Does less mean more?
By Grace Riguer
Senior Labor and Employment Officer
Institute for Labor Studies

Issue Date: July - September 2004

Hard times call for stringent measures. For government employees, this means modifying their work schedule to cut back on expenses. The four-day workweek is government’s solution to this problem.

The implementation of this scheme came on the heels of President Arroyo’s call for austerity measures among government agencies. Cutting office hours should lead to substantial savings from power and other related office operating and maintenance costs.

It takes into account International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 30 (Hours of Work Convention) which sets the ceiling of daily working time to ten hours. It prescribes that a workweek can be compressed only “to the extent that daily working time does not exceed the legal limit.” Most countries follow this convention.

Reducing daily expenses of employees. At the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the compressed workweek scheme is more about helping employees cope with the increasing cost of living by reducing their daily expenses and by allowing them to seek other livelihood opportunities.

Initial experiences in compressed workweek hold promise. DOLE employees in general said that their shorter workweek allows them to save and seek out extra income. One employee even said that a shorter workweek enabled her to save from P600 to P1,000 a month.

Longer weekends are also intended to extend workers’ family time. Employees who work four days a week, especially those whose families live in the province, said they now get to spend more time with their family, and even devote extra time to community activities.

In the private sector. More and more companies in developed countries are adopting the scheme, although studies regarding its extent have yet to be made. In Canada, according to the ILO, around three per cent of the employees compressed their weekly working time in 2001. The scheme is more widespread in larger firms in communications, forestry, and mining industries.

SC Johnson Company, a company that has adopted the scheme, describes the compressed workweek schedule as a means of focusing on “working to the business needs rather than the clock.” It also offers its employees benefits that complement the core value of balance in life and work.

In the private sector in the Philippines, on the other hand, there are also calls for the implementation of the said scheme to boost productivity.

In fact, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Incorporated (SEIPI) recently asked the DOLE to allow firms in its industry to adopt it.

The DOLE favors the implementation of compressed workweek in the private sector provided that the extended shift is justified by reasonable production requirements and that work beyond 48 hours in a week shall be treated as overtime.

Also, in cases where “substances and chemicals are used in the workplace, or where the working environment is characterized by occupational safety and health hazards, there should be a certification from an accredited health and safety organization or practitioner that the extended shift is within tolerable level.” 

Workers should express in writing their approval of its implementation. It also has to be proven that working more than eight hours will not compromise their health.

The scheme has its advantages especially for some industries in the private sector. The extension in operation hours will lead to “a reduction in the expenses associated with starting operations.” For employees, on the other hand, the scheme gives them more time for their families and less expenses for commuting. Production also shoots up as workers toil longer.

Within a few months, the DOLE is expected to release an Administrative Advisory detailing the guidelines in implementing the compressed workweek scheme in private companies. 

Early in, late out. Some issues regarding the implementation of the compressed workweek have yet to be addressed.

Aside from the adjustments employees have to make in their schedules, the compressed workweek scheme also has certain limitations, especially for agencies that have adopted flexi-time.

While employees are entitled to an additional rest day if required to work during their scheduled day-off, they are nonetheless barred from offsetting tardiness or under-time by reporting for work after eight in the morning and burning the candles beyond 10 hours.

Nor could days-off falling on holidays be compensated by another rest day, which presents problems as to the implementation of the rules on holidays.

As a rule, a holiday is equivalent to just eight working hours. Naturally, an employee whose day-off falls on a holiday would lack two more hours for that particular week. 

In the private sector, on the other hand, employers would have to compensate work rendered beyond the prescribed time with an overtime pay, which means extra labor cost for them. To companies with modest income, this added cost may seem like a burden. 

That is the reason why, in a survey conducted by the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), only two out of 10 establishments were open to compressing the legally mandated eight-hours a day, five to six-day workweek into 10-hours a day four to five-day workweek. Seven out of 10 disapproved of scrapping the eight-hour workday labor law, mainly because a large share of the surveyed establishments consider eight hours as sufficient in a workday.

This prolonged workday, furthermore, takes its toll on the workers’ health. Employees who work ten hours a day may suffer from fatigue, stress, and irritability, which translate to decreased productivity and a higher risk of accidents. This could also lead to difficulties in fulfilling their family responsibilities during the workweek.

Further study. The compressed workweek scheme may potentially be the key to increasing productivity and giving workers some extra time for family responsibilities. However, if it would be saddled by implementation hitches, it may not achieve what it has been created for.

  eMail Article  |    Printer Version  |    Comments on Article

Other Articles