Five Day Work Week
The Sikkim government recently did away with its 5 days work week rule and the new changes are to come into effect from April 1st, 2020 onwards.
5 Days Week in Sikkim
The Sikkim government had introduced the concept of 5 days week in 2019. Under this rule, the government servants had to work only from Monday to Friday every week. Saturdays and Sundays were declared holidays. This was introduced as a measure to improve the productivity and health of the government servants. This rule is to be reversed and from April 1st onwards, only the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of every month will be holidays apart from Sunday.
5 Days Week Elsewhere
Recently, Maharashtra announced a Monday to Friday work week schedule. In order to compensate for the lost time, the daily working hours were increased by 45 minutes. In many advanced western world countries and countries like China, Russia, South Africa and Brazil, Monday to Friday work week schedule is followed.
Advantage of 5 Days Work Week
The 5 days work week schedule is shown to increase productivity and efficiency of employees in the long run according to studies. This is because a shorter work week reduces stress and improves mental and physical well-being. It is reported to positively influence work-life balance, climate change, employee health, etc.
