Balancing work and life

The Government’s proposal to change work hours for both the public and private sector has triggered much public outcry, especially since the change for the latter could lead to a significant drop in the work-life balance for thousands of workers. 

Power, Energy and Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera on Tuesday said a consultative committee headed by Transport Ministry Additional Secretary Tilakaratne Bandara was appointed to study the work hours currently followed in Sri Lanka and submit recommendations. The report has already been handed over to the Minister by Transport Ministry Secretary Gamini Seneviratne. 

The report recommends that public sector offices be opened at 9.00 a.m. and close at 4.45 p.m. with the private sector offices to be opened at 9.45 a.m. and to close at 6.45 p.m. If these changes are implemented there will be comparatively less impact on the public sector, but could severely impact the day-to-day lives of the private sector. 

Policymakers need to understand that changes cannot be done in isolation and transport in particular links different crucial activities together. In many families, parents drop off their children on the way to work and often pick them up following after-school activities. When school times are aligned to office hours, it helps parents to organise their day in tandem with other family members. 

Families often use one car in the morning and changing office times will mean that more work will be created and more vehicles will be on the roads, especially if spouses work in different sectors. Private sector workers will also face a heavy load of work if they have to work till 6.45 p.m. with many not reaching home till 8 p.m. or later given the traffic situation. Spending time with children and taking care of housework, where the burden disproportionately already falls on women, could become an even worse pressure. As is many parents struggle to find enough time to spend with their children on a daily basis. 

There is also a massive gap between Sri Lanka’s working population and the transport services provided. The bus and railway services are completely inadequate to meet public needs and have not been reformed in decades. These need huge capital infusion to be made more efficient and policymakers have already passed up quicker and cheaper fixes such as Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) systems in favour of expensive Light Rail systems which will take several more years to set up. Therefore, this infrastructure gap needs to be bridged fast to service Colombo and suburbs, with policymakers considering innovation and investment to bridge the gap. They also need to urgently address issues such as harassment on public transport to improve women’s safety, and encourage more women to transition from the informal to the formal economy. 

Ironically, COVID-19 provided a better solution to the traffic issue, which is encouraging companies to adopt online systems and encourage work from home. Flexible work hours will allow people to plan their daily activities better, and use technology to discharge daily tasks more easily, as well as improve the overall standard of life. Top-down measures of simply changing hours will be insufficient in this instance as it does not take into account the complex interwoven nature of transport and daily freedoms. Companies need to be given incentives to stick to and expand activities adopted during curfew and not abandon them in the hackneyed “new normal.”