Judging on the country s best employers of the year

All the HR executives, directors, managers, HR specialists, and generalists are currently convening at the Waterfront Hotel Lahug for our annual three-day Convention of the PMAP or the People Management Association of the Philippines. This writer has been chosen as one of the judges in the annual search for Employer of the Year. The winners were announced last night.

The criteria include both the mastery of HR as a discipline and how these are actually applied in leading and managing people. The association is in constant search for employers of choice that excel in the four core functions of Talent Acquisition, (the new name for recruitment and hiring), Total Rewards (compensation and benefits management), Learning, Development and OD that includes training, mentoring, coaching and counseling, and Organizational Justice, the new global name for labor relations, employee relations. industrial relations, including employee discipline, grievance handling, team-building, and labor dispute resolution and settlement.

We were also looking at the outstanding achievements of the nominees in the area of inclusivity and the establishment of a just and humane workplace, where employees are safe, secured, healthy, and highly motivated and empowered. Notably also, we were on the lookout for the company's social responsibility internally and externally. How are they caring for their people especially during the pandemic and during natural calamities? We were alert on issues about the PWDs, the LGBTQIA+, and the health, safety and well-being of employees. Our questions were pointed at how the nominees handled their labor disputes, how they administered justice among its people. Externally, how they impact on society and to what extent they contribute to nation-building.

The chairwoman of the Board of Judges is the iconic first female DOLE secretary in the Philippines and in all Asia, Ma. Nieves Roldan-Confesor and the other member is the vice president of the premier Rotary Club in the Philippines, the Rotary Club of Manila. I sit as a member of the Board of Judges as the 2014 National President of PMAP and as a former HR executive of San Miguel Corp., Pepsi Cola, and Petron/PNOC Group of Companies. The process of selection from among the many nominees was quite tedious and required time, attention, and much sense of objectivity and fairness. We were very lucky that our chairwoman was very democratic, consultative, and inclusive.

From the many nominees, the executive director of PMAP, Rene M. Gener, also a past president together with the incumbent president Ms. Elizabeth Nasoi, senior vice president of the Energy Development Corp., commissioned a group of technical experts who visited all nominees and interviewed their officials and staff. The technical group narrowed down the field of choices by shortlisting four top contenders. The remaining candidates were two big banks, one water company, and one Batangas-based manufacturing company. Three of the four are unionized. We also interviewed their workers, managers, and supervisors.

Last night we announced the winner and indeed, we are proud of this employer, on how management cares for its people in good times and in bad. It gives shares of stocks to its employees and makes them motivated to work for a company they partly own. This company has helped a lot of small struggling businessmen and entrepreneurs for more than a hundred years already. It is a low-profile corporation managed without much fanfare but has impacted on lives of millions of Filipinos. I am proud to have been a part of this unanimous choice among the judges.

By this time, you should know the name but as of time of writing we were not allowed to disclose it. If you do not know the facts, you might say why this? But if you study the truth behind this company, you will exclaim why not?