The Plight of Overseas Filipino Workers

By Marc Palaganas  |   Submitted On April 20, 2018

 

As of today, we have about 2.5 million Filipinos working abroad and countless of these must go through a needle hole just to survive the financial demand of landing a job overseas.

While there is an abundance of talents expansive in the country, few skilled laborers attempt their fate abroad because of the financial requirements needed to land their dream job. While opportunities keep from coming out from here and there, Filipinos are dubious to select only those offers that they can afford given their financial climate.

Economic capacity thwarts some skilled workers from vying a work abroad. While there is no doubt that competitive candidates in the Philippines is in surplus, employers and recruiters should understand that there are limiting factors for global talents from pursuing a career overseas.

Apart from the cost of documentary requirements and processing fees, the prevalent burden among aspiring overseas Filipino workers is the weight of placement fees charged by some recruitment agency.

Section 51 of the Revised Rules and Regulations allow recruitment agencies from charging placement fee as approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). This is usually equivalent to a worker's basic salary for a month that should be paid by the worker once an employment certificate is furnished.

In many reported cases, an amount of P80,000 to P120,000 are collected by abusive agencies even to domestic helpers, which are exempted from this ruling. Apparently, recruitment fees or placement fees only led to exploitation of OFWs even before they went abroad. Majority of OFWs fly overseas with their feet buried in debt because of charges like such.

In this lieu, all licensed recruitment agencies were suspended in processing household service workers since March 6, 2018, given the ballooning number of abuses among domestic workers.

Only 10 out of 2,000 recruitment agencies in the country don't collect placement fees from workers. They usually charge it from employers, who must also shoulder a greater chunk of the costs to bring a worker to their country.

Many Filipinos decide to work overseas to gain better compensation and to improve the lives of their family left in the Philippines. Even if the price at stake is high, many of them could sacrifice even their own house or land title or a portion of their properties just to fund their way abroad.

Non-collection of placement fee is a public service for the majority of Filipinos who have not enough to shell out to pay for a job. This could also mitigate the risks of debt bondage among OFWs and the possibility for a forced labor. This prohibits recruitment agencies from turning to the brink of exploitation.

Zero placement fee will need agencies to charge it from employers. This scheme will not just benefit the worker but the company itself because the worker would become more productive in the workplace. Financial stress significantly affects the productivity of an employee, so alleviating worries on money woes and supporting their financial wellness will not just benefit them, but the efficiency of service that they could render at your workplace.

Job offers with no placement fee would essentially factor out candidates based on their capabilities and experience, and not their financial ability to pay for a profession. A candidate's capacity to fund his application doesn't equate to his compatibility and effectiveness to match vacancies.

Non-fee charging agencies would slightly cost more for client companies but along their ranks are attested undisputed producers of best workers and professionals to foreign markets. "No placement fee" tag, apparently, is an effective magnet to best-performing candidates.

These few agencies with no alike fees collected believe that reaching the green pasture doesn't need to be as costly as it was because there is a better option that recruitment agencies could offer the Filipino working class. No placement fee is true and working abroad is not an impossible dream, especially for the less privileged portion of the society.

Even with few pioneering agencies like Rensol who employ zero placement fee, efforts to enrich ethical recruitment in the market is on the works and the employer-paying market has been realizing the importance of non-fee charging agencies to the plight of underprivileged yet globally-competitive overseas Filipino workers.

Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. ( https://rensol.com/ ) is the fastest growing recruitment agency in the Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Marc_Palaganas/2519026