First step taken towards four-day work week in PH
Everyone has always wondered what it would feel like to work only four days a week. Well, that might soon be a reality as a bill looking to do just that has passed the committee level at the House of Representatives (HOR).
IMAGINE DOING THIS FOR only four days a week instead of five./IMAGE Pexels
House Bill 5068, which looks to shave off a day from the usual five-day or six-day work weeks by increasing a normal eight-hour workday to 10 or 12 hours, was unanimously approved by the House Committee on Labor and Employment last Monday, May 15.
IMAGE House of Representatives
The bill looks to amend Articles 83, 87, and 91 of Presidential Decree No. 442, known as the Labor Code of the Philippines, to “allow employees to complete their working hours on a compressed workweek scheme,” (Art. 83), be paid overtime if they render work beyond the usual 40 or 48 hours required for the week (Art. 87), and be given weekly rest days of two (for 48-hour workweeks) or three (for 40-hour workweeks) days. These rest days, however, would still be scheduled by your employer.
A full version of the proposed amendments can be read here.
The bill takes its cue from Memorandum Circular No. 22 of the Civil Service Commission, which allowed government offices to compress their usual five-day workweek to only four days.
Baguio City Rep. Mark Go, the main proponent of the bill, said in his exploratory note that the bill “seeks to institutionalize the compressed work week scheme as it proves to promote competitiveness, efficiency, and productivity in business and industries.”
Go also sees the measure as a way to provide work-life balance for employees. “If you are working ngayon, for example, you are from Caloocan and you work in Cavite, kung six days ka, ‘yung travel time napakatagal,” Go said. “Makaka-save ang employees even ang employers.”
(If, for example, you live in Caloocan and work in Cavite, you will spend a lot of time travelling because of your six-day workweek. Both employees and employers will be able to save time and money because of the bill.)
Go, however, said that adopting a compressed workweek is voluntary, as companies may still decide on how your schedule will look like based on their business requirements.
Source: CNN Philippines, Rappler, GMA News
