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About 60,000 civil servants will benefit from the five-day working week scheme that begins on July 1.

The new arrangements, a major initiative to reduce work pressure and to improve efficiency, will be introduced in phases, said Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue.

In a year, as many as 92,6000 staff will be benefited when the final phase of the arrangement will be completed by July 2007.

The working hours, however, will be prolonged on weekdays to compensate for the loss of Saturday hours. Accordingly, some less-frequented services will no longer be available on Saturday from July 1.

The government, however, said reduced working days would not be extended to all the civil servants due to certain constraints.

Yue yesterday announced that the five-day week would be implemented in phases starting from July 1.

"We will maintain overall efficiency of government services. Emergency and essential services will not be affected by the new work pattern," she told a press conference.

But the government has no plan to make the five-day working week mandatory, she said, adding that public bodies and the private sector are free to follow their own arrangements.

Yue believed the five-day working week would generate economic benefits. People will spend more money on eating out but it will be very difficult to quantify the benefits, she said.

At the same time, some departments are planning to allow more staff to work five days a week by way of duty roster arrangements.

She said: "Although they do not necessarily take consecutive days off on Saturdays and Sundays, it will help improve the quality of life and family life."

But the most important thing is that services to the members of the public will not be affected, she added.

"For example, the Observatory provides 24 hours services but their staff work on roistered hours five days a week. Many disciplined forces are also studying this and if things work out as planned, there will be more staff working on the new pattern."

Rebecca Lai, permanent secretary for the Civil Service (Special Duties), said the government would adhere to four principles in taking forward this new initiative.

While incurring no additional manpower resources, no reduction in the number of working hours per week and reduction in emergency services, the government would continue to provide essential services on Saturdays.

For example, licensing services of the Transport Department and enquiry service centres of the Home Affairs Department on Saturday mornings will be cancelled.

But more in-demand services will continue to be provided on Saturday mornings, she explained. They include immigration-related counter services (such as registration of births and deaths, ID card/visa/passport applications), mail delivery and post office counter services.

Members of the public have been advised to make greater use of postal and Internet services, drop-in boxes and other payment channels instead.

Lai also admitted 60 per cent of the staff from the disciplined services and over 40 per cent of staff on the model scale one would not be able to enjoy five-day week from July 1, 2007.

Providing five-day week for some staff within the framework of unchanged manpower resources and unchanged weekly working hours will hardly be possible, she explained.

Respective government departments will inform the public of their new working hours and services. For more details, interested parties can visit www.info.gov.hk/info/5day or call the 24-hour hotline 1823.

Poon Wai-ming, chairman of Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association, said civil servants in general had welcomed the five-day week arrangement.

As a doctor working in the Department of Health, he said only half of his colleagues could enjoy the new initiative but they would appreciate that services to the public comes first.

But Chan Cheung-yee, staff side chairman of the Model Scale I Staff Consultative Council, said model scale one staff could hardly benefit.

If the five-day week is implemented, they will have to work 10 hours a day. He asked the government to increase manpower to ease their workload.

(China Daily HK Edition May 9, 2006)