Program Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic caught everybody by surprise as this once in a lifetime global health crisis has already spread to every continent in our planet, except Antarctica.  Currently, the disease cases are rising daily in some parts of Asia, Africa, America, and Europe. Much more than a health crisis, COVID-19 has created devastating social, economic, and political concerns that will leave deep scars on all those affected. To address issues concerning the private sector, disrupted businesses in the Philippines resorted to implementing work from home arrangements, pay-cuts, and even retrenchment of employees due to severe business losses. On the other hand, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has issued several labor advisories and guidelines to govern workplace relations during the ongoing pandemic.

Unfortunately, most employers find it hard to draft and personalize their own “new normal” workplace policies to address the control and prevention of the COVID-19. Uncommon practices such as diminution of benefits and temporary suspension of employees have been resorted to by some employers to keep and save their employees and businesses. Employers likewise tend to have recourse to work from home arrangement policies without setting out clear and detailed guidelines, leaving the employees confused and unaware of their rights and responsibilities.

This session shall help employers identify the relevant areas and factors that should be considered in designing employment contracts covering flexible work arrangements. This training will allow employers to be flexible in managing their workers without resorting to layoffs and downsizing their workforce.

 Program Objectives

• Understand the different types of employment relationships and how employers can strategically plan workforce requirements in the organization.
• Know if outsourcing people is a good option for their labor requirement during this time of disruption.
• Learn how to design employment contracts and how employers can legally renegotiate their workers’ existing employment contracts.

Topics to be Discussed

1. Types of an employment relationship
2. Reviewing employment contracts: what to look for?
3. Negotiating individual contracts: identifying options and alternatives
4. Do’s and don’ts in designing flexible employment contracts

Methodology

• 3-hour Zoom meeting per session, lecture
• Group work and presentations

Target Participants

Participants who are in charge of drafting company policies and procedures. This may include but not limited to Company President, CEO, Vice President for Human Resources, Human Resources Head, Human Resources Manager, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources Generalist, Human Resource Industrial Relations Practitioners, Labor Lawyers, and others. We are limiting the attendees to a maximum of 60 participants to ensure the quality of the program.

Resource Speaker

Atty. Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio, Jr. is a practicing lawyer, management and policy consultant, and professorial lecturer in labor law and industrial relations at the University of the Philippines. He is currently based in Quezon City.

As a lawyer, he specializes in labor, civil, corporate and administrative law. As a consultant, he has worked with various private companies particularly in the areas of finance, human resource management, employment and labor relations, strategic planning, policy formulation and organizational development, and labor dispute resolution. He has also provided policy, management and capacity-building services to national institutions including the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), University of the Philippines (UP), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), and National Transmission Corporation, as well as to national organizations such as the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP). He has done extensive consulting work with international organizations, including the International Labour Organization, the Asian Development Bank, the International Organization on Migration, the European Commission and the ASEAN Trade Union Council. He has worked on policy and capacity-building projects in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand and Vietnam. He is frequently invited to speak as subject matter expert in various forums locally and internationally.

Prior to engaging in private practice and consultancy, Atty. Bitonio served the Philippine government for more than twenty years in various executive, management, and policy-making and decision-making positions. He was executive vice president and chief development officer of the Development Bank of the Philippines and chief executive officer of the Industrial Guarantee and Loan Fund. He also served as director of labor relations, assistant secretary and undersecretary of the DOLE; and chairman of the National Labor Relations Commission. In various years, Atty. Bitonio represented the Philippine government in various international conferences, including as adviser/delegate to the annual International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, representative to the ILO Governing Body, and chairperson of the Committee on Technical Cooperation in the ILC.

Atty. Bitonio obtained degrees in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines. He obtained a Master in Public Management degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS) under a scholarship. He was also an executive fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, winning the best student and best paper awards.

Program schedule

November 26 and December 1, 2020, 9:00 am to 12:00 nn via Zoom and ECOP eCampus

Program Fees

Regular Price/Non-member rate: Php 2,500.00

All ECOP members are entitled to a member-rate discount using a coupon code. To get a code, kindly contact our Training Department at [email protected].

For a detailed and step-by-step registration guide, click this link: bit.ly/ecophowtoregister

Deadline of Registration: November 24, 2020 (Tuesday)
Deadline of Payment: November 25, 2020 (Wednesday)

You may get in touch with the following contact details for inquiries:

ECOP Training and Development: [email protected]
ECOP Ecampus: [email protected]