Goodbye 4-day Work Week!!!

Today, all Government offices will no longer observe the Presidentially-imposed 4-day work week (where we had to work 10 hours from Monday to Thursday) and shall revert back to the original flexible work schedule of 40hours a week-Monday to Friday.

That is an amazing relief, not just for us employees but for the civilians who are subjected to low quality work because of this schedule wher ethe private sector had to adjust to a four-day week of government offices.

How can an employee work efficiently for ten hours a day straight? The International Labor Organization defined a normal work day as 8 hours a day, not just because it seems right, but because studies have shown that an employee working beyond 8hours is actually exerting effort beyond the normal capacity. That basically means that if you work beyond the normal capacity of 8hours, you are pushing yourself beyond the limit (which seems like a reasonable purpose for overtime pay). In our case, we didn't get extra compensation but we did get an extra day of R&R (but if you really compute it, we deserve more than just one day considering that overtime is computed as 1.25 the normal rate... do the math).

In the spirit of service, we accepted this challenge so that the Philippines can save money on electricity. But at what cost? Poor production? Poor health of government employees? I wonder if they ever considered the term "cost-efficient" when they devised this plan.

I wonder if they even planned it out...

So it is truly a relief that we are back on the 5-day schedule where we don't need a 3-day weekend to nurse the stress caused by day-to-day work activities in a ten hour shift.

It's just a relief that they've come to their senses.