Huge HR event to tackle top people-related problems

The Philippines is a great country where global companies come and engage our people to run and operate their businesses, especially the BPO and the call center industries. But there are problems we need to address. A huge HR event this coming February 4 and 5 will tackle these problems in the Twin Summit on Organizational Justice (Employee Relations and Engagement) and Total Rewards, the new buzzword for Compensation and Benefits.

Global experts and regional HR gurus will come and join our country's top experts in recruitment, salaries and benefits, employee and labor relations as well as learning and development. They will discuss employee productivity as it relates to employee motivation and engagement, pay and rewards and such recurrent problems pertaining to employee discipline. There will be candid and no-holds-barred discussions on such practical issues like how management can strictly enforce company rules when the employers do not even pay fair and compliant levels of wages and benefits. How employers can throw the book at workers if they do not even pay minimum wages or remit mandatory contributions to the SSS. Of course, in times of pandemic, both employers and employees should open more avenues for dialogues, strengthen their labor-management cooperation and give impetus to grievance management and employee engagement.

There shall be discussions on issues of wage distortions and how to address them both in unionized and non-unionized setups. There shall be questions on moratorium on salary increases, even when there is a collective bargaining agreement, as well as the very controversial question of wage and salary reduction and withdrawal of certain benefits. These are related to the cases of PAL in Rivera vs. Espiritu, and Insular Hotel Waterfront Davao Union vs. NLRC, which allow wage and benefits reduction as well as freeze in salary increases in exchange for one-time grants and other concessions. There shall also be discussions on the upcoming repeal of the Labor Code, which was promulgated by a martial law dictator and contains many unfair, dictatorial systems making the government interfere too much in business management and in the relationships between employees and employers.

Also, there are expected to be very hot discussions on labor relations in the digital business world, compromising new systems of administrative investigations and case conciliation, mediation and arbitration via digital platforms. The procedural rules need to be amended, in order to assure due process both for management and employees. There should be due notice and ample opportunity to be heard. Labor and industrial relations lawyers should be updated along with union leaders and even individual employees in non-unionized establishments so as to assure continuing administration of justice in labor relations even during the pandemic and other disasters and emergencies. This event is very important and those in both the employers and in the labor sectors should be at pace with the rapid changes that will be tackled during this twin summit.

There will be discussions on problems concerning recurrent problems of managing employee productivity in alternative work arrangements like Work From Home. The resource persons shall explore other mechanisms to pay employees based on output and results rather than number of work days and work hours. There shall also be talks about how to redesign the workplace in order to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of our employee force, observing health protocols and strictly enforcing the occupational health and safety standards under Book Four of the Labor Code and the DOLE Department Order no 198 and other regulatory issuances.. The top public officials who are scheduled to speak, are also expected to tell the thousands of participants how the government is helping small, medium, and micro enterprises survive while complying with standards on OSH and general labor provisions.

It is imperative that companies and unions should register and all HR community professionals and practitioners should not miss this huge, huge event in the HR profession. They are going to miss a lot if they do.