Cabinet secretary Karlo Nograles reveals suggestions of a possible four-day work week for government workers and the strengthening of flexible schedules for private workers due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

“As far as the civil service is concerned, they are discussing the adoption of a four-day workweek as one of the measures that the Civil Service can do in terms of government workers,” said Nograles in an ANC interview on Tuesday.

Nograles is a member of the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases now managing government response on the COVID-19 threat. Cabinet secretary reveals that the labor department recently issued an advisory regulating Flexi-work arrangements in private firms.

The advisory aims to curb possible retrenchments by private firms affected by the COVID-19 virus particularly from tourism-related services.

Government, thru Nograles, already admitted that this virus scare may hit local businesses severely but he remains optimistic that employers would be able to survive this and retain most of their workforces.

“At one point we will be able to control this. So what’s happening now in the tourism and travel industry would be considered temporary. Because it’s temporary we don’t need to retrench or fire workers,” he said.