1.

You are a small business owner engaged in apparel manufacturing and you currently employ
50 workers. Prepare a simple compensation package that includes 2 wage-based (monetary) and
2 fringe benefit (nonmonetary) items that you think is both competitive and affordable. Please
provide a brief description of each wage and benefit item included in the package.

2. Briefly describe how small business owners can use innovation and digitization in making it
easier to perform the following key HR tasks:

a) Recruitment and Selection make HR tasks easier through the following innovation
and digitization:

 Use of social media in posting an add – this is usually free. Hence, good for small
business owners
 Video/mobile interviewing – with the help of mobile and internet, small business
owners can interview applicant via video/call, it saves both employees and small
business heaps of time and money – small businesses can benefit from a much
larger candidate pool, despite employees’ location
 Texting/Calls, Whatsapp/Viber/Messenger – this is an affordable way to
communicate with candidates i.e. Check in with candidates; Schedule (and
confirm) assessments & interviews; Engage with applicants during the
recruitment process.
 Use of google forms to submit application

b) Training and Development make HR tasks easier through the following innovation
and digitization:

 Free online seminars – organized and ask employees to attend free online
seminars that is related to their job. This is good for small business as it is free.
They can watch the online seminar on the mobile.
 Free E-guides/books: there a lot of free e-books/guides on personality
development or job-related development employer can use to help them facilitate
training to its employees
 Free E-learning: there a lot of websites/articles available in the internet about on
how to improves an employee’s performance. The employees can search in the
internet via their mobile through the help of his employer.

c) Compensation and Benefits Administration make HR tasks easier through the

following innovation and digitization:
  Cashless compensation – salary can be paid out through GCash or PayMaya (for
the masa and small business owner)
 E-vouchers – Incentives could be in the form of e-vouchers. Easy to get and give,
no need to go to merchant to get paper vouchers
 Product discount automatic in the system – when an employee buys a product or
service from the company, he just have to tap his ID in the terminal, automatic
discount would be available.
 Use of excel to record compensation and benefits per employee
 Use of google forms for employees leave application

3. How can the following COVID-19 related issues affect the practice of human capital
management for MSMEs?

a) Mass retrenchments due to a sharp decline in demand for many non-essential

products/services. – MSMEs HR/owners should abide to the government mandated rule
for retrenchment, and these are not usually being followed on MSMEs. Hence, might
arise to labor issues.

b) Strict compliance to safety practices and protocols for all returning workers – Under
IATF rules based on different quarantine rules per area. A company should provide
safety protocols to make sure employees are safe. This is an added job and expense to
HR/MSMEs.

c) Challenges presented by a work-from-home arrangement – The following challenges

faced by employees is also faced by MSMEs HR. This problem disrupts the
performance of the employees and continuance of the business.

 Internet connection

 Privacy rules
 Electricity expenses
 Machine/work station logistics
 Collaboration
 System problems
 Employee readiness

4. Employee training can be a costly proposition especially for start-ups and small business
owners. However, it is widely acknowledged that well-trained employees are essential to the
success of all businesses. Furthermore, a lack of training may reduce motivation levels and
business inefficiencies and, most detrimentally, could result in staff turnover – which in itself can
be costly. Assuming you own a small coffee/pastry shop in the BGC area, please suggest 3
simple but effective training methods which you can implement in order to improve employee
productivity levels. Lastly, be sure to provide a brief description of your suggested training
method.

The 3 simple yet affordable and effective training for my small coffee/pastry shops are:

1. On-the-job training: identify employees who can be part of the OJT then
assess/evaluate performance if they can be given higher responsibilities, which later on
may lead to more responsibilities or promotion and higher pay. OJT is effective because
it is more experiential and hands on therefore employees can learn faster.

2. Regular training sessions: should be conducted to upskill and improved knowledge,

skills, and competencies of all employees. There should also be a test to assess the
effectiveness of the training and a follow through to know if there is an improvement on
the employees’ job performance.

3. Mentoring: is one way of increasing motivation. Identify seasoned and experience

individuals who can train new or average employees. The goal of the mentorship is for
professional and personal development. Mentoring is effective since the mentor is focus
on the performance of his mentee. This is cost effective because the company does not
have to get external experts to train their employees. The productivity of the employees
will only increase if the know what exactly they are supposed to do and providing
training to them will help them perform all daily activity delegated to them. Training will
boost the confidence of all employees which will make them more productive.

5. Although MSMEs in the Philippines contribute an estimated 63% to the total jobs generated
by business establishments in the country (DTI, 2017), they only account for roughly 35% of the
nation’s annual Gross Domestic Product. A number of reasons for the lackluster contribution by
MSMEs to the nation’s coffers can be traced back to human capital management. List and
briefly explain 3 common pitfalls related to people management which can explain the
disproportionate contribution of MSMEs to the nation’s revenues.
1. Management Changes - As a business grows, its strategies, structure, and internal
processes grow with it. Some employees have a hard time coping with these changes.
A lot of companies experience decreased productivity and morale during periods of
change. Because of this, employees’ performance at work is affected. Example, in my
business (a MSMEs) – I am into retailing of packaging, if my sales employees are
affected because of the management change (not handled properly), they might not be
able to sell actively with the customers. Hence, affects my business’ sales and revenue.
This affects the contribution of my business to the nation’s revenues.
2. Adapting to Innovation that needs recruitment and training- Technology is constantly
changing. Businesses must be quick to adapt, or risk being left in the dust by their
competitors. The challenge for small business owners is getting employees to embrace
innovation and learn new technology.
Some of the businesses does not want to adapt to innovation, as aside from the
investment involved, there should be a budget for hiring new employees or training old
employees. Hence, if this is not done, businesses are left behind. Example, in my
business, if I did not embrace innovation and adapt selling online. I would not be able to
generate added sales and revenue. I needed to hire and train a new employee to
handle online selling part of my business. This is added to cost I needed to consider
against potential profit. Some MSMES are afraid or does not have the know-how in
technology adaptation. Thus, the potential added income they might get from online is
lost. Hence, affects the nation’s revenues.
3. Recruiting and retaining talented employees - Competition for talented employees is
fierce. Startups and small companies don’t have big budgets for retirement plans,
expensive insurance plans, and other costly items that their larger competitors do—at
least, not yet. So, more often than not MSMEs are able to hire people that is just within
their small budget. Example, in my business, the people I hired are not the crème of the
crop of the market. For sales, if given the chance to compete with large companies, I
would be able to hire and retain talented people who is good in sales. Hence, increase
my sales and revenue. With regards to online, if not with small budget compared to
large companies because of being a MSMEs, I would be able to hire people who are
good in IT (navigating online platform) and graphic design (editing of photos to be
posted on online platform). Hence, would also increase my sales and revenue potential.
With these, this also affects the nation’s revenue.