Office hour changes – what does it mean for the average office goer?

One fine working day in the middle of the week while I was racing against time to meet some deliverables, a buzz erupted within the workplace — it was all about the sudden announcement of changes in office hours effective from Wednesday.

As instructed by officials, a workday from now onwards would start at 8 AM and employees are expected to wrap up by 3 PM. As for banks, the timing shall be from 9 AM to 4 PM. 3 PM? I thought to myself, as I glanced at my calendar and realised, I was occupied by meetings only up until that time.

Albeit the measures are being taken in an effort to conserve energy and optimise its usage in priority sectors, what will be its impact on the most relevant group of stakeholders? For now, it seems like an impossible feat to leave office so early during the day!  

A drastic change in such a short span of time will definitely hamper work schedules. Over time, we get accustomed to a certain working clock and organise our day accordingly. A sudden change may disrupt the work pace and alter our routine way of work to some extent. It is especially difficult for offices that are highly invested in international clients or counterparts to adjust.

Not only our daily routines, but our bodies also get acclimatised to a certain way of functioning moulded with our everyday regime. Suddenly forcing our bodies to follow a different routine may disrupt work productivity.

Apart from individual implications, another major problem that will inevitably arise is the increase in traffic at the morning due to the combined rush of school children and office goers. Traffic in Dhaka is horrendous during early hours of the day, can it get any worse than this? I am afraid it can.

On a brighter note, this decision will be in favour of early birds who prefer starting and ending their day early. Also, this gives us the chance to make maximum utilisation of daylight while it is still available, alongside reducing the usage of electricity — all for our collective benefit.  

All towards a good cause, this decision has been made thoughtfully taking the larger benefits into consideration. Like every other decision we have experienced together as a nation, let us unfold this one as well!