Iran’s Pezeshkian proposes remote work for government employees in winter

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has proposed closing some government institutions during the winter and shifting their employees to remote work amid the possibility of an energy imbalance, Asriran reports.

“Even now we are thinking about this, and I also spoke with heads of state about closing some [government] offices in winter and continuing their activities remotely. In this case, at least less electricity, gas and gasoline are consumed, and traffic is reduced. Much can be done remotely,” the president said.

Pezeshkian explained that the real problem lies in outdated regulations in Iran that require employees to be physically present at their workplaces for eight hours a day.

According to him, these regulations need to be reviewed and coordinated, while the existing remote-work mechanism is fully capable of making such an arrangement possible.

The president said he had already told the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that some government agencies could open their doors for just two hours a day and use that time to address citizens’ problems. He noted that offices had also been closed during the conflict with the United States and Israel, but this had not caused any serious problems for the public.

“We can do this without reducing employees’ salaries while also cutting consumption of gasoline, gas, electricity and other expenses,” he said, adding that all it takes is the will and readiness to act.

By Jeyhun Aghazada