THE sky above the labor market has been shaded a light red as pink slips fell after the government attempted to sandbag a rampaging coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Latest data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that as of October 25, 3.73 million workers were affected as lockdown measures almost tanked the economy.
Of these employees, 285,650 were permanently displaced either through retrenchment or permanent closure of their establishments.
Most of these workers were employed in administrative and support service activities; manufacturing; and, other services activities.
According to people working with the DOLE, data on displacement as of November 1 are still being processed.
The DOLE, nevertheless, reported that only 104,718 workers were permanently displaced in the first half of the year. This is already exceeded by the number of jobless workers from July to September, which already reached 120,925.
For the first two weeks of October, the number of displaced workers already reached 66,229.
Safe, secure
NONETHELESS, many believe rainbows paint the sky after rains stop.
“This pandemic is truly an unprecedented challenge for all of us that no one could have foreseen,” Daisy Aquino, People Service Delivery Director of Refinitiv Asia Pte. Ltd.-Philippines branch, told the BusinessMirror.
Aquino, responsible for Human Resource operations, programs and initiatives for the firm’s Manila Operations Center, said that “despite the limitations and effects brought about by these extremely difficult circumstances, we still worked on keeping our people safe, secure and involved, not only at work but also in their respective communities.”
Refinitiv is only one of a thousand private companies trying hard to keep their talents as other firms are being pushed on the brink of closure, at worst, or forced to let go of their employees due to the national economic and health crises.
It is also one of the companies tweaking their labor-retention programs.
Adopting mechanisms
ACCORDING to Aquino, “the safety and welfare of our employees are a top priority for us.”
She added this as reason why they immediately adopted a work-from-home mechanism called a “virtual office environment” (VOE) as soon as quarantine measures were imposed in March.
“Likewise, we made sure to provide our employees with the proper work equipment (e.g. laptops, desktop monitors, internet connection, and even ergonomic home-office furniture) and support needed in these challenging times,” Aquino said. “We made sure it’s safe and conducive for our employees to work from home as they continue to support our customers.”
Aquino also cited the company’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which provides confidential support services to our employees and their dependents that can help solve a wide range of challenges in their lives especially at this time.
She said employees can access the EAP 24 hours a day, seven days a week by phone, web or mobile application. The program connects the employee with local expert support and consultation, according to Aquino.
Management, rewards
AS director of People Service Delivery, Aquino’s role is focused “on delivering the people experience through the different people or human resources programs.”
She explained, “Other organizations refer to it as Human Resources but we call it the people function; in that sense, it is similar to HR.”
Aquino said she works “hand-in-hand with the ‘co-site’ [location outside the headquarters] leads to help the organization deliver on its strategy and objectives through the expertise and performance of its people.”
The team, she said, “provides HR advisory support for over 1,600 employees, drive people and/or talent strategy, including service delivery, employee relations, performance management, rewards and overall business needs, where HR partnership is required.”
Aquino also emphasized that “diversity and inclusion have always played a central role in [the company’s] talent acquisition and development.”
That is why, she added, “we take pride not only in creating jobs, but more importantly, in helping individuals from any status or background to build their careers.”
Through “robust employee engagement programs, employee networks and interest clubs, we make sure that we empower our employees’ advocacies while promoting sustainability, diversity and inclusion.”
People-related concerns
ACCORDING to Aquino, the local operations follow the Singapore-headquartered financial markets data-provider in terms of employee engagement.
“On a global level, we have a specific program to support employees to continue to grow and be at their best in the ‘new normal’,” she said. “Aside from directing employees to relevant articles, we hold regular webinars on topics ranging from building resilience, managing performance while on VOE, as well as on parenting.”
Aquino said the company has a virtual rest and recreation activities both at the site level and at the level of each business unit.
“We also make sure to stay connected with all employees through regular town halls and site-wide communications, including those that address frequently asked questions,” she added. “With the prolonged quarantine and work from home measures, we also recently distributed care and well-being packages to our employees.”
