Although there are some countries that welcomed a 4-day work week, until Filipinos apply this, everything else is hypothetical in terms of its effect on people’s lives. Based on Investopedia, it is ideally a 32-hour week with no reduction in pay, benefits, and level of work productivity.
Microsoft announced their switching to a four-day workweek in August of 2019 which led to 40% increase in employee productivity—they have done it based on the intention of freeing up a day for leisure. Well, happy employees tend to have given the company so much back in return.
Employees value flexibility in work schedules which can help achieve better work-life balance and increase work engagement which applies in well-managed organizations, according to Gallup’s research.
Filipinos are now leaning towards the preference of working from home or anywhere instead of going to the office, it is apparently more preferred if people do not have to work for longer hours, or even the usual 40-hour week. This January 2022, companies in the UK, US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand launched 4 Day Week Global where employees will work a day less with no change in salary with hopes of becoming a panacea for burnout and stress in the workplace and with no cost towards productivity.
In the Philippines Daily Inquirer, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) is looking at a combination of the four-day workweek and a work-from-home arrangement to consider the work-life balance of workers. On the other hand, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) proposed a compressed four-day workweek with employees working 10 hours per day considering the rising cost of fuel.
This deserves a great deal of time when it comes to studying the implications. Not all companies can allow all employees to only work for four days, some jobs require a great deal of time with the same people doing the tasks.
There are two important challenges that might occur:
1. Loopholes in the law.
The Philippines has yet to create a law that would set the balance in terms of benefits and inconveniences amongst stakeholders. Not everybody will be happy with the change, but it’s what everyone needs, for the nation to know what works and what don’t.
Karen Davila’s questions in an interview in 2017 were about how much the government has the employee’s backs should they choose to work only for four days, with the caution of not being reprimanded at work for instances like insubordination.
Months before the pandemic, in November 2019, Representative Benny Abante was suggesting this to be the compressed workweek be done temporarily, to ease the traffic in Metro Manila. It’s now 2022, Secretary of the Department of Energy agrees to the four-day workweek and work from home, however, none of these will be clear until the law is passed.
2. Employee turnover. Yes, that might happen.
When millennials entered the workforce, there came a new trend when it comes to a new culture. People no longer need to just earn.
As the most unpredictable to handle in any transaction, people will have opinions, stances, and actions. This is about human resources, and the goal is to make employees and employers happy which would result in productivity and higher company revenue.
Especially when this is newly imposed by the company and there are not enough employees to take cover when it comes to daily tasks. The thing is, this needs trial, and getting comfortable with it will start from stirs, company rumors, complaints, noise in communication, and even conflicts.
These two challenges do not sum up everything, but it helps everyone to avoid arriving at a moot point. The law needs to be clear about employee protection while considering business needs in various industries.
In regard to Real Estate, what would this mean to Rental Condo Residents? These deserve some assumptions based on the schemes mentioned.
40-hour, 4-day compressed workweek.
People work four days a week, ten hours a day. Looks simple because one gets the benefit of being out of work for three days. Ten hours of working, a 1-hour lunch break, and perhaps two 15-minute breaks.
Oh, commute. In Metro Manila, people cannot live too far from work. Otherwise, they’d live in buses due to heavy traffic. This still could be a perfect recipe for burnout and stress.
32-hour in 4 days, and 1-day work from home.
Still, a game-changer, would the employers be willing to reimburse electricity costs and high-speed internet subscriptions? Willingness is in question because this scheme will NOT likely be imposed on businesses and companies. Apartment dwellers, especially with jobs that require the use of high-speed internet will pay higher bills to keep their jobs.
In most cases, quiet workspaces will be required because most in-demand jobs need people on the phones for most hours of the day just like call center agents. Apartment dwellers will aim for bigger rooms to make way for their work desks and personal computers. It will even be better if they have the rooms to themselves.
32-hour done in four days with no reduction in pay and benefits.
Just by reading this, it feels euphoric. Filipinos are hardworking and smart; it is easily justifiable to assume that companies work with people with integrity, and value for time and productivity.
Ideally, this scheme would allow another day for an employee to spend time with family, for leisure, for developing better skills, and pursue things they are passionate about. This will give time for employees to take care of themselves and their health while providing for their families. This allows single parents to spend more time with their children, and save money from childcare.
Does this assure increased productivity? It’s arguable to say that it would if the current job feeds the family and provides more than enough to allow people to invest in their future by investing in insurance, and tangible investments like real estate. Until then, Filipinos will consider looking for a second job which this work scheme provides the opportunity.
As everything in this world needs balance, understanding the please of stakeholders to arrive at a compromise will come to fruition in time. It all depends on a point of view one would prefer to lean towards. In solving problems in a society, people need to give chance to changes and mistakes in order to make data-driven, and research-based conclusions.
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