Kuwait unveils rules for evening work shift

Cairo: Kuwait has unveiled the executive rules for implementing evening work at some governmental agencies starting from next January.

The Civil Service Commission, Kuwait’s state employment agency, said the new system will take effect as of January 5 and specified its implementation mechanism.

Accordingly, the employee’s period of work in the evening shift must not be less than seven months. In other words, it is not permissible for such an employee to revert to the morning work shift before the expiration of this period except with the approval of the agency concerned.

Furthermore, the number of permission requests to leave the workplace earlier before the end of the shift is limited to twice a month with a six-hour cap.

Each government agency is authorised to determine the working hours in the evening during the workdays with the number of actual working hours to be four and a half hours per day. Working hours at the evening shift must not start before 3.30pm.

To switch to the evening work shift, the employee has to submit a related request. Approving this request is subject to the administrative agency’s discretionary authority based on public interests. The number of those assigned to work in the evening must not exceed 30% of the total number of the agency’s workforce, provided that work in the morning shift is not affected.

The new system aims to improve the work environment for government employees to perform under low pressure, boost productivity rates and reduce traffic congestion in the morning

Earlier this month, the Kuwaiti government tasked the Civil Service Commission with going ahead to implement the evening work shift along with the regular morning shift. The government support followed a presentation from the commission’s chief Essam Al Rubaiaan at a Cabinet meeting.

In August, the head of the Civil Service Commission met senior officials at 13 government agencies and discussed a mechanism for evening work at these institutions.

Kuwait has a population of 4.9 million people including 3.3 million expatriates.