Iran Changes Working Hours Creating Chaos For Employees And Citizens

According to the decision, government working hours in the country will begin at 06:00 local time (GMT 3:30) and end at 13:00 for three months.

As there are many people commuting daily from the suburbs to mega cities like the capital Tehran, countless employees must get up at least two hours earlier which affects their sleep routine.

Those who have children say, "office hours are from 6:00" but "kindergartens open at 7:30."

With the current plan, the working hours of government agencies decreased by one hour a day with the parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf opposing the decision.

The government says the change has been approved in line with "optimal management of energy consumption" with all executive bodies obliged to turn off cooling systems one hour before the end of work.

It also claims the employees would make up for the loss through remote work, but the parliament speaker rejects this solution as being “illegal”.

“The working hours of the employees are forty-four hours a week and the Council of Ministers and executive bodies only have the authority to determine the order of the announced hours,” Ghalibaf said last week.

Electricity consumption has been increasing in Iran because of very low prices, considered a subsidy in the state-controlled economy. While both power plant capacity and their fuel supply remain inadequate, Iran exports electricity to Iraq.

Last year the country faced a deficit of about 14,000 megawatts in electricity production with blackouts during the summer when consumption was at its peak.