Compressed work week bill gets support in the House Labor Committee

The House Committee on Labor and Employment, chaired by Rep. Randolf S. Ting, approved House Bill 5068 amending certain provisions of the Labor Code institutionalizing the compressed work week scheme.
According to Go, the said measure will amend the provisions on working conditions under the Labor Code particularly Articles 83, 87 and 91 providing for the normal hours of work, overtime work and rest day. Rest day period of the employees shall also be adjusted, depending on the compressed work schedule.
The measure takes into account the employers and employees’ flexibility in fixing hours of work compatible with business requirements and in consideration of the employees’ need for a balanced work life, promoting business competitiveness, work efficiency, labor productivity as well as cost efficiency.
“Road traffic is one of the rationale behind the compressed work week scheme. According to Palafox of PCIREF, Filipino spends an average of 1,000 hours per year on the road due to horrendous traffic in the metro,” Go said. “That is 700 hours more than what residents from better-developed countries experience. A strenuous commute increases irritability and fatigue which decreases a person’s performance in the workplace,” Go added.
According to DOLE, based on its experience during the global financial crisis when the compressed work week was adopted by some companies as one of the measures to mitigate the effects of the crisis, it produced positive results, one of which is savings on utilities on the part of the companies and savings on transportation costs and time on the part of the workers.
“While DOLE is currently adopting the said scheme based on the voluntary agreement between the employer and employee, this will be an additional option under the provisions of our Labor Code available for all companies.” Go stressed.
Resource persons from Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Bureau of Working Conditions of DOLE and the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce expressed their support on the said measure. PR / ABN

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