THE Civil Service Commission (CSC) is looking at institutionalizing the four-day work week in government, Commissioner Aileen Lizada said yesterday during the Laging Handa public briefing.
In fact, Lizada said government has been implementing the compressed work week arrangement since 2020 when President Duterte placed the country under national public health emergency due to the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Lizada said the CSC also issued Memorandum Circular No. 18 on Oct. 15, 2020, which allowed government offices to adopt a four-day work week under alternative working schemes.
She said that under the memorandum, the current flexi-work arrangement will be in place only until September 10, 2022. It covers all constitutional bodies, departments, bureaus, and agencies of the national government, local government units (LGUs), government-owned-and-controlled corporations (GOCCs) with original charter, state universities, and colleges.
Once the scheme is institutionalized, Lizada said that while employees will be required to physically report to their offices only four times every week, government offices will continue to be open five days a week.
Lizada said the CSC has yet to address the impact on the mental health and overall wellness of workers who will be working longer hours during the four-day compressed work week.
Under the proposed work scheme, working hours will be extended to 10 hours a day, which is longer by two hours from the current eight-hour work duration.
Lizada said another option that the CSC is eyeing is for offices to consider allowing workers to report for work physically for four days and to work from home for one day. She said the final guidelines for a four-day work week in government will be the subject of a new memorandum circular.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) last week recommended the four-day work week arrangement to help conserve energy and cushion the impact of the rising prices of fuel by limiting the mobility of the people.
President Duterte has yet to approve the proposed work scheme.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reminded the government that provision of overtime pay is mandatory for work done beyond eight hours under the Labor Code of the Philippines.
In a televised public briefing, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez said: “Whatever time is spent working beyond eight hours, it is called overtime work. And because it is overtime work, there must be overtime pay.”
However, the labor official said that institutionalizing the compressed work week scheme may allow the waiving of the overtime pay.
He said this is as long as it has the approval of the employees.
“As long as there is an agreement between parties, the waiving of overtime pay can be allowed under a compressed work week,” added Benavidez.
“Since the compressed work week is a special work arrangement, the waiving of overtime pay by the employees is allowed. But it is an exception rather than general rule,” he added.
DOLE has already stated that the flexi-work arrangement may only be adopted if there is consensus between employers and employees. — With Gerard Naval
