WORK-FROM-HOME SET UP IMPLEMENTATION AMIDST INTENSE HEAT

A lawmaker has called for the return of work-from-home as an antidote to extreme heat. But employers' groups insist, not all jobs can be worked from home.

The ordeals in the heat on the road to and from work are all related, so Camarines Sur 2nd District Congressman Luis Raymund Villafuerte, appealed to the government and the private sectors to restore the work-from-home set up to protect workers against the intense heat that is now made worse by El Niño.

Work arrangements to avoid extreme heat (Photo courtesy of Rappler)

It is said that senior citizens are among the high risks employees who should be allowed to work-from-home. In fact, there is a law that allows for work-from-home, under the Telecommuting Act of 2018, employers in the private sector are actually allowed to implement work-from-home arrangements.

Even the Civil Service Commission, has its own memo where government agencies including Local Government Units are allowed to implement a flexible set up.

For the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the type of work of each employee in each company should be considered first.

"Not all jobs can be work-from-home, the constructions, the manufacturing. Obviously, the only ones affected by work-from-home are office workers. Most of the office workers are air conditioned," President of ECOP Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. stated.

There are also limits to the work-from-home set up, according to ECOP, companies should be allowed to strategize what set up suits them best.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) supported that, saying that it would be difficult to mandate the work-from-home set up. It's hard to monitor, it's hard to supervise, because the internet in the Philippines is so bad, it's still power out, it doesn't work for some of the companies.

DOLE said the safety of workers inside or outside the office is more important now that the weather is hot.

Source: ABS-CBN News            

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