NCW fully supports the recent decision taken to extend the policy of family-friendly measures to the entire public sector. For years now, the Council has been advocating different measures, including job-sharing, teleworking, reduced hours, and shared parental leave.

Reduced hours is one of the measures that the increasing number of both parents who work can benefit from, as it allows time for adaptation to work/family balance. However with the increasing number of government employees making use of reduced hours, we need to ensure that productivity in the public sector remains sustainable and that it does not amount to extra pressure on employees. Labour laws and policies on temporary employment of workers need to be seriously considered and put into practice also in cases where reduced hours are being adopted.