The good side of extra day

Actually, other than boosting tourism, there are quite of number of benefits from the four-day work week policy for government employees. Note that the policy is not new; it has long been adopted in many other places throughout the world. Let us take a look at the policy’s pluses, and take a peek into some of its disadvantages.

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To mix small things with great, concerning the flap about the four-day work week for government employees, four ten-hours days is an option for many hospital nurses in the U.S. and has been for years. It provides a continuity of care that is superior to the standard eight-hour shift and allows overlap between the two (that is, eight- and ten-hour shifts) so that extra personnel are available during predictable daily peak needs. In some situations, three twelve-hour shifts a week are possible.

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The hazard is that the longer hours may lead to fatigue-induced mistakes. Although the stereotype of the government worker is one of low motivation and low productivity, my brief experiences in Filipino government offices indicate that the employees work hard. Yes, at least harder than the waiters who outnumber the customers but who stand around talking to each other while the customers are neglected. Don’t the owners know that this lack of service costs them additional income and lost customers?

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Any low productivity is more a result of system inefficiencies and inadequate equipment rather than lack of individual initiative. While mistakes may be more life-threatening in a hospital, in an office the tedium of the procedures and the pressure to process the clients quickly may be more conducive to errors. An administrative error might not be life-threatening, but the time and frustration involved in getting it corrected can make one wish for a quick death.

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Social benefits of the four-day work week include decreased traffic and pollution, decreased load on public transportation during peak demand and longer office hours which are more convenient for the public. The worker frequently enjoys the benefit of coming to work and going home when traffic is lighter, and the three days off every week are like a small vacation, just as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has predicted.

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My guess is that in the Philippines, given the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic, many of the workers will invest the extra time in a second job or an independent business. Those can be even more beneficial to the economy than extra vacation so the President’s plan may produce unexpected dividends.

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The four-day work week has some disadvantages and more potential advantages. The issue should be how productive the employees can be with their forty hours, not whether they work eight- or ten-hour days.

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In a larger context, the way some Filipinos respond to an innovative idea reminds me of the story about the provincial or promdi who sees his first train sitting in the station. Seeing the size of it he says, "They’ll never get it started" Then it begins hissing and steaming and slowly moves and gains speed until it is out of sight. In silence his friends look at him questioningly and he says, "They’ll never get it stopped!"

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For some people, whatever President Macapagal-Arroyo does is wrong. If she tried to avoid criticism she would never do anything. My unsolicited advice to her is to continue to do whatever she thinks best. If she’s wrong, she can take the heat. If she’s right, her critics will claim it was their idea in the first place.

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Remember Bro. Noel P. Garcia, OMI, the medical doctor who gave up the practice of his profession to join the religious order, with whom the Good Samaritan Foundation coordinated in tending to the medical needs of the people in Sibutu, Tawi-Tawi, which is at the southernmost tip of Mindanao? He sent the sad word that the old building of the Notre Dame of Sibutu, of which he was administrator, was razed to the ground. The 43-year-old building, the oldest and a historical landmark in the island of Sibutu, a town populated by Muslim Filipinos, was intentionally burned at midnight of February 12.

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As Bro. Noel recounted it, the fire engulfed the whole building so fast that it collapsed after 30 minutes. A handiwork of an arsonist, said the Philippine National Police Investigators. "I am still at a loss as to why someone burned the school. The burning of the building was not just a loss to the students but also to many people of Sibutu who had finished their high school there, since it was the first secondary school in the municipality of Satangkai.

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Lost were the main library, the typing/computer room, the social hall, and the room where the band, sports and PMT equipment were stored. This means that the OMI which runs Notre Dame will have to start from scratch since all materials were destroyed by the fire.

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Bro. Noel asked me and the Good Samaritan Foundation to help find donors for high school books, especially science, mathematics, basic English, Filipino and Araling Panlipunan. He is also asking kindhearted sportsmen to donate used athletic equipment for the use of the students. "Notre Dame is a missionary school and we are financially limited and cannot buy these things anymore," he said.

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Kindhearted people who want to lend a helping hand to Bro. Noel and Notre Dame may contact Alex Dinoy of the Good Samaritan Foundation, telephone numbers 716-1399 and 716-1499, or at Unit 1-J RM Arcade, Ramon Magsaysay Blvd., Quezon City, just right beside the UERM Memorial Medical Center, a block away from SM Centerpoint. Thanks a million, and God bless!

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Thoughts For Today:

Faith is daring the soul to go beyond
what the eyes can see.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.

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Today, I pray that you’ll wake up happy.
I hope God will touch your life with joy,
bless your heart with love,
and comfort your soul with peace.

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My e-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]