inSights

Policy Briefing
ISSUE 8, JULY 2009 Manila, Philippines

Displacement in Times of Crisis: A Review of the DOLE Quick Response Team Approach
Quick Response Teams (QRTs) were created under DOLE Department Order No. 07, Series of 2001 (D.O. 07-01) as region-based providers of services to displaced workers. In brief, this paper looks into how DOLE has fared in terms of responding to worker displacement through QRTs and gives recommendations based on past experiences culled from an earlier study of the Institute for Labor Studies. This paper particularly proposes the reengineering of QRTs to improve services for workers affected by economic shocks. The Case for QRT Reengineering
Re-engineering QRTs. There is a need for an institutional government response against worker displacement. This takes off from the view that in well-functioning economies or otherwise, enterprises and employment shift continually as changes occur in markets and technologies open new opportunities and shrink others. (Hansen, 2001:1) Worker displacement is a natural outcome of such economic shifts. Anticipating Reintegration Failure. Displaced workers are those whose ability to return to a comparable job within [a] reasonable span of time is impaired. Such difficulty in reentry arises because of so-called attachment factors, which include social ties, attachment to location of work, and lack of employment opportunities in the same industry, location, or occupation (Fallick, 1996: 6). Without intervention, unemployment and reintegration of displaced workers into the labor market will be protracted. Re-employment as a Policy Imperative. With full employment as its strongest mandate, DOLE has the authority and responsibility to undertake measures and strategies against worker displacement. And as the current Global Financial Crisis presses on, it has become intuitive and customary for the public to turn to DOLE for answers to the threats of massive joblessness and firm closures. This paper does not recommend the dismantling of QRTs, but the redesign of their framework of delivery of services. In reengineering QRTs, some strategies may be considered. Strategy 1: Define boundaries and rationalize use of resources. The directive of D.O. 7-01 is that QRTs have to provide integrated services to displaced workers. This paper, however, proposes a framework of service delivery that shifts from an integrated approach to a tiered or laddered one. Not all worker-beneficiaries would go through all the layers, but instead would have exit points in each stage or step, depending on

POLICY PRESCRIPTIONS
For the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics
(BLES) to initiate a project, in coordination with the National Statistical Coordination Board, for the adoption of an official definition of worker displacement or displaced worker. For the Bureau of Local Employment or Bureau of Labor Relations to propose a new Department Order with the following features: Worker displacement framework using a tiered approach QRTs as a secretariat for worker displacement programs Creation of province-based job savings chain networks Budget allocation for mobility purposes Capacity building provisions for strengthened capacity to provide technical and training assistance
the fulfillment of their needs. The exit points are also cut-off points in the provision of services and, thus, public expenditures. Preliminary administrative stage - informational groundwork; profiling of workers; assessment of needs; if workers are found capable of independent transition from termination to new job, services need not be delivered to them. Service stages STAGE 1 Exit strategy - Preventive measure Services - On-site or in-house (DOLE-based) dialogues; adoption of measures to prevent termination or displacement (e.g., in-house retraining or skills upgrading, job rotations, work hour reduction, shifting, or intra-enterprise or inter-establishment transfer) Cut-off point No termination; reintegration into work STAGE 2 Exit strategy - Early reemployment intervention Services - Employment counseling, job search assistance, referral

This paper was written by Mary Grace L. Riguer, research specialist at the Institute for Labor Studies. ISSUE 8 Displacement in Times of Crisis: A Review of the DOLE Quick Response Team Approach

INSTITUTE FOR LABOR STUDIES

Information. Ideas. Insights.

and placement, rapid short skills training, subsistence support (legal assistance and quicker access of workers to separation pay entitlements and other monetary claims) Cut-off point Immediate transition from termination to employment STAGE 3 Exit strategy Transitional re-employment Services Reskilling and livelihood capital assistance with corresponding technical support Qualification Stage of last resort because displaced workers tend to prefer immediate re-entry into wage employment to regain daily income capacities, rather than undergo training or self-employment. Moreover, public programs for skills training and livelihood assistance have limited funding capacities and therefore may be selective or exclusive as to beneficiaries. Cut-off point: Re-employment The preventive stage, early reemployment stage, and the long-term reemployment stage should all be undertaken within the advance notification period of one month, under the law on termination in the Philippine Labor Code.

measures, or early re-employment support (inter-firm, outplacement of workers); the network shall have regular meetings, but shall be convened in emergency cases of massive displacement. Strategy 3: Quicken the rapid response. Rapid response is essential to re-employment in post-crisis settings. Rapid approaches to addressing worker displacement smoothen out transition from joblessness to re-employment. It is said that the longer workers are out of work, the harder it becomes for them to re-enter the labor market. (Hansen, 2001) A quick response approach requires quick mobility of implementers. QRTs, therefore, must have corresponding budget allocation for operational and mobility requirements, which should not be subject to project proposals if rapid response were to be the objective.

Other Policy Issues

Strategy 2: Explore collaborative approaches. A lean structure for QRTs, with social connectivity, is therefore proposed. Province-based for decentralized and quicker response. One or two staff from the DOLE provincial offices for secretariat responsibilities and delivery of services; QRTs need not be huge because they shall only be in charge of services up to early re-employment stage, and shall have only endorsing responsibilities for skills training and livelihood assistance or other long-haul projects. Jobs saving chains under formal partnership agreements, QRTs shall be linked to local industrial associations, professional organizations, business organizations for displacement signaling, preventive

Displaced workers. An official definition of displaced workers is long overdue. DOLE has been referring to the term apparently since 1999 but subject to different and changing uses. Literature offers some circumstances when displaced status shall attach to a worker. Involuntary separation Termination on authorized grounds under Philippine Labor Code, including installation of labor-saving devices and machineries, redundancy, retrenchment, and closure or cessation of business. Attachment and transfer difficulties Geographic attachments or difficulty in transferring from one residence to another or difficulty in traveling farther; attachment to certain income level, attachment to occupation or industry, non-transferability of skills, and low demand for skills. Prolonged unemployment spells Transition and prolonged unemployment spell are factors in displacement, which means that there has to be a certain point during the period the worker is unemployed that he or she would be considered displaced. In other words, there is a need to determine the unemployment period that would be considered as onset of displacement.

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ISSUE 8 Displacement in Times of Crisis: A Review of the DOLE Quick Response Team Approach