The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) CEO Leo Rolle said the chamber does not believe moving to a four-day work-week system would work for the country’s “heavily service-based economy”.

His comment yesterday came after Labour Minister Pia Glover-Rolle said the government would review the idea after it was raised during a labour legislation reform symposium.

“Physical presence does not always equate to productivity, so we’ll see where that discussion goes amongst the employers, the employee representatives, and the government agencies,” she said. “We’ll see what they present and we’re open to all legislation recommendations that were made this week.”

A push for shorter work-weeks has accelerated, and some companies worldwide have successfully experimented with this.

Mr Rolle said a four-day workweek has been successfully “implemented in other jurisdictions” but introducing it in The Bahamas would adversely affect businesses if compensation is not adjusted.

“We welcome the prospect of guided research on the impact of the same within similar jurisdictions and agree with the minister that such a recommendation should be enshrined in the forthcoming white paper for further discussion and feasibility studies before the thought of implementation,” he said.

“Given the ongoing challenges of productivity both in the public and private sectors, we note that such a venture is not feasible for all industries and welcome the opportunity to work closely with the government and our members to refine those industries and sectors which could implement the same, perhaps as a pilot in the first instance.”

He said decreasing the workweek hours could adversely impact struggling businesses, “especially with the subsequent increases to the cost of doing business in today’s economy.”

He added: “Should the government’s proposal be to lessen in-office work to four days rather than five, with a remote work option, we feel confident that the same can be implemented within the noted timeframe for select sectors and industries, as remote working policies are already in place at many organisations today.”

“We believe that there has to be a sliding scale introduction such that smaller service-oriented businesses which usually cannot afford to have an employee out for an extra day beyond the allowable days off every week, would not experience an instant shock. Additionally, there must be stringent performance measurement tools to ensure adequate monitoring and reporting. We contend that the business community is not yet ready for such a shift at present as it would definitely increase the challenges discussed prior.”