DOLE monitoring establishments online

by Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star), 6 Nov 2020

MANILA, Philippines — To ensure compliance with health protocols and labor laws, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) continues to monitor online the various private establishments nationwide.

Labor Undersecretary Ana Dione yesterday said DOLE has developed an online program to monitor compliance of private firms with labor laws and other relevant issuances during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dione said the system consists of Labor Inspection – Management Information System (LI-MIS), Establishment Report System (ERS), and the Joint Monitoring System (JMS).

According to Dione, the LI-MIS and JMS systems used by labor inspectors in monitoring compliance of private establishments allow users to access digital checklists and note compliances and deficiencies, among others, of inspected establishments.

The online monitoring system also enables the inspectors to input and generate real-time data with the use of any portable electronic device with internet connectivity.

Based on a recent report, the LI-MIS has noted a registry data of 196,670 establishments.

DOLE developed the JMS in support of the guidelines on prevention and control of COVID-19 at workplaces as it submits contactless reports with just a few clicks.

“Despite the pandemic, the DOLE was able to immediately constitute and convene a team in developing the JMS and ERS,” Dione said.

To showcase the innovation to supplement the standard compliance montioring, Dione said the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) presented the DOLE Online Systems as its entry to the 2020 the Government Best Practices Recognition (GBPR).

“Perhaps we can take pride in the fact that we did not have this outsourced. These systems were developed by our people, [our] employees,” Dione noted.

The department’s innovative monitoring system on labor laws compliance, Dione said, is now vying as one of the finalists in the GBPR, an annual selection of outstanding and innovative practices in the public sector.

GBPR is a recognition program of the Development Academy of the Philippines, which seeks to promote, showcase and share outstanding and innovative practices demonstrated by public sector organizations.

It serves as a harmonizing strategy to attain the objective “to advance the public sector productivity movement” among Asian Productivity Organization (APO) member countries.

Out of 71 applicants for the recognition, 26 were chosen as finalists and had the opportunity to present their best practices before the panel of judges.