Banks Could Be Looking At A 5-Day Working Week Soon As Unions Approach Authorities With Proposal: Report

The Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the unions have reportedly reached an agreement regarding the matter. Now, the proposal remains pending approval from the central government

Bank employees might be in for a change in their working schedule. Media reports stated that banks could be looking into implementing changes in their working days as discussions regarding the same are going on between the government and bank employee unions.

According to a report by Dainik Jagran English, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the unions have reached an agreement regarding the matter. Now, the proposal remains pending approval from the central government. 

If the proposal receives the nod from the government, it would mean that banks will remain open for only five days from Monday to Friday in the week. This would mean complete weekend holidays for the bank employees on Saturday and Sunday. 

Currently, banks remain open for business on six days from Monday to Saturday, with the exception of second and fourth Saturday which are observed as leaves by banks across the country.

However, this change in schedule will not impact the overall working hours for bank employees. In addition to reducing the number of working days in the week, the proposal also suggests increasing the number of daily working hours for the bank employees. It recommends expanding the overall hours by 4 per minutes per day. This will mean that banks will remain open for business from 9:45 AM to 5:30 PM everyday if the proposal gets approved.

This implementation of the policy completely depends on the authorisation of the Reserve Bank of India and the Central government. The central bank controls all the banking operations in the country.

However, so far, there has been no clarity given by the RBI regarding its stance on the matter.