DOLE: Family welfare program is key to workplace productivity
CEBU CITY—Adopting the family welfare program (FWP) would promote productivity in the workplace and improve relations between management and employees.
During meetings with various industry tripartite councils (ITCs), Salome Siaton, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Central Visayas, urged companies to institutionalize FWP in the workplace.
Siaton stressed the importance of introducing the concept of promoting the welfare of workers and their families as a key to workplace productivity.
Improved productivity and management-workers relations could be attained if companies adopt an advocacy program draws corporate support in promoting workers’ quality of life by adopting a family-centered approach in the workplace, she pointed out.
“For a family welfare program to become functional, there is a need to integrate in its implementation the 10 dimensions to instill family planning/family welfare consciousness among labor and management as a key in promoting workplace productivity, among others,” Siaton explained.
The 10 dimensions of the family welfare program include the following, namely: reproductive health and responsible parenthood; education/gender equality; spirituality or value formation; income generation/livelihood/cooperative; medical health care; nutrition; environment protection, hygiene and sanitation; sports and leisure; housing; and transportation.
The program is a mandatory requirement for establishments employing more than 200 workers. The company’s creation of a family welfare committee is one of the indicators being checked during DOLE’s inspections.
However, Siaton noted that it would be very helpful and advantageous for small establishments if they adopt and implement the same program since it could help increase productivity.
Just recently, Director Siaton lauded Universal Robina Sugar Milling Corporation (URSUMCO), a raw and refined sugar producing company in Manjuyod, Negros Oriental, for institutionalizing the ten dimensions of the program.
Charlotte G. Balbuena, URSUMCO human resource manager and president of the Negros Oriental Association of Family Welfare Committees, explained that institutionalizing the FWP could help a holistic approach of taking care of their workers, which they consider as their most valuable asset.
According to Siaton, companies that are interested to set up FWC could seek help from the different DOLE field offices. /bmjo
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