Aquino said that through these initiatives, they “have been able to maintain employee engagement and deliver the same level of quality service to customers.
“We even exceed key operational metrics, including productivity and customer satisfaction targets.”
According to her, HR managers and advisors ensure that employees “are coping well in this unique situation we are all in.”
“We hold regular catch ups with them so that we are able to address people-related concerns in a timely way,” Aquino added.
Moment of thanks
AQUINO said the firm also holds its week-long “Moment of Thanks,” an annual celebration where employees are encouraged to send appreciation messages to their colleagues.
“While we encourage this practice throughout the year, this dedicated period is made even more special with prizes at stake,” she said. “We also continue to mark our employees’ milestone anniversaries with our ‘Service Awards’ to recognize those who are celebrating five years, 10 years, 15 years and 20 years with the company.”
They also enhanced community support mechanisms such as an initiative that doubles an employee’s donation to a nonprofit organization or community program of their choice.
“This has encouraged our employees to pursue personal advocacies and extend their help to those in need amid the Covid-19 crisis,” Aquino said. “By establishing sustainable and inclusive programs such as this, we hope to empower our employees and the causes and beneficiaries they support.”
The company also strengthened its employee volunteerism grants and programs as she said they “value employees’ personal advocacies and own community-building efforts.”
With this program, employees who engage in volunteer work may apply to award a minimum amount of P25,000 for their chosen accredited beneficiary for every 20 hours of volunteer service. Each employee is entitled to a maximum of P50,000 in grants that can be donated for every 40 volunteer hours rendered.
Extra day
THE company also provides for two days of paid volunteer leave and an extra day of paid volunteer leave has been added during this pandemic to allow employees to support local campaigns in their communities.
The employees collectively raised P250,000 to support specific partner-nongovernment organizations.
The funds were used to purchase face masks, face shields and alcohol donated to uniformed personnel, as well as fruits and vegetables donated to select shelters around the city, according to Aquino.
During the limited community-specific relief operations, “we ensure that our employee-volunteers observe strict health standards and social distancing guidelines so as not to compromise their own safety,” she said.
“With these efforts, we aim to continuously create programs to inspire the industry and support and promote a welcoming workplace where everyone is valued and has equal access to opportunities,” Aquino said.
Driven to government
WORKERS who weren’t able to enjoy the support that Refinitiv provides and received pink slips have found a safe haven in the public sector.
During the first online job fair conducted by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) last month, over 161,000 people have reistered and participated in the event.
Among the most popular vacancies in the week-long event were administrative assistant, data encoder, staff officer and engineers.
The Department of Interior and Local Government also announced it has employed an additional 26,872 contact tracers for the government’s campaign against the pandemic.
It is targeting to hire a total of 50,000 contact tracers using the funding under Republic Act 11494. This law provides for “Covid-19 response and recovery interventions and providing mechanisms to accelerate the recovery and bolster the resiliency of the Philippine economy.”
Likewise, the Department of Health (DOH) also announced it was able to fill up 9,275 of its 11,894 approved slots for emergency hiring. They were deployed in 345 health facilities nationwide.
Expected impact
THESE mass hiring initiatives of the government continue as numerous workers in the private lose their jobs.
Labor coalition Nagkaisa expressed alarm over this development since it believes joblessness will push many workers to poverty, especially due to the government’s low funding for its safety net for them.
Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) Secretary General Joshua Mata, told the BusinessMirror the trend will also affect union membership.
“The potential loss of membership due to company closures would have a long-term impact. All unions would have to double time on their recruitment to recoup loss ground,” Mata said.
Based on the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR), the number of private sector trade unions, federations and industry unions dropped to 17,097 in January to June 2020 from 17,775 in the same period last year.
However, the number of workers affiliated with the said organizations for the first half of the 2020 rose to 1,588,559 from 1,556,675 year-on-year.
