4-Day Work Week Comes to an End
Gambian female government workers ordered to cover their hair by Jammeh in 2016. Photo credit: Ghana Blog
Back in 2013, President Jammeh announced a four-day work week (Monday to Thursday) for public sector workers, leaving Friday as a work-free day. Jammeh said the extra day off would give Gambia’s mainly Muslim population more time to pray, socialize, and focus on agriculture.
At the time, critics of the policy said a four-day work week would promote lethargy in the civil service and reduce overall productivity, arguing that the Gambia was effectively losing out on a full day of productive business when compared with the rest of West Africa and the world that mostly operated on a five-day week.
On assumption of office, President Barrow scrapped the abbreviated week, saying that public sector employees would have to work at least four and half hours Mondays through Fridays.
