The new set of norms for council workers approved by Venice's mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, aims at reducing distractions for employees during working hours. Several councils across Italy have introduced similar measures in recent years. In Jesi, a town in the Le Marche region, council workers are now forbidden to leave the council building without prior authorization during their shifts. In Trieste, council staff have been told not to drink alcohol on their lunch breaks.
Back to the norms introduced in Venice, the new measures ban the wearing of bermuda shorts, even when temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius in summer. Coffee breaks are not mentioned per se, although the new adopted norms state council workers, once clocked in, should "refrain from carrying out activities that delay the effective starting of service". Internet and mobile phones should also only be "used in compliance with the constraints of the administration, and only for institutional purposes."