This may change by the second semester of the year when permanent displacement is expected to sky-rocket.
Need for workers
PUBLIC Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) President Annie Giron noted there are, indeed, available vacancies, particularly for health care in the government for the said displaced workers.
She expressed concern, though, over the possible cost-cutting measures to be implemented during the pandemic.
They expect a reduction, “especially for contractual job orders and contract of service because of the lack of funds for maintenance and other operating expenses,” Giron said.
“There is already a DBM [Department of Budget and Management] circular calling for austerity measures, so it is likely that rationalization of workforce is already happening in some agencies, again contingent to the mandates of departments, offices, agencies and bureaus,” she added.
In April, the DBM issued National Budget Circular 580, which called for “economy measures” by the government during the pandemic.
Included enough
BUDGET Secretary Wendel E. Avisado allayed concerns of any displacement in the public sector until up to next year due to lack of funding.
He noted that under the proposed 2021 national budget, all government offices will have sufficient funds to maintain their current workforce, including job orders and contracts of services.
“We include enough miscellaneous services and benefit fund so they can be assured” that there will be no effort to retrench government workers, “despite the situation [during the pandemic],” Avisado said in an earlier online public forum.
Civil Service Commission (CSC) commissioner Aileen Lizada, however, emphasized that erring public servants could still be removed from service even during the pandemic.
“We have no policy preventing any termination [during the pandemic]. Always remember that public office is a public trust. If you are doing the right doing your job, then you have nothing to be afraid,” Lizada said. “But if you are doing something wrong, there is nothing to prevent government also to take you out even in times if pandemic.”
As of May last year, the CSC said it has 1.72 million career and non-career workers as well as 669,347 job orders and contracts of services.
Lots of unfilled positions
THE CSC has yet to release an updated inventory of the government’s workforce it is still expected to increase existing vacancies in the government are filled.
In its web site, the CSC said there are over a million available vacancies in the public sector.
This, Lizada said, does not include the vacancies, which remain unfilled since the concerned government agencies have yet to be published.
“They [agencies] cannot hire unless it is published first in the CSC website,” Lizada said.
She estimated at least 100,000 positions in the government are unfilled.
The concerned agencies were asked to finally start filling up the positions to provide new job opportunities for those displaced by Covtjd-19.
“[The] CSC cannot do it,” Lizada said, adding, “it is the government agencies” that must “open up these vacancies and publish it.”
Labor-site challenges
BUT while government workers have better job security than their private sector counterparts, they also face challenges since many of them are still being required to report for work even during the pandemic.
At least 10,000 State workers were reported to have been infected with Covid-19 this year.
Giron is pushing for better government protocols, which will minimize the exposure of public servants from infection.
“Public sectors workers will have to adapt to fast evolving ‘new normal ’new ways to deliver public services,” the labor leader said.
She said this could be done by capacitating government employees to use social media and online platforms to consult and ensure engagements with the public, and allowing them to engage inflexible work arrangements.
Lizada said the CSC already released several issuances to facilitate PSLINK’s recommendations including the adoption of home-work arrangements, online appointment and registration system and disinfection activities.
Most recently, it also issued a resolution to allow the extension of service for retiring public servants to ensure crucial jobs in the government will remain filled during the pandemic.
Affecting services
RENE Ofreneo, former dean of University of the Philippines-School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP-SOLAIR), emphasized that the government should strive to protect its workers from infection since it could affect many government services, particularly those in its healthcare facilities.
Ofreneo also said success of the government’s much touted “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) infrastructure program will depend on keeping the construction workers involved in these projects Covid-free.
If successfully done, he said this could help boost the country’s recovery from the national economic and health crises.
“As I have written in the past, the government should tweak [the] BBB to [focus] on community rebuilding and possible hiring en masse of the [informal workers] under cash for work,” Ofreneo said. “This is good stimulus low-cost but inclusive.” Government economic managers said the government infrastructures will help generate millions of employment for workers who were displaced by the crises.