SBMA to enforce 2-shift work schedules for safety, productivity

SBMA Administrator Wilma Eisma discusses health safety protocols in the workplace with SBMA employees as the agency employs a two-shift work schedule. (Photo courtesy of SBMA)

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) will start a two-shift work schedule for its employees to protect them from coronavirus transmission while keeping them productive.

In a statement on Tuesday (April 20), SBMA Administrator Wilma Eisma said the work schedule for some workers will be from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily, while others will be on duty from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“This is our latest adaptation in the new normal,” Eisma said. The SBMA has at least 1,700 employees.

“We have tried a ‘Team A-Team B’ weekly alternate schedule to minimize health risks and prevent workplace transmission of coronavirus, but the downside was unavoidable work backlogs,” Eisma said.

The new setup will prevent backlogs, discourage close physical contact among workers and reduce the number of people in an office at any given time, she said.

Ramon Agregado, SBMA senior deputy administrator for support services, said the new work schedule was approved by the Civil Service Commission and will start on Thursday (April 22).

He also clarified that the new work shift would apply only to office workers while field workers who are already in shifts would keep their schedules.

Agregado said under the two-shift work plan, employees will work in the office for six hours and from home for another two hours every day in to comply with the 40-hour workweek requirement.

Eisma described the two-shift work plan as a “win-win solution to the seeming dilemma between work safety and productivity.”

“The truth is, we can no longer afford a drop in productivity because the SBMA has been financially bleeding since the pandemic curtailed much business in the Subic Freeport,” she said.

TSB