Addressing work-from-home realities

THE pandemic has kept many employers and staff at home, so much so that the work day feels endless at times as seemingly routine “office” tasks now overlap with one’s domestic chores and personal time with the family. No wonder Sen. Francis Tolentino recently filed a bill to ensure companies respect the “rest hours” of their staff, defined as “any period other than the hours of work….”

According to his Senate Bill 2475 (Workers’ Rest Law), employers are forbidden from contacting any employee “for work and work-related purposes through phone, e-mail, message, and other means of communication, unless it is for the purpose of notifying the employee of the necessity of rendering emergency or urgent work as provided under Article 89 and 92 of the Labor Code of the Philippines,” during their rest hours.

The senator explained: “In recent years, alternative work arrangements have increasingly been adopted by employers for a variety of reasons, such as energy efficiency, or to enhance ‘work-life balance’ for employees. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected and reshaped the business and employment landscape. Due to the lockdown and quarantine protocols imposed by the government, employers are necessarily compelled to implement alternative work arrangements in order to adapt to the demands of the new normal.”

These flexible work arrangements include working from home and telecommuting. He added: “While we recognize the benefits of [these] arrangements, they have thinned the line between work and personal space and time. Sometimes, technology and work-from-home arrangements distort the idea of work and home from the point of view of the employees.”

On first reading of this spot of news, I thought this was yet another example of politicians intruding on the general conduct of business in the private sector. After all, isn’t this something that can just easily be hashed out by the human resources department of each company? Or, if an employee is feeling unrelenting work pressure, it would be just as easy to switch off and take a personal day.

But as a media colleague pointed out, there are many bosses out there who are really intrusive and contact their staff at any hour of the day or night. I suppose being a journalist for so long has made me rather immune to the rigors of constantly working at all hours. (“News never sleeps!” to paraphrase one media outlet’s tag line.) And as I further read Tolentino’s bill, I realized there was indeed some merit in his proposal.

Pre-covid, an employee was supposed to render eight hours a day at work, for five (or six days), or a total of 40-48 hours a week. Any work done beyond those number of hours was considered overtime and amounted to additional pay (unless the company has a cap on the number of overtime hours staff can undertake).

He pointed out: “Instead of de-stressing at home from the pressures of work, work is now brought to the employees’ homes or wherever they go. Similarly, due to advances in technology, employees are now virtually always at the beck-and-call of their employers. The power of control of employers now overreaches beyond working hours through the use of phone and email.” (Not to mention those Zoom, Teams, or Webex video sessions that can go on endlessly, and which—from personal experience—center mostly on chismis with only a third of the session devoted to the actual meeting.)

Those covered by Tolentino’s proposed legislation are employees in profit or non-profit undertaking except for “field personnel [e.g. farm workers], domestic helpers, persons in the personal service of another, and workers who are paid by results.”

Employees cannot be forced to work during their rest hours, attend meetings or seminars, travel and other similar activities. Violators will have to pay the employee P1,000 per hour of work rendered his rest hours.

If any employee is discriminated against or limited in employment opportunities because they asserted their rights to their rest hours, the “offender shall be penalized with imprisonment of not less than one month nor more than six months, and a fine of not less than P100,000.”

Tolentino cited several countries such as France, Germany and Ireland where workers won the right to disconnect from e-mail, smartphones, and other work-related devices. Portugal also enacted a law banning employers from contacting their staff outside of the regular working hours.

“In January 2021, the majority of lawmakers in the European Parliament voted in favor of putting forward a ‘right to disconnect’ law to implement across the European Union [EU],” he said. “The Parliament sought to grant workers the right to digitally disconnect from work without facing negative repercussions. The right to disconnect refers to rules that say an employee should not be expected to field work calls and emails, or communications with their bosses, outside of working hours,” added the senator.

He also cited research by European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, an agency under the EU, which showed “people who work regularly from home are more than twice as likely to surpass the maximum of 48 working hours per week, compared to those working on their employer’s premises. Almost 30 percent of those working from home report working in their free time every day or several times a week, compared to less than 5 percent of office workers.”

If passed, this piece of legislation will be a landmark in the country’s labor laws and will likely be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. I understand the urgency by which the senator wants this bill passed. Hopefully, it will help our workers enjoy their personal space and time with their families more, as they continue toiling from home. In the meantime, go ahead, switch off that damn phone and computer right now.