Civil servants should not work be granted reduced working hours in the summer, said an article in Beijing Youth Daily (excerpts below).

In the summer, many government authorities in Hubei and Jiangsu provinces implement flexible working schedules, and some departments even reduce working hours to 5 or 6 hours.

When local authorities randomly reduce working hours, related labor regulations are broken.

According to the State Council's regulation on working hours issued in 1995, employees, including civil servants, should work 8 hours a day and 40 hours per week.

Reducing civil servants' working hours creates trouble for the public, who have to wait longer hours when they have business with government authorities.

This goes against the goal of the government, which is to efficiently and politely serve the people.

Hot weather is not an excuse for reducing working hours because a majority of them work in air-conditioned offices.

Meanwhile, laborers that work outdoors, such as sanitation workers and construction workers, suffer under hot temperatures.

But they could hardly get time off due to hot weather or reduced working hours.

Reduced working hours are an invisible benefit granted to government authorities that will certainly cause public upset.