The Civil Service Commission (CSC), the central human resource (HR) agency of the Philippine government said on Monday, March 21 that it supports the recommendation of the compressed four-day work week.
During the Laging Handa public briefing, CSC Commissioner Aileen Lourdes Lizada said that the agency has long supported this type of work arrangement and they have already released a memorandum circular back in 2020.
She mentioned that they released the CSC-MC No. 18 series of 2020 dated Oct. 15, 2020 which covers all heads of 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.
Lizada explained that the subject of the memorandum circular is the amendment to the revised interim rules and guidelines for alternative work arrangements during the period of state of public health and emergency due to Covid-19 pandemic.
"So dito ho nakalagay ang alternative work arrangements na lima. Ang isa po diyan ay four-day compressed work week (Stated here are five recommendations of alternative work arrangements. One of them is the four-day compressed work-week)," she said. This will be valid until the end of the declaration of public state of emergency, according to her.
Lizada clarified that the four-day work week does not mean that government offices will only be manned for four days. She said that offices should still be open from Monday to Friday.
She reminded heads of offices to take into consideration mental health and wellness as well as work-life balance when choosing the compressed four-day work week since working 10 hours in the office can be very challenging.
She recommended combining the four-day work week with a work-from-home setup but still subject to the guidelines of the memorandum circular. Lizada also mentioned that the CSC is working on institutionalizing or making permanent the policies for flexi-work arrangement so that the government will have default guidelines.
It can be recalled that National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Karl Chua earlier recommended to shorten the workweek to four days but with longer hours to help conserve energy. He pointed out that one way of practicing energy conservation is by limiting the mobility of workers to cushion the impact of the skyrocketing fuel prices on the economy.
For the oil crisis, Lizada said that offices can choose the four-day work arrangement.