{"id":104986,"date":"2026-03-10T11:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/?p=104986"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:53:24","slug":"four-day-work-week-remote-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/four-day-work-week-remote-work.html","title":{"rendered":"Govt introduces 4-day work week, remote work under austerity drive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Islamabad: The federal government on Monday unveiled a nationwide austerity drive that includes a four-day work week for offices and a work-from-home policy for half of the workforce, as part of efforts to reduce fuel consumption and government spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the measures in a televised address after chairing a special meeting on austerity steps in light of prevailing regional tensions and rising global oil prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the new policy, public and private sector offices \u2014 except essential services \u2014 will operate four days a week, with 50 per cent of staff working from home. The policy will not apply to banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/govt-restores-2020-far-charges-for-isb-hotels.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hospitality sector gets major relief as govt restores 2020 FAR charges<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fuel allocations for government vehicles will also be significantly reduced. Officials said the measures are expected to generate savings of billions of rupees at the federal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of the austerity drive, the government has also announced a series of spending cuts and administrative restrictions across federal and provincial departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key austerity measures include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Four-day work week for public and private sector offices, except essential services<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Work-from-home policy for 50% staff in offices where possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Banks exempt from the four-day work week policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>50% reduction in petrol and diesel allocations for government vehicles for the next two months<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>60% of government vehicles at federal and provincial levels to remain off the roads during this period<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Operational vehicles such as buses, ambulances and motorcycles exempt from the fuel cuts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cabinet ministers, advisers and special assistants to forgo salaries and allowances for two months<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Members of national and provincial assemblies to face a 20% reduction in salaries and allowances for two months<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Officials in Grade 20 and above earning over PKR 300,000 per month to face two days\u2019 salary deduction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>20% cut in the non-development budget for the fourth quarter across federal and provincial departments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ban on foreign visits by ministers, advisers, special assistants and government officials, except where deemed necessary<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Official dinners, Iftar parties and seminars in hotels suspended, with government venues to be used instead<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Government meetings to be conducted online where possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>All outdoor government events, including horse and cattle shows, postponed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Educational institutions closed from March 10 to 31, with online classes allowed and examinations continuing as scheduled<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>District Petroleum Monitoring Committees to be formed to monitor fuel supply<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Track-and-trace system for petroleum products to be developed by the Punjab IT Board<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strict action against hoarding and profiteering, with provincial governments directed to ensure enforcement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/govt-approves-to-print-4-notes-in-new-design.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Govt approves to print 4 currency notes in new design<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities said the fuel cuts alone are expected to save around PKR 4.5 billion at the federal level, while the reduction in non-development spending could generate an additional PKR 22 billion in savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government has directed all provincial administrations to implement the announced measures and ensure compliance across departments and institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islamabad: The federal government on Monday unveiled a nationwide austerity drive that includes a four-day work week for offices and a work-from-home policy for half of the workforce, as part of efforts to reduce fuel consumption and government spending. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the measures in a televised address after chairing a special meeting on austerity steps in light of prevailing regional tensions and rising global oil prices. Under the new policy, public and private sector offices \u2014 except essential services \u2014 will operate four days a week, with 50 per cent of staff working from home. The policy will not apply to banks. Read: Hospitality sector gets major relief as govt restores 2020 FAR charges Fuel allocations for government vehicles will also be significantly reduced. Officials said the measures are expected to generate savings of billions of rupees at the federal level. As part of the austerity drive, the government has also announced a series of spending cuts and administrative restrictions across federal and provincial departments. Key austerity measures include: Read: Govt approves to print 4 currency notes in new design Authorities said the fuel cuts alone are expected to save around PKR 4.5 billion at the federal&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":64102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15017],"tags":[71604,71593,71603,71596,71597,71595,71607,71594,71606,71605,71600,71602,71598,71599,71601],"persona":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-104986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-notices-announcements","8":"tag-four-day-work-week-pakistan","9":"tag-fuel-reduction-government-vehicles","10":"tag-government-austerity-drive-pakistan","11":"tag-government-spending-cuts-pakistan","12":"tag-non-development-budget-cut-pakistan","13":"tag-pakistan-austerity-measures","14":"tag-pakistan-economic-policy","15":"tag-pakistan-energy-crisis-measures","16":"tag-pakistan-fuel-conservation-policy","17":"tag-pakistan-oil-prices-impact","18":"tag-pakistan-work-week-policy","19":"tag-petroleum-monitoring-committees","20":"tag-public-sector-reforms-pakistan","21":"tag-shehbaz-sharif-austerity-plan","22":"tag-work-from-home-policy-pakistan","23":"cat-15017-id"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Austerity Drive: Four-day work week, remote work - Zameen News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Authorities said the fuel cuts alone are expected to save around PKR 4.5 billion at the federal level, while the reduction in...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/four-day-work-week-remote-work.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Austerity Drive: Four-day work week, remote work - Zameen News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Authorities said the fuel cuts alone are expected to save around PKR 4.5 billion at the federal level, while the reduction in...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/four-day-work-week-remote-work.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pakistan Real Estate News &amp; 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