The Disruptive HR

An inside joke among many HR practitioners is that, they became HR to avoid numbers. Alas! HR is, at times, all about the numbers. Well, not necessarily arithmetic or algebra, but DATA. The Importance of Data Let me make this clear - gone are the days when HR choices were only based on gut-feel or stories from generations before us. A data-driven method is necessary in today's HR world, and for good reason. By using analytics, HR professionals can learn a lot about how employees behave, how engaged they are, and how happy they are with their jobs generally. When talking about retention, data is the key that shows patterns, finds trends, and helps make smart decisions. Understanding Data Analytics Data analytics exists at several levels, each of which is critical to corporate effectiveness. At its most basic is descriptive analytics , which involves summarizing and presenting data in order to provide a clear snapshot of current trends. Exploring this data aids in identifying pattern...

One day, you receive a familiar email - it’s from the company of your dreams, saying you’ve passed their final assessment. Greetings! We are pleased to offer you the role of senior copywriter at Company A. For six months, you will be a probationary employee. Once you meet all our standards, you will then sign a new contract as a regular employee. We look forward to working with you at Company A! Thank you. This is definitely a share-worthy email, especially if it’s your first job. On your first day of work, your new employer will ask you to sign a contract. That contract will typically have what is known as a "probationary period". Philippines probationary employment, according to the Labor Code “shall not exceed six (6) months.” (Article 281). The Civil Code of the Philippines defined the "months" further by saying that (Article 13),  When the laws speak of years, months, days or nights, it shall be understood that years are of three hundred sixty-five days each; m...

  As one of the admins of the Philippines HR Group , I often get to see a lot of HR professionals submit job advertisement post for approval. Some advertisements are really great, some actually make me shake my head. That said, if you are one of those who take advantage of FB and other Social Networking Sites when posting job advertisements, I have a few tips for you: Requirement: Male/ Female If you are posting an advertisement where the sex (NOTE: gender is different from sex) of the employee is not important, or there is no preference set, there is no need  to put "Male or Female". You can only choose from Male or Female so why the need to put it as a qualification? "Ayaw po kasi namin sa mga bakla/ tomboy/ etc."  Why? Do you feel that their gender orientation will affect the quality of their work? Be careful that you are not discriminating against member of the LGBTQ+ community. On a side note, if you are confused on the difference between sex and gender, this m...

 It's June and, during pre-pandemic times, it's the start of the school year. It's generally also the time when fresh graduates start to apply for jobs. Bakasyon muna after graduation.  It's the reason why I thought of writing a blog post on how you can up the chances of your CV/ Resume getting reviewed. Tip #1 - KISS  Keep It Simple, Sweetheart! A lot of companies nowadays make use of recruitment management systems or applicant tracking systems. Why? The more advance the platform is, the less time the recruiter has to spend on filtering the applications. These platforms, unfortunately, are subject to the same rules as any software application -  Garbage In, Garbage Out .  Having very artsy CV can actually work against you especially if the Company happens to be using a platform that allows them to parse resumes. Pansin mo may mga companies  who direct you to a site where you can upload your resume? These sites can actually parse the resumé so that you...

  As an HR practitioner, you would have heard the phrase, "HR with A Heart" a million times. You might have even come across people saying that these people are a dying breed.  "Karamihan nang HR ngayon masungit". "Yung HR namin masyadong pro-management". "Naku, tuta ng management yung HR namin" "HR namin walang puso! Maka-memo wagas!" Because we keep hearing this all the time, we feel bad for ourselves and we start looking for ways on how to be more " may puso ". That's good, for the most part , because we start to see see things from the perspective of the employee. The problem is, oftentimes, we have a skewed definition of "HR with A Heart". What Do You Mean? Let's start with something basic. Let's have Peter, an average minimum wage earner who works as an encoder for a small business (think 10-member team). All is well and good, kaso  pandemic happened. In order to survive, the Company decided to put ...

 One of the roles of HR is to guide managers on how to coach and mentor their team members. In order for us to do this, however, we also need to understand some basic things about coaching and mentoring. Coaching vs. Mentoring While most people use "coaching" and "mentoring" interchangeably, the two concepts are actually different. According to the International Coach Federation , coaching is  “..p artnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”  On the other hand, mentoring has been defined by the Association for Talent Development  an at-will relationship between a "senior and junior employee fr the purpose of the mentee's (Read: Junior employee) growth, learning and development. When it comes to coaching , your purpose is to get the employee to realize why the behavior needs to be modified. Along the way, you also need the employee to understand the importance o...

One of the many things that confuse a lot of people is the difference between a regular holiday and a special non-working day. While both are non-working days, there are differences in how they are handled. How Did the Holidays Come To Be? The initial list of the regular holidays (and two special non-working days) came about with the implementation of the Administrative Code of the Philippines by then President Cory Aquino. It was in the same code that the term "regular holiday" was made to mean the 10 (later became 12 by virtue of the RA 9492 and RA 9849) "legal holidays", while "special (non-working) days" were to mean the additional two special holidays. This was also reiterated in  Section 3 of the Omnibus Rules to Implement the Labor Code . What is a Regular Holiday? Currently, we have 12 regular holidays: New Year's Day - January 1 Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) - April 9 Maundy Thursday - Movable Date Good Friday - Movable Date Labor Day - M...

When it comes to terminating employees, one of the things you have to be careful about is ensuring due process. What is Due Process? According to trusty, ol' Wikipedia , " Due process is the legal requirement that the state must respect all legal rights that are owed to a person. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it. When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the rule of law." In layman's terms, due process is the assurance or protection that there is some amount of legal process that protects any individual from some action that may be taken by the state. In corporate parlance, due process refers to the protection afforded employees, assuring them of a legal process for actions that may be taken by the employer. Due Process and the Philippine Labor Code When it comes to disciplinary actions, the Labor Code re...

Everyone is talking about the "New Normal" but what is exactly the new normal? What is the New Normal? The concept of the new normal is not necessarily something new. Generally, when people speak of the "new normal", it simply meant going outside of our boundaries and comfort zone and doing something that is entirely new to us. You would know that you are already pushing towards the new normal when you are starting to feel uncomfortable and you are staring to be afraid and have doubts on what to do next. With the current situation, however, we did not have time to adjust or understand what’s going on. We were pushed beyond what we have been accustomed to without us being able to plan things ahead – working at the office for 8 hours, being with people, going through tons of paperwork, and basically having a clear distinction between home and the office. Old Normal vs. New Normal - Pitfalls Now, many have already given their two-cents about how to deal with the curren...

While most see termination of employment as a negative thing, that is not always the case. In truth, termination of employment can be classified into two types - voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary and Involuntary Termination Termination is simply the process of ending one's employment in an organization. A voluntary termination is more commonly known as resignation. It is initiated by the employee by submitting a resignation letter to his/ her immediate head. Based on the Philippine Labor Code, a resigning employee has to render at least 30 days' notice prior to his/ her intended last day of work. Absent of such notice, the Company may hold the employee liable for any damages that they may suffer. Do note that, in the case of resignation with 30 days' notification, the employer may not reject it or have it ignored; otherwise, this will now become involuntary servitude. The most that the employer can do is request for an extension of the employee's last day. Now...

Believe it or not, one of the most confusing part of payroll processing is determining the difference between monthly paid and daily paid employees. If it is your first time to process payroll, then the following might be useful to you. What does "Monthly Paid" Mean? First thing's first. Monthly paid  is different from Monthly Rate.  An employee can have a monthly rate of Php 15,000.00 but still be considered as daily paid. In the same manner, a person with a daily rate of Php 537.00 can be a monthly-paid employee. According to the 2018 Edition of the Handbook on Workers' Statutory Monetary Benefits, Monthly-paid employees are those that use "365" as the factor for determining the daily rate or the monthly rate. This means that the person is paid for every single day of the year, including rest days and special non-working holidays regardless whether the latter two are worked or un-worked. Let's say a monthly-paid employee is earning Php 25,000....

Ask any HR and they would tell you that employee discipline, particularly adhering to set policies and procedures, is the most challenging part of their work. What some people fail to realize is that, there are ways these can be avoided, or, at least, the headache lessened. So let's start with the most important one. What Should We Include In Our Code of Conduct? For some HR, the easy answer would be to get a copy off the internet, or from colleagues who have already done their own. What happens, however, is that, the organization is left with a Code of Conduct that may sound foreign to both HR and to the employees. So what's the best way to go about this, and what should we include? What are the common behavioral problems that you encounter in your company that can be addressed by a disciplinary action? Start with those since your Code of Conduct and grievance process should help in preventing or correcting these behaviors. What are your company values? Your "non-...

One of the major activity that an HR Professional has to spearhead in a company is the completion and issuance of the Employee Handbook. Most of the time, this happens when the company is just starting. The question now is, what should be included in the Employee Handbook? In coming up with the Employee Handbook, an HR Professional has to keep in mind that the handbook should contain the basic things that could influence the company’s day-to-day operations. This can be done by preparing an outline of what these “basic things” are, some of which could be: Company Details (Name, Founding Date, Milestones, History/ Timeline, Mission/ Vision, Culture and Philosophy) Founders and their profile. You can also choose to include the board of directors Names of the Division Heads and/ or Company Managers as well as a short profile Description of the company’s main products and services Basic Office Procedures (Payroll Procedures, Separation/Resignation Procedures, New Hire Procedures, Wo...