End of rigid working hours in offices? The new regulations are already in force

At the end of April, regulations entered into force that may affect the working hours of state offices throughout Poland. One day a week, it is obligatory to 18:00. What does this mean for customers?

From April 26, a new regulation of the Prime Minister has been in force, which changes the current stiff scheme of the working hours of state offices in Poland. Managers of many offices will have to set schedules so that the work starts between 7:00 and 10:00, and at least once a week the offices served customers until 18:00. The new regulations are aimed at adapting working hours to the needs of clients, but they put an organizational challenge related to the flexible planning of employees' working time.

Changing working hours in offices

Regulation of the Prime Minister of April 17, 2025 on the principles of establishing by managers of some offices of working time during the week and its dimension on individual days of the week imposes on managers of selected state offices the obligation to determine the distribution of working time so that work in the office:

• took place from Monday to Friday for 8 hours each day,
• began not earlier than at 7:00 and no later than at 10:00,
• in the offices where tasks related to the service of customers are performed, At least on one day of the week it took place from 8:00 to 18:00.

The new regulations also allow the possibility of establishing a shift work between 6:00 one day and 6:00 the next day and regulate the issue of determining holidays. In addition, “the head of the office, determining the timetable of working time during the week and its dimension on individual days of the week (…) If possible, it takes into account important personal or family considerations of employees“.

“The regulation contains similar solutions, such as ordinance No. 525 of the Prime Minister of October 26, 2023 on the manner of organizing the working time of offices, regulating these issues in relation to members of the Civil Service Corps. Thanks to this, the managers of offices will be able to apply uniform principles regarding members of the civil service corps, as well as persons employed outside the corpus” – we read in a press release in a press release in a press release in a press release gov.pl.

Changes for employees of offices

The changes resulting from the regulation include employees of state offices. The regulations indicate that these are persons employed in the following units:

• state offices, among others in the Chancellery of the President of the RM, ministers, voivodship offices, headquarters, inspectorates and other organizational units constituting an auxiliary apparatus of complex services, inspections and voivodship guards as well as heads of poviat services, inspections and guards,
• The office of a spokesperson for small and medium -sized entrepreneurs,
• Office of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Poland,
• Regional accounting chambers,
• Institute of National Remembrance,
• Office of the State Commission for Counteracting Sexual Use of Minors under 15;
• Fiscal Council office,
• military units,
• Military Police Headquarters and other organizational units of the Military Police.

ed. Df

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