Dubai: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai on Saturday announced the introduction of flexible working hours for RTA employees starting on Monday.

Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA, said in the initial stage which lasts three months, the system covers the Corporate Administrative Support Services Sector before being generalised to include various agencies and sectors of the RTA.

The move is viewed as an effort to provide better services to employees in a manner customised to fit each of them, ensure higher commitment to the standard working hours, comply with the Dubai Government Human Resources Law No 27 which sets the official working hours as 7 hours per day, and in line with the powers vested in Departments by the Law.

In terms of attendance, RTA employees will report to duty at three different timings in the morning and disperse at three different timings in the afternoon. This in turn will alleviate the congestion in all directions to and from the entrances of RTA building, particularly noting that the area is surrounded by schools.

The initiative will also have a partial contribution to the reduction of traffic congestion due to the staggered hours which means spacing the number of vehicles on roads on a broader time frame.

"It will also help family members board one vehicle to report to their duties as RTA employees will have flexibility in fixing the start and end of their working hours," explained Al Tayer.

The Director of Human Resources Kawther Kazim said: "Any employee has the option to go by his or her previous working hours system; which starts from 7:30am and continues through 2:30pm, but has to be more strict in observing the working hours, and avoiding late reporting to duty or early leaving of office."

"Any employee is entitled to go for the other working hours option (from 8am to 3pm) if he or she has circumstances that warrant delay from the routine working hours such as lifting his or her children to the school or otherwise," Kazim said.

She explained that the employee who wishes to leave the office earlier at 2pm has to report to duty at 7am or earlier. In all cases, all employees have to be on duty during the official working days from 8am to 2pm.

This means that the working hours of the RTA will be extended one extra hour as the working hours will now be from 7am to 3pm, through advancing the start of the working day half an hour and extending the ending time half an hour as well since there will be employees who will opt to start their working hours earlier and others who prefer to start at a later time.

The whole exercise will be in the interest of work, contribute to increased productivity, raise the job satisfaction and rid employees of rush driving to their offices to report to duty on time in an effort to avoid the self-blame caused by the late arrival let alone the ensuing administrative issues.

"Selecting the flextime does not contract with the need to attend the official meetings fixed by the line manager or Director even if the timing of the meeting was beyond the limits of the flextime set by the employee for himself or herself. The Flextime, however, does not include employees on shifts, and front-line staff who deliver direct services to the public due to the peculiar nature of these jobs," added Kawther.