KUWAIT: A number of government departments have started preparing the study regarding application of flexible work hours soon to reduce traffic jams, based on the request of the Cabinet. Justice Minister Abdulaziz Al-Majed sent a memo to his undersecretary regarding the instructions of HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah to present a vision to study the possibility of applying flexible working hours. Employees will work specific hours without regard to time of attendance or leave. The memo said a study must be presented and redistributing employees in order to cut traffic jams and to give employees an opportunity to review their contracts during the night shift.

Strategic payroll alternative

Meanwhile, government sources have assured that the project regarding the strategic payroll alternative, which is currently being prepared by the government for the National Assembly to approve, will not include expatriate workers in the public sector and will be limited to Kuwaiti employees. "The law equalizes Kuwaiti workers with the same specialization in different government entities, who will receive the same allowances without favoring one entity over another," sources told Kuwait Times.

"Expatriate workers in the government sector have different procedures for hiring, and allowances they receive are allocated based on technical procedures that relate to the nature of work and new updates that each ministry gets, and are not based on the regulations of the Civil Service Commission. Expats can be employed only in urgent cases, but priority will always be for Kuwaitis, then children of Kuwaiti mothers, then GCC nationals and bedoons," sources added. The strategic payroll alternative will be submitted to the Assembly in the next two months, and sources expect its implementation during the 2025/26 fiscal year.