Jiangxi Province in east China recently issued several measures to boost local tourism. One of these is a flexible work schedule, or a 2.5-day weekend, which includes Friday afternoon plus the usual two-day weekend. This extra half day is designed to encourage people to travel and stay in resorts, thus spending more money and stimulating the economy.

While enjoying a longer weekend, people will have to work slightly longer on work days. As well as Jiangxi, Zhejiang Province in east China has implemented similar plans to stimulate consumption.

This policy has created much excitement and debate across society. Although most people seem enthusiastic about a flexible work schedule and the 2.5-day weekend, and its potential for boosting the tourism industry and the economy, there are also doubts as to whether extra time off work is realistic in these uncertain economic times. Some have even argued that in certain sectors a standard two-day weekend is often far from guaranteed.

Good, but not realistic

Yang Yulong (www.gmw.cn): Several provinces planned a 2.5-day weekend scheme in March to stimulate consumption.

Some experts believe this policy will help to encourage consumption, particularly by boosting resort tourism. Indeed, an improved timespan for holidays could help to tap into people's consumption potential. After all, people do like to spend time in resorts, and the tourism market is currently hungry for such consumers.

If this policy can be properly implemented, it will undoubtedly bring good results. But the precondition is that it has to be properly implemented, that is, people are really able to have a 2.5-day weekend when they want. If this is only an administrative document and the workforce are deprived of this right by their employers in reality, then this policy won't succeed in boosting consumption.

Recent years have actually seen a dozen provinces produce similar documents, advocating a 2.5-day weekend. However, as not all companies or organizations are in a position to provide this kind of welfare to their working staff, it has not yet been adopted anywhere.

Jiangxi plans to try this flexible work schedule in the second quarter, by encouraging government officials and ordinary workers alike to go to resorts at the weekend. Supportive measures include parks and resorts offering half-price tickets on Friday afternoons, and electronic coupons. The extended weekend is not a compulsory order, and thus businesses and organizations can choose to practice it or not.

This new weekend scheme is aimed at increasing the time for rest and relaxation as well as consumption, but the key is to first ensure labor rights for weekends and holidays.

He Yingsheng (Economic Herald): It is a good idea to use the 2.5-day weekend to boost consumption, but whether or not people feel like spending depends on their income levels, not the amount of time they have to spend money. Encouraging people to go to resorts and spend by extending the weekend is just one way of fueling consumption. We still need more methods to drive spending to make up for the loss of consumption during the shutdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

While lengthening leisure time and enticing people to spend more, it is also important to strengthen the supply chain. The economy will not run smoothly if consumer demand is not well met. Meanwhile, it must be kept in mind that ensuring factories resume operation and workers' jobs while virus prevention and control continues is more important than longer weekends.

He Yonghai (Economic Daily): With the improvement of the situation, most sectors have resumed operation. They are now trying to make up for the business opportunities lost during the pandemic. Against this backdrop, the 2.5-day weekend scheme needs to be carefully analyzed.

The main intention is to ramp up consumption and promote the recovery of tourism. For consumption, such as going to resorts, people need money. The pandemic has already seriously weakened a lot of businesses, which means that people's income is waning, while many have already lost their jobs. If the new scheme is implemented, people will have to work longer on work days. Then who will take care of their children, many of whom have to stay at home for online lessons since their schools are still closed?

Will teachers also enjoy this benefit? If so, it is not good news for students around the country, who have already lost a lot of education time due to the shutdown of schools during the pandemic. Besides, in some sectors, even a two-day weekend is unfeasible. It seems a little early to talk about a 2.5-day weekend.

Temporary policy

Zhen Weijian (Fuyang Daily): Jiangxi's scheme comes after two months of disruption of production, business operation and other economic activities. Apart from schools, almost all walks of life are gradually returning to normal.

Since the pandemic, the tourism sector has been hit hard. Although the new weekend scheme means to lift the tourism sector out of its dire situation and minimize the impact of the pandemic on economic development, it seems that local governments have forgotten that traveling usually requires a lot of money.

Jiangxi has issued 200,000 electronic tourism coupons that can be used for tickets, but this is far from enough to meet the actual demand. Aside from tourism, many other sectors have also been affected to varying degrees, and it seems impossible for most businesses to extend the weekend at such a hard time. Even if the 2.5-day weekend really comes into effect, only a small fraction of people will be able to enjoy this privilege.

The revival of the tourism industry is an urgent issue, but governments at various levels should not go too far. They are supposed to make decisions after careful consideration of the current situation and the difficulties facing businesses and ordinary workers.

Xu Xiaoming (guancha.gmw.cn): Actually, a flexible work schedule is not a new idea. As early as 2015, there were already government documents that encouraged such arrangements according to the situation of individual companies and organizations. However, five years after the release of the documents, few places have adopted such a schedule.

As the epidemic is now abating in China, it is necessary to restore and stimulate economic development. Tourism is a comprehensive industry and an important part of China's service sector and the economy. The 2.5-day weekend will help considerably to boost the tourism sector and invigorate the whole economy.

Besides, a flexible schedule is more helpful for relaxation than a fixed one. The pandemic is not only affecting the economy, but hurting people psychologically and physically. Thus, they need more care, and a flexible work schedule can help. More importantly, a flexible schedule will make staff self-discipline and increase the efficiency of their work to finish in time. This kind of proactive attitude toward work can help to hedge against the negative impact of the pandemic, both psychologically and physically.

The flexible schedule is a transitional policy during an extraordinary period of time. It is not a reform of the current holiday arrangements. It is wrong to equate the flexible schedule to an extra half day's holiday at the weekend. It actually means workers must finish work more quickly, with the extra half a day off a reward for their higher efficiency.

At present, businesses and organizations have mostly just restarted operation, so by no means should the new schedule be imposed. This could increase their corporate management costs and damage their fragile fiscal balance.

For the economy to recover as soon as possible, we need all kinds of new policies and measures to be implemented flexibly. But only those which can withstand test by the market.

Copyedited by Laurence Coulton