Call to cut work hours in public sector

Cut the working hours of public servants to five hours for the same pay and allow them to channel the remainder of the time in family care or entrepreneurship, says Professor Don Marshall.

The director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, made the call while delivering the Astor B. Watts lunchtime lecture yesterday at the Democratic Labour Party headquarters, in George Street, Belleville, St Michael.

“We need to free up the dynamism lying dormant within the private sector because many of our talented and bright persons end up working for Government due to the nature of our economy, which is not diversified enough for a broader-based private sector to employ them.

“The state has to find a way to dynamically release the entrepreneurial talent and potential of people who find themselves ensconced in a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job. The state could allow them to work five hours instead and give them time to either return to family care, or return to some form of entrepreneurial activity without violating their employment contract,” he suggested.(CA)

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