‘Flexi-time,’ 4-day work week proposed to ease traffic woes
AMetro Manila resident spends about 1,000 hours in traffic a year and wastes 28,000 hours of his or her economic life due to heavy traffic, an organization of HR practitioners said in a media roundtable discussion last Wednesday.
Robert Policarpio, president of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), said that because of this, traffic takes its toll on an employee's health, value of time lost from work, fuel cost, vehicle operating cost and contribution to greenhouse gas emission, citing a study from University of the Philippines Diliman.
"The performance of employees is a major concern because of the ‘critical’ issue on traffic. It accounts for 2.4- billion in revenues every day and if the situation continues, the country is projected to lose 6 billion daily by 2030," said Policarpio, referring to a research from Japan International Cooperation Agency.
To help solve the traffic problem, the group discussed the possibility of implementing flexible time (flexi-time) arrangement and a four-day work week scheme.
Rene Gener, PMAP executive director, said the flexi-time arrangement and four-day work week scheme are based on Advisory No. 4 issued by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
DOLE’s Advisory No. 4 offers flexible arrangements for women employees in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. If other companies and government agencies will adopt this, the 48-hour work week will be compressed to less than six days. This will involve a flexi-time schedule where employees are expected to complete the mandated work hours at their own scheduled time, said Gener
"With the advent of technology, flexitime is achievable because employees can now accomplish their tasks even if they are stuck in traffic, or at home. On the other hand, implementing a fourday work week will lessen the number of working days. If that happens, employees will have less commuting hours per week and more time for their family," said Gener.
"However, not all in the industry can adopt the four-day work week scheme, such as the BPO companies where employees are needed 24/7. How will you compress a 48-hour work per week in just four days if you adopt the four-day work week scheme?" he added.
Policarpio said that the fourday workweek scheme is implemented in the government offices in the National Capital Region (NCR) since September, 2014.
The relation of traffic to work efficiency will be one of the topics that will be discussed at the 52nd PMAP Annual Conference on Oct. 12 to 14 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom Manila, Pasay City.
The three-day conference will also highlight the PMAP Awards in human resource and people management excellence. The awards are the People Program of the Year, People Manager of the Year, and Employer of the Year.