Wages alone don't gauge business survival, success

CEBU, Philippines - If we focus on wages alone as a benchmark for survival and not by having workers with the right skills in the right job, there would be no room for productivity, a businessman said.

Philip Tan expressed his sympathy to the labor sector in its interest on a wage hike but defends the side of the management for productivity purposes.

In any business, he said that the company cannot just easily neglect their labor partners as they are critical to its survival but it depends on the owner’s perspective on how to take care of his labor.

Sharing his secret to industrial peace, he noted that a business success is always a combination of a good relationship between labor and the management.

Owning an engineering company with three branches in Cebu, franchise in Davao and centers to be opened up in Dumaguete and Tagbilaran, Tan said that such expansions will not happen without his labor partners.

“In business, it’s always a win-win situation. If you take care of your people, the labor sector will always try to take care of your business. You give what is due to them. It is always two-way,” he stated during the 888 News Forum at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel.

He also said that with the program started by the Department of Labor and Employment Region 7 dubbed as the productivity incentive program, company owners give their employees more of what is expected if they have been productive at work.

Giving monthly incentives to his employees based on a formula of productivity, he added that it already depends on how they respond to the challenge of the management.

“If the management is able to take advantage of their productivity, it is shared back to their manpower. If we have no problem with labor and our labor partners are happy, our company will grow, but if we have employees who do not care about the future of the company, it won’t,” he said.

Citing China as an example of productivity, Tan further said that productivity means one is providing more with less and becomes more competitive.

He even described wage hike during Labor Day as an old issue even though the labor sector and the management can sit down, discuss issues and come up with a mutual resolution.

Adjusting from the minimum wage of the labor sector, he said that the most affected party during wage hike is the micro and small enterprises who comprise majority of the economic sector of the country, rather than the medium and large companies.

“Daghan na unya ang manira. While we are trying to satisfy the labor, it’s the micro that gets most affected. I suggest that labor is always paid more if you have the right skills. We, in the management, will always pay more for skilled workers. That’s when productivity enters,” Tan said.

As a businessman who takes care of his employees and pays above the minimum wage, he encouraged laborers to be rightfully skilled, getting a just compensation while contributing to the company’s productivity. (FREEMAN)