Filipinos divided on 4-day workweek

Filipinos were divided in their opinions on the four-day workweek, according to Mark Salazar’s Friday “24 Oras” report.

Asked if she would agree to cutting the workweek but lengthening the daily hours, accounting assistant Tessa Mae said,  “Ilang oras na lang pahinga ko sa four days... Kahit sabihin nating three days day off ko, mas okay pa rin na nakakatulog ako sa araw-araw ng maayos.”

(How many hours of rest will I have in those four days? Even with three days off, it would be better to have ample rest during work days.)

Jonathan Tomagan, who works in an IT firm, agreed with Tessa Mae: “Kung 10 hours ‘yan, sa Ortigas ako nagtatrabaho… ’Yung oras ng byahe ko two and a half hours parang uuwi lang ako sa bahay para matulog tapos alis agad”.

(I work in Ortigas and commuting takes two-and-a-half hours. If I work for ten hours, it will feel like I’ll only go home to sleep.)

However, some workers said they preferred the proposed four-day workweek.

“Mas maigi po kasi mas mahaba ang oras sa pamilya… Mas mahaba ang day-off para magawa mo ang gusto mong gawin,” Loida Monda, a therapist, said.

(It would be better because that would give me more time for my family and my chores.)

Discussions on shortening the workweek in the Philippines re-emerged after a recent study in the United Kingdom found 39% of employees working for only four days had lower stress levels than those working the traditional five days. Seventy-one percent also experienced reduced burnout.

The new setup likewise resulted in better physical and mental health for workers while the companies did not see any changes in their productivity. Of the 61 companies involved in the experiment, 56 said they would continue with the four-day workweek.

But for the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), there are significant differences between the situation in the UK and the Philippines.

ECOP President Sergio Ortiz-Luis said discussing the four-day workweek was “ill-timed” as the country’s industries were just starting to get back on their feet from the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

The eight-hour, five-day workweek was designed by a study by the International Labor Organization (ILO), Ortiz-Luis added.

“‘Yung eight hours is the number of hours under the convention ng ILO na hours of productive time. Kapag dinagdagan mo bumababa ang productivity… Sa manufacturing nagkakaroon ng danger,” he said.

(That eight hours is based on the ILO convention of productive hours. If you add more hours that would lower productivity. It will endanger the manufacturing sector.)

Ortiz-Luis added that if the concern was employees’ wellness, then providing decent and quality jobs, as well as resolving the country’s unemployment and underemployment issues, were the matters that needed to be discussed. — Sundy Locus/DVM, GMA Integrated News