Kapit Bisig Laban Sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services

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The major problem of having a high employee turnover does not come from one source alone. It is caused by multiple factors that are enumerated and explained in this section of the paper.

- Employee’s qualifications are not fit for the job; Inexperienced employees

It is a trend right now in the program that people with different educational degrees are being fitted in in the various positions in the Area Coordinating Team (ACT). For example, a teacher’s education professional holds the position of a Municipal Financial Analyst (MFA) which is supposed to be filled with an accounting/ finance/ business graduate or a political science graduate holds the position of a Community Empowerment Facilitator (CEF) which is supposed to be filled in by a community development/ social works graduate.

Furthermore, fresh graduates (who are the majority who resigns within just a couple of months in their designated jobs) are being taken within the program in large bulk. Another problem is that the new employees are already being assigned in the field/ area without sufficient orientation and trainings with regards to their line of work and the program.

Solutions:

While it is true that the program is helping alleviate the problem of joblessness through this scheme, the program must also realize that it is very critical that qualified and experienced individuals in the fields of community development, engineering, accounting/ finance, and social works should be given the utmost priority in this line of work. This is so because the program is very specialized and have only a limited amount of time for it to be implemented (ex: 1 cycle or project takes a maximum of 6 months from the capacity building activities for the community up to the accomplishment of the community’s project infrastructure).

As such, it is then the task of the Human Resource Department to tighten their screening procedure and to see to it that incoming employees are the right person for the right job. It is also imperative that probable employees have the experience of already have worked in and for the community. Hiring the right people from the start, most experts agree, is the single best way to reduce employee turnover. Interview and vet candidates carefully, not just to ensure they have the right skills but also that they fit well with the company culture and co-workers and that they have the drive and motivation to do community work.

As for those who are new with the job or the program itself, sufficient orientation and trainings should be provided to them before they are deployed in their areas of responsibility. It is widely recognized that trainings or employee empowerment activities have a large impact on new employees’ motivation and future happiness. As stated by Jamie Gruman, professor of Guelp University in Guelp, New Mexico, “simply throwing newcomers into a job and letting them fend for themselves results in their being socialized by default rather by design. Organizations benefit from boosting their employees well-being. Helping new hires adjust at the start empowers them to achieve their potential later on."

- Homesickness resulting to low morale/ unproductivity of employees

It is a rule within the program that an employee should not be deployed in his/ her own home municipality due mainly to the concept of the worker and the client to be independent from one another. This is so because of the probability of the worker to be influenced by the local community who might be family members or friends in the prioritization and implementation of the community’s project.

Thus, employees are assigned to areas that are, more often than not, far from their homes. I myself have experienced such arrangement when I was assigned in Paracelis, Mt. Province which is 12 hours from Baguio City for nearly a year and Bauko, Mt. Province which is 5 hours from Baguio City also for nearly a year before applying and accepted in a position at the Regional Office here in Baguio City.

This arrangement causes homesickness particularly to those workers who already have families and also those who are not yet used in getting out in their areas of work comfort. This result for a worker to find other jobs that is near his/ her home.

Another option for workers is for them to escape from their work earlier than usual just to get home and be with their family which affects the implementation of the program. This scheme is of course in collusion with the other members of the ACT in covering up this action ( for example: a worker assigned in Kabugao, Apayao would go home to Baguio City on a Thursday morning and will arrive in Baguio City on the dawn of Friday due to the 16 hours trip. He would then go back to Kabugao, Apayao on a Sunday night and arrive at Kabugao on the afternoon of Monday. As such, 2 ½ days of work have been “stolen” and delayed by the employee. What is more surprising is that the 2 ½ days of absence is not reflected by the employee in his/ her daily time record).

Solutions:

The obvious solution here is to simply remove the rule of independence. Employees should be assigned to their own municipalities or municipalities near their homes to keep them happy, motivated and have a positive work – life balance. Besides, being assigned to an employee’s home municipality has its own advantages such as easier implementation of the program due to the familiarity of the worker with the area and its residents.

To counter possible influence of the community to the worker and conflict of interest, the regional office should constantly be monitoring and actually visiting the program municipalities not only to check on the activities of employees but also to physically assess the conduct of the program in the area.

With regards to the collusion of employees regarding absences and the “cheating” of daily time records, it should be required that employees use the bio – matrix system of municipalities which is used by employees of municipal halls. If bio – matrix machines are not available, the daily time records should be certified by a municipal official such as the Municipal Social Worker and not the Area Coordinator (AC) or any member of the ACT.

- Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) status of employees

Most of the KC – NCDDP employees are on MOA status. MOA is similar to Contractual Agreement in the sense that both have a term with regards to an employee’s employment/ assignment (renewable every 6 months/ 1 year/ etc. based on the performance of the employee).