation to Friday and Saturday in 2014. This change has caused several inconveniences, with private citizens complaining about the lack of synchronization between the official weekly holidays and the private sector. Many people who work in the private sector are only entitled to the Sunday weekly vacation, but their children need to go to school on Sunday, which prevents parents from spending their vacations with their children and enjoying their family.
In addition, the existing Friday and Saturday weekly vacation also affects foreign investment, and foreign companies are unable to effectively align with the local working day. The fact that weekly vacations fall on Fridays and Saturdays also affects the efficiency of departments, with many public departments taking half days off on Thursdays or closing early. People who want to visit government departments also face problems with their schedules.
Currently, four states in the country have Friday and Saturday as weekly holidays, namely Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, while other states continue to have Saturday and Sunday as weekly holidays.
