Physical Address
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Should meetings be banned during working hours?
Public service:
Long meetings at the public administration level hinder the smooth running of services and harm productivity, specialists in the field have indicated. The latter find that meetings during working hours are not only a “waste of time” for civil servants but also for citizens who complain about the blatant decline in public service. To put an end to the difficulties encountered by state officials and citizens, the same specialists propose that these meetings be held outside of working hours.
This phenomenon affects practically the majority of public institutions whose officials hold meetings of almost long duration during five (5) days of the week. Citizens who go to the administration level (Wilayas, Daïras, taxes, etc.) are unable to resolve their affairs due to the unavailability of officials who are in meetings.
Our interlocutors indicate: “The citizen is sent home upon arriving at the entrance to the institution by security agents at police stations or by officials in charge of the secretariat.” The latter added that the visitor will not be authorized to access the offices, he will be informed that the manager in question or the head of department requested is (according to them) in a meeting.
The statements of specialists on the subject are confirmed by the citizens themselves. According to the testimonies of some citizens with whom we discussed this subject: “During the five working days, we were unable to meet or contact an administration official under the pretext that they were in a meeting,” indicated Mr. Rouabah.
The latter added that every morning, he comes and goes without being able to be received by the wali, the secretary general or the head of the Cabinet. Mr. Rouabah added that he went from Monday to Thursday to the wilaya headquarters but was unable to meet the requested officials, he explained to us.
Our interlocutor had to add that each time, he will be informed that the first three officials of the wilaya are in a meeting. A general practitioner also gave his testimony on this subject and said that it has been more than five years since he has been able to meet a wilaya official. The general practitioner confided: “I am faced with a problem that I cannot solve and I decided to expose it directly to the head of the executive but without result. I tried to make an appointment with the Secretary General or the Head of Cabinet but in vain… Each time, they explain to me that they are not available, they are in a meeting. Our interlocutor indicated that he would also have sent several letters to the officials in question, unfortunately, these correspondences remained (according to him) dead letters. Several other citizens explained that they never managed to meet the requested official on the pretext that he was in a meeting. We asked the complainants to show up on the “reception day”, they responded as follows: “We tried to meet a manager during the reception days but to no avail. Each time, it is a Cabinet attaché or some civil servant who will be responsible for receiving us.” The same citizens indicated that the state officials who agreed to receive them were not able to find solutions to the problems they allegedly exposed.
“They are content to mention our grievances in their registers while promising that they will report our grievances to the first person responsible,” they said.
The problems caused by meetings in administrations are also identical to other state institutions and even at the business level, our interlocutors indicated. Always and according to their statements, the first managers are never reachable under the pretext that they are in a meeting. According to a representative of civil society, a citizen told him that he was surprised by the response of an agent responsible for the switchboard who was not able to put him in contact with the secretariat of the company director. “I’m sorry, the secretary isn’t answering, she’s in a meeting.”
Some citizens with whom we also contacted added that if officials are not in meetings, security agents or their secretariats let them know that they are either traveling or out in the field. In short, specialists on the subject and representatives of civil society recommend that meetings be prohibited during the day and must be held outside of working hours so as not to waste civil servants’ time and not to penalize citizens.
Moncef Redha