At the request of local residents, the workday in Katonkaragay district has been changed to start at 08:00 AM and end at 5:30 PM, Adyrna National Portal reports, citing Ulysmedia.
As of January 5, 2025, the working hours of state and social institutions in Katonkaragay district have been changed in a pilot mode. Institutions will now start work at 08:00 AM and finish at 5:30 PM, with a lunch break from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM. A total of 40 institutions in the district have switched to the new schedule.
The district’s internal policy department emphasized that this change would improve labor productivity and positively impact the region’s development.
In December of the previous year, heads of regional departments held meetings with residents of 18 settlements in the district. Residents of villages such as Örel, Arshaty, Berel, and Zhambyl discussed the proposal, with the majority supporting the idea of starting the workday earlier.
The internal policy department noted that the change in working hours takes into account local climatic conditions, residents’ daily routines, and the region’s economic activity.
In December 2023, a draft law on changing timekeeping in Kazakhstan was submitted for public discussion. The initiative sparked a major debate—on the Open NPA portal, over 130 pages of comments were submitted, with the majority opposing the change.
On August 2, 2024, Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev stated that it was impossible to revert the time zone to its previous state. However, on September 2, East Kazakhstan Region Governor Ermek Kosherbayev announced that the Ministry of Trade was reviewing the issue of reconsidering the region’s time zone, following a large number of complaints from residents regarding the change.
