PH companies stepping up manpower training efforts

OFWs from Libya: Philippine companies, like AG&P, looks to “pirating overseas Filipino workers as one of their strategies in expanding their workforce. INQUIRER PHOTO/RODEL ROTONI

MANILA, Philippines—Companies operating in the country are stepping up efforts to train their workforce in preparation for a dramatic rise in business activities that may be brought about by the anticipated upgrade in the country’s credit rating.

This was according to the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), which groups human resource leaders and practitioners belonging to 1,200 companies in the country, which said that an increasing number of its member-firms were enhancing their skills training and other development programs for employees.

PMAP president Grace Sorongon said the move was prompted by expectations that the Philippines might obtain an investment grade this year, which would likely bring into the country more foreign direct investments.

“More companies are giving skills development and training programs. We are investing in training so they (workers) can do better and become more productive,” Sorongon said at the sidelines of the recent general membership meeting of PMAP.

With the improvements in its macroeconomic fundamentals, the Philippines is now rated just a notch below investment grade. Economists from the government and the private sector expect an investment grade within the short term.

Sorongon said that given the continued deployment of Filipinos workers overseas, competition for the remaining talents in the country became stiffer.

Based on estimates, there are more than 10 million Filipinos working overseas. However, Sorongon said claims that the country was experiencing a brain drain might be an exaggeration.

“Although a significant number of skilled and professional Filipinos have gone abroad, there remains a significant portion of the population with potentials that can be tapped,” she said.

“Many from the X and Y generations are still in the country. If trained, they have significant potential to become future business leaders and     to help increase the country’s productivity,” she said.

Generation X is the group of people born in the ’60s and ’70s, while Generation Y Filipinos are those born in the ’80s and early ’90s. People in these generations are believed to have the information technology skills needed by firms to increase productivity.

In the meantime, some firms operating in the country have seen the prudence of recruiting Filipinos currently working overseas.

Joseph Sigelman, chairman of AG&P, an industrial process outsourcing company headquartered in the Philippines, said his company was planning to increase its workforce over the short term given the favorable outlook on the Philippine economy.

In a briefing at the sidelines of PMAP’s meeting, Sigelman told reporters that one of AG&P’s strategies to expand its workforce was to “pirate” OFWs.