Beyond Possibilities: How the Pandemic Paved a New Horizon for the HR Office

of the Province of Agusan del Norte

It was only months ago but an eon seemed to have passed since the country was
forced into isolation from the rest of the world due to COVID-19 pandemic. Those daily
routines that everyone was accustomed to were disrupted. Corporate operations had
to halt. Workplaces, both in the public and private sectors, have been forced to operate
with a skeleton workforce and many employees have to work from home.

This thing called the “new normal” was shoved down everyone’s throat, leaving us no
choice but to succumb to the reality that this is now our way of life going forward or,
at least, until the curve has been flattened and a vaccine becomes available. But Plato
once said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” When push comes to shove, man is
always bound to find ways to meet his needs.

This truth holds so much weight for the Provincial Human Resource Management
Office (PHRMO) of the Provincial Government of Agusan del Norte. When the Province
was put under community quarantine back in March 2020, the PHRMO was not
prepared for what was to come. As days turned into weeks and weeks into months, it
became apparent to every HR personnel that we have reached the point of no return.
As every other institution has shifted to the digital way of carrying out their services
and practices, we know that we have to join the trend and embrace the “new normal”
in the field of HR. Digitalization is indeed the sure way to go.

A Paperless RSP

A year ago, going paperless with our Recruitment, Selection, and Placement (RSP)
processes was only a flicker of idea. It started with some pensive thoughts that maybe
we could do something about the towering bulk of applications and other RSP
documents piling up the office. The idea was to use digital facilities to receive
applications and store them in cloud servers. The members of the Personnel Selection
Board (PSB) will be given tablets where they can easily access applications for
interview and deliberation purposes. This will do away with the need to reproduce
applications in multiple copies for each PSB member to view. Rating sheets will also be
digitalized along with everything else so that they are conveniently accessible from the
device.

Now the idea has grown from suggestive to becoming imperative. Due to the spread of
virus that forced everyone to limit physical interactions, if none at all, the need for a
paperless RSP system becomes more pressing. The matter has gone from simply
addressing the paper problem in the office to securing everyone’s safety. It has
certainly gone from simply granting convenience and making RSP processes easier
and faster to easing anxious thoughts of possibly contracting the virus from
documents that are passed on from hand to hand.
With the help of the Management Information System Division (MISD), the PHRMO is
already halfway through the process of completing the groundwork for the realization
of the project. Our IT experts have already started to develop a suitable system that
will cater to the multifaceted requirements of a paperless RSP. What was only a flicker
of idea has finally taken shape and soon enough, the Provincial Government of Agusan
del Norte will reap the benefits of a paperless hiring mechanism.

Digital Employee Tracking System

Another system that the Provincial Government has begun to develop and hopes to
launch real soon is the assignment of a QR code that is unique to every employee in
order to easily trace their whereabouts in the workplace. This system intends to be a
contact tracing mechanism so that if and when an employee from a certain office gets
infected with COVID-19, it would be easier to identify the employees who had
engagements in that office.

This emerging system in the Provincial Capitol also hopes to substitute the prevailing
biometric system as a tool for recording employees’ daily attendance. Unlike the
biometrics, QR code scanning will effectively eliminate the need to have physical
contact with the facility used for daily logs. Through this, we will be able to prevent the
possible spread of virus through physical touches.

The COVID-19 pandemic came to us unexpectedly and nobody knows for certain when
and how this quandary will end. But if anything, the circumstances we are currently
in have opened up a new horizon and tons of possibilities for the PHRMO of the
Provincial Government of Agusan del Norte. Our HR office might have its limitations
but we are learning on the fly, as do everybody else.

This thing we call the “new normal” has enabled us to reach more deeply into our
treasure chest of ideas and innovations that have and will become our emerging
practices not only in the field of RSP but in all other fundamental aspects of human
resource management and development.