Locked down and laid off
The lockdown cleared streets in Bonifacio Global City, one of Metro Manila’s financial districts, but definitely curbed economic activity in the Philippine capital. (Photo from