INTRODUCING a four-day work-week will help conserve energy and reduce the costs on fuel and transportation, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
This was one of the recommendations made by the Neda to the Cabinet on Tuesday night and aired on Wednesday. This does not mean, however, that workers will see a reduction in the number of hours they will work every week—apparently to avoid cutting their take-home pay at a time when cost of living keeps rising.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said workers will still work 40 hours a week but instead of clocking in eight hours a day, they will put in 10 hours of work per day.
“Ginawa po natin ito noong 1990 sa Gulf War at iyong 2008 ’yung nagtaas po ’yung presyo ng langis. At ang epekto po nito ay makakatipid din [This was done in 1990 during the Gulf War and in 2008 when there was an oil price spike. The effect will be lower costs],” Chua said in a televised briefing.
“Imbes na araw-araw nagco-commute ay magiging apat na araw. At ito ay makakatulong din sa pag-manage ng ekonomiya natin [Instead of commuting five days a week, workers can just go to work for four days. This will also help us manage our economy],” he added.
Former Labor Undersecretary Rene E. Ofreneo said this proposal of a compressed workweek is not new. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has already discussed this before.
But the measure has pros and cons. He agreed that this will allow workers to save on transportation and for those capable, can opt to get additional work outside their current employment.
Another advantage, as Chua was saying, is reduced energy consumption. In offices, Ofreneo said.
But for those working from home—currently the situation of many workers—this measure will have zero impact on them. He added that working 10 hours a day could also have a negative impact on workers’ health, specifically mental health.
“Mas mabuti pa kay Karl Chua, [magbigay] siya ng mas mainam na policies para sa labor, halimbawa suspension ng excise taxes on oil products and even VAT kapag lampas sa $80 per barrel ang oil [It is better for Karl Chua to provide better policies for the labor sector such as the suspension of excise taxes on oil products and even VAT if oil prices exceed $80 per barrel],” Ofreneo told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail.
Chua, he added, “can also recommend the repeal of the CREATE law because you need to tax people and firms based on capacity to pay, meaning you have to discard the notion that when you allow the rich to get richer, they will invest more and make everybody happy.”
De La Salle University economist Maria Ella Oplas does not support a four-day workweek because it will drain employees. While the country may save on energy and transportation costs, employees will be drained.
She said this may also be bad news for workers who are looking for additional sources of income. They will not have the time to do part-time work during the week if they need to be in the office for 10 hours the rest of the week.
“I am not for the 4-day workweek proposal. Most especially making work duration longer from 8 hours to 10 hours. It will have an implication on our health and mental state. It may minimize use of energy given the 1 free day but it will only be transferred to consumption of people at home since more will be staying home,” Oplas told the BusinessMirror.
Oplas instead recommended that the government consider allowing workers to work four days a week on site and allow them to work from home one day of the week. Another option is to delay the start of the working day to save on energy costs, Oplas said, citing studies that processing of energy is cheaper at night, thereby reducing costs.
Meanwhile, Action for Economic Reforms (AER) Coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana said work-from-home arrangements are better for jobs, firms or industries where it is suitable. The suitability of a 10-hour workday is highly contextual to the industry, he said, adding that the impact of a 10-hour work day on productivity “is an empirical question.”
“Depends on the nature of the job and the technology. It cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach,” Sta. Ana told the BusinessMirror on Wednesday.
Tesdaman backs proposal
MEANWHILE, the chairman of he Senate Labor committee endorsed Wednesday the “4-day workweek” option.
Sen. Joel Villanueva affirmed that “implementing flexible working arrangements like working from home is one of the best interventions that the government can do because it protects productivity for businesses and workers’ welfare while cutting fuel consumption.”
In a statement Wednesday, the senator reiterated his call for the Department of Labor and Employment to “work with businesses for the full implementation of the Work From Home Law,” which was enacted back in 2018.
He reminded that “the Work From Home Law [WFH] has been relevant even before the pandemic started, as skyrocketing fuel prices is one of the main reasons why we pushed for this to become a law,” adding that “we have yet to see the end to the problems of traffic and high price of fuel, and WFH is one way for industries to adjust and cope.”
Earlier, Villanueva filed Senate Bill 153 to allow businesses to implement alternative work arrangements, such as a reduction of workdays, adding that under the proposed amendment to the Labor Code, businesses can implement alternative work arrangements as long as total work hours per week shall not exceed 48 hours, and follow rules governing overtime pay, night shift differential, and other related benefits.
He adds that other examples of alternative work arrangements include a compressed workweek, rotation of workers within the workweek, flexible holiday schedules, and flexible time, assuring that he is also set to push passage of an enabling bill into law. With Butch Fernandez
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza