Working at home or not, we can all agree that this pandemic has hit the Philippine job market hard. With thousands of workers laid off and millions displaced, the situation had left little room for us to adjust freely to a proper work transition. Luckily, there are Philippine companies who stood alongside their employees in these tough times. Here are 8 ways Philippine companies have helped their employees in this COVID-19 period.
1. Cash Assistance
Big companies are really not just all talk, they’re quite good at caring for their employees, too. Since most employers apply the ‘no work, no pay’ system, employees are left inside their homes with no available work to do. To aid their own workers, companies have offered to roll out their 13th- and 14-month pay in advance. Of all the companies that have done this, Hinduja Global Solutions (HIGS) stood out. With their new campaign, #StayStrong, their regular and probationary employees who are staying at home will receive half of their 13th-month pay. Further, these employees will also receive the cash equivalent of their respective leaves.
Other companies who also agreed to help using this setup are Gokongwei Group of Companies, Lucio Tan Group of Companies, San Miguel group of companies, and more.
2. Flexible Work Schedule
Since work is heavily impacted, most companies generously provided their employees with freedom to work at their own pace. Apart from work-at-home options, workers are also free to extend their working hours to their own advantage. Instead of laying workers off, employers thought of this way to help their employees in these difficult times.
3. Skeletal and Work from Home Set-Ups
Some companies just can’t afford to lay off employees. To help them get through the quarantine struggle, companies like SMART Communications took care of their employees by supplying them with work materials and tools to ensure a smooth transition to a remote work setup. Increased data and load allocation are also included. Moreover, this is already practiced by some telecommunications companies. This type of work setup is ideal and promotes productivity and convenience, too.
4. Free Lodging
To prevent delays in daily commute and risks in getting infected, companies are allowing their employees to stay in their company sleeping quarters, boarding houses, and hotels for the meanwhile. This is to protect both the employees and their families from catching the virus. Flexible and convenient, employees are allowed to work and stay at the company for as long as it’s unsafe outside.
5. Shuttle Services
Due to strict traffic regulations, mass transportations are limited and on worse days, nowhere to be found. Since COVID-19 is highly contagious, employees who still travel to get to work face a greater risk of getting infected. To prevent unnecessary contact with outsiders, companies like IBM provide free shuttle services to their employees. This type of employee care is one of the best reasons why more people want to work with IBM.
6. Groceries and Food Assistance
Coca-Cola Philippines is one of the notable companies that supported the Filipinos in this battle. Announced on March 20, the company realigned its budget to support people impacted by COVID-19, including their own workers. Coca-Cola’s commercial advertising budget worth P150 million will be redirected toward relief operations, including the provision of protective equipment and beverages for health workers, and delivery of food packs to the most vulnerable families.
7. Frontline Assistance
To help the hospitals and our very own frontliners, Megaworld Corporation has donated 1,000,000 liters of alcohol to different government units. The corporation focused as well on providing food packs to health workers and affected construction workers. Aside from this, Megaworld has been distributing meals to over 22 hospitals and giving PPEs and medical supplies to healthcare workers.
8. Fundraisers
These private companies have also raised and donated money to hospitals and individuals affected by the pandemic. Project Ugnayan, a fundraising initiative of top business groups in cooperation with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) have collected and distributed help since the pandemic started.
These are just snippets of how companies in the Philippines have helped their employees and other people survive this pandemic. Help in all forms is appreciated, so we encourage you to help, too! Donate if you can and have the means to. Let’s move forward and form a new, unified future.
