The Philippine Society of Management Services, a concerned group of legitimate management service professionals and service contractors, recently released a statement detailing its position on the issue of “endo,” “555,” or contractualization.
The group, which boasts over two decades of experience in the industry, emphasized that service contracting is not the same as “endo” (short for end of contract), “555” or contractualization, the practice of hiring workers for short periods of five months or less to avoid regularization.
“We believe this to be wrong and do not support it. Our industry exists to produce regular, dignified jobs that uplift the lives of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and help boost our economy—contributing 1.3 million regular jobs and 35 billion pesos in taxes every year,” it said.
The workers under PSMS’ care, it noted are all regular employees, with proper wages, full benefits, and security of tenure.
“They have access to support programs that will improve their lives in the same manner as the regular employees of our principals,” it said.
Service contracting provides regular jobs with the proper wages, benefits, and security of tenure that are required by law without the necessity or the limitation of direct hiring, the group noted.
“It is not necessary to directly hire to end ‘endo’ as all employees under legitimate service providers are already regular,” it said.
President Duterte’s promise of ending contractualization has been fulfilled and continues to be fulfilled, the group said. Through DO 174 and DOLE’s efforts, thousands of employees were given regular status—a positive development which is possible through service contracting, it added.
“We are one with the government in its desire to eradicate the practice of ENDO and we will continue to police our ranks to ensure compliance with the law,” they said.
Service contracting is a legitimate and respectable business model that has paved the way for more people to gain employment easily, PSMS said.
“Without service contracting, people with less educational attainment or no work experience will have difficulty to get a regular job and support their families. With service contractors, those that have less are now given more opportunities to get regular jobs becoming the source of their livelihood,” it said.
When companies use service contractors, it is now able to focus on growing their business better, which in turn produces more jobs and accelerates economic progress in line with the President’s thrust of greater economic development for the country, the group added.
“We are committed to collaborate with the Labor Department, Congress and Senate so that the right legislation and policies are implemented to build the foundation for businesses to flourish and establish an employment environment that will raise the quality of life of workers,” it said.