Bacoor goes on 4-day workweek to save energy

Offices under the city government of Bacoor in Cavite will begin implementing a four-day workweek in April and in four other months of the year to reduce the city’s energy consumption.

Under the new schedule, employees will report for only four days but two hours longer, or from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, to the new working hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Mondays through Thursdays.

The four-day workweek will, however, mean a shorter total number of working hours, from 45 hours to 44 hours per week.

Although there would be a reduction of only an hour, it would already mean savings on the part of the city government, city information officer Khei Sanchez said.

“Just imagine how much electricity we can save when air-conditioners and electric fans are turned off,” explained Sanchez in a phone interview on Sunday.

City Mayor Strike Revilla, in an e-mailed statement on Saturday, said the four-day workweek would start in April and May and shift back to the original five-day workweek in June, July and August. It will again implement the reduced working hours in September, October and November.

Sanchez said this was in anticipation of the rainy season during the “-ber” months when storms usually prevented some employees from going to work.

“Aside from saving energy, [the four-day workweek] will also give the employees more time to spend with their families. They can also save a day’s fare,” she added.

The new work schedule excludes the city police office, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the fire bureau, offices under the national government, government-owned and -controlled corporations, state universities, judicial courts and the office of Bacoor’s lone district representative.

“The months of April and May will actually be a trial period so we can find out how much we can actually save and also evaluate the employees’ work output (under the new schedule),” Sanchez said.

The city government employs about 2,000 people.