The Public Service will strengthen and introduce new modern work practices, to ensure sustainability, flexibility, and efficiency.
Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana announced that after a wide consultation process with headship positions within the Public Service and unions, the work practices of reduced hours, flexitime, flexi-week, and remote working will be structured and strengthened.
The Reduced Hours system has now been given more flexibility and amended in such a way that public officers can apply to work reduced hours without the need for eligibility criteria where work service and prioritisation permit.
The practice of Flexitime will be introduced, through which public officers may request to adjust their working hours up to two hours before or after the established hours.
The Public Service will also adopt the Flexi-Week concept. With this new measure, public officers may request to spread the 40 hours of work over four or six days a week.
Remote Working is being structured in a way that public officers may benefit from any number of remote hours based on family-friendly eligibility criteria. This will replace the existing Telework arrangements. Up to 20% of working hours may be requested to be worked remotely without the need for any eligibility criteria.
This change comes into effect from 3 April 2023 with a transition period until 15th June 2023. This is the initial phase of the modernisation process.
Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana said that with this change, the Public Service is giving the public officer more flexibility with less bureaucracy in an accountable, structured, and efficient way. This strengthens the Public Service’s credentials as a model employer with the most relevant practices that lead to work-life balance in our country.