Organization
Governance Commission for Government-owned-or-controlled Corporations
Best Practice Focus Area/s
Leadership, Human Resource, Operations
Year Implemented
11 May 2020
This is a GBPR entry
Summary
At the onset of the pandemic, GCG personnel experienced several difficulties concerning their regular work operations. Their issues were around adopting work-from-home arrangements and health concerns around the ongoing pandemic. In light of this, the agency implemented interventions specific to each problem they observed. Namely, their interventions were remote access to their Data Management System (DMS), a weekly health status survey, reformed policies on alternative work arrangements, an Identification Barcode System, and an Online Employee Information Management System (EIMS). These interventions have helped their personnel adapt to the new normal, and these interventions were so successful that they continued to be implemented long after.
Background and Problem
At the onset of the pandemic, GCG personnel experienced a number of difficulties in relation to their regular work operations. One of the main issues was around the adoption of work-from-home arrangements. Personnel raised many questions relating to other office policies. For example, what to do if they contracted the virus, to whom they should report, how they could file a leave, how their leave credits would be charged, and alike. And in relation to the previous point, monitoring personnel’s time-in and time-out of GCG became near-impossible given the disruption in work arrangements. Also, given the alternative work arrangements, there were some difficulties in delivering outputs as some outputs are heavily dependent on official documents or submissions from their stakeholders. These were only accessible via the agency’s Data Management System (DMS), their central repository for official documents.
There were some health concerns around the pandemic. Health Monitoring was limited and relegated to immediate supervisors rather than some formalized system. Moreover, there was concern about the agency’s dependence on the Biometrics System in timing. This was a concern since the virus can be contracted through surface contact.
Solution and Impact
To address these problems, the agency employed solutions addressing each problem.
- Remote Access to the DMS was enabled so that even those who are working from home could access the agency’s central repository for official documents.
- A weekly health status survey was developed by the Human Capital Management Division (HCMD) to have a centralized weekly monitoring system for the health and well-being of its personnel. Particularly, it is cascaded every Wednesday of the week, and the report per office is sent to the respective Directors for them to be apprised of the health and well-being of their respective personnel every week. This was further improved to include monitoring those who have already been vaccinated or are waiting for their respective schedules.
- Policies on alternative work arrangements were also developed for GCG personnel on what to do, who to report to, what their rights are with respect to their leave availments, and their respective work arrangements.
- An ID barcode system was developed to circumvent the biometrics system’s necessity of touching surfaces.
- An online Employee Information Management System (EIMS) was developed to enable even those working from home to time-in and time-out through the comfort of their homes using their laptops or cellphones. Daily Time Records could be generated for payroll purposes as an added benefit. Directors were also given their dashboards to monitor the physical reporting of their personnel as well as the time-in and time-out.
Overall, the aforementioned best practices gave the agency and its personnel ways to adapt to the new normal while ensuring the continuous operations of the agency despite the pandemic. And in terms of their long-term impact, the agency had the luxury of only needing to make minimal changes in light of changing pronouncements, given they already had the required programs in place.
Milestones
Remote access to the DMS is still being implemented in the agency, especially for those working from home. As a way forward, the agency is looking to have personal laptops that can access the DMS while also implementing supplementary protocols to ensure the confidentiality of official documents.
The weekly health survey was used in conceptualizing other programs in the agency. One program, in particular, was an onsite vaccination program. The survey is continuously improving to include personnel’s mental health. In the future, the revised survey may lead to other programs.
Policies on alternative work arrangements are still ever-changing, subject to the official pronouncements from the Office of the President. However, recent developments to the policies have been instrumental in allowing GCG personnel to physically report to the office as needed, with the added benefit of free motor pool services from the agency.
The online EIMS has been a critical monitoring tool for personnel’s observance of health protocols and their time-in and time-out. This monitoring has given directors the necessary information to change the schedule of physical reporting and WFH every month. The tool has also been updated to allow their Human Resources department other functions, such as changing whether selected personnel will work from home or on-site, generating ID barcodes for newly-hired personnel and allowing them access to the Online EIMS, and deactivating those who are separated from service.