PMAP advocates confidence building among youth

MANILA, Philippines - By highlighting the positive talents and skills of Filipinos and the best practices being used by Filipino companies and awarding them for being such, the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) embarks on its mission to help people, especially the very young elementary students, to regain their self confidence and be more competitive in the labor market.

“We have noticed that a number of Grade 2 students and even lower, have become afraid to express themselves and develop their innate talents and skills for fear that their peers would attack or rebuke them,” said PMAP president Grace Abella-Zata, an expert in matching people with jobs or organizations.

An expert headhunter, Zata could not contain her lament about the current state of affairs in the country marked, she said, by too much politicking, negativism and self- persecution on the one hand and by a person’s refusal to act for fear of being stoned for doing so on the other.

Zata said the administration’s programs of training and developing “near hires” for call centers and providing new skills training to Filipinos wanting to work abroad are just the right directions needed by the county. We have to stop producing so many nurses and IT hands that are no longer needed abroad.”

There is too much mismatch between labor pool— both from fresh graduates and currently unemployed people— and the available positions in the jobs market, she said.

PMAP itself has gone through a transformation of sorts from just being managers of workers to people managers of people by looking at ways of building loyalty, skills upgrading and training; team building and goal setting and benefits and compensation programs that are attuned to corporate goals and performance indices.

“Our group makes sure that we put forth the best practices adopted by companies operating in the country in the hope that these practices will be used by all other members of PMAP,” Zata said.

Each year, PMAP awards employer companies (through Employer of the Year Awards (for companies in the large and small-and-medium categories); People Manager of the Year (for   human resource practitioners) and People Program of the Year awards.

During Zata’s presidency, PMAP revolves around traditional Filipino values like “malasakit, bayanihan and pananagutan” or perseverance, team effort among neighbors and responsibility or civic duty.

PMAP’s 33 years of existence have been spent on recognizing and honoring individuals, companies and organizations that have achieved excellence and distinction in the field of people management.

Its people manager of the year award is for HR professionals, who are regular employees occupying management positions in their respective companies. The first People Manager in 1982 was Emiliano Armas and Maria Cristina Menorca in 2008.

Entries for the People Program of the Year award must have been implemented and running for one year as of Dec. 31, 2008. Entries must be submitted, duly signed, by May 15, 2009 . In 1986, the first People Program of the Year went to Procter & Gamble Philippines Inc. and in 2008, it went to the Ayala Corp. for its program “Reinventing HR for the Ayala Group.”

The Employer of the Year Awards come in two categories: The large and the small and medium. This is open to local companies, multinational corporations and government agencies. The first EOY in 1977 was Ayala Corp followed by Petron Corp. in 2008.