An almost empty government office in Riyadh as seen on Wednesday. — Okaz photoSaudi Gazette RIYADH – Come Ramadan and work starts piling up in government offices. With shortened working hours and lethargic staff, whose main excuse is that they are fasting, transactions in several government departments dealing with the public get accumulated resulting in overcrowding in these offices. A paperwork which normally gets completed in hours takes days during Ramadan due to many employees either remaining absent or reporting to work late. And even when the employees come to office in time lethargy sets in which often results in members of the public running here and there just to get a work done. During a field tour of several government offices, Okaz/Saudi Gazette noticed the absence of a considerable number of employees on the first day of Ramadan. Abdullah Al-Harbi, a Saudi national, said he tried to complete his transaction before the advent of Ramadan, but couldn't. “I have to travel a long distance daily to follow up the transaction, as I live outside Riyadh,” he said. Saleh Al-Breik, another Saudi national, agrees with Al-Harbi. He said he tried to complete his transaction in the government departments before the start of Ramadan knowing fully well the nature of life during Ramadan. He said in view of the delay in competing his transaction before Ramadan, he was forced to follow it up during the holy month pointing out that there is considerable absenteeism among the employees in government offices. At the same time, a majority of government employees prefer to avail of their annual vacations during the holy month. Talib Abdullah Al-Saad is calling for shifting working hours in Ramadan to night period so as to reduce the burden on the employees and citizens. “This gives an opportunity to prevent absenteeism or reporting late to work by employees and dissatisfaction among the citizens and expatriates.” Al-Saad said some employees can be allocated to work during the evening session to complete the citizens' transactions. Salim Al-Shihri, another Saudi national said a majority of citizens prefer not to follow up their transactions at the government departments due to the absence of employees. __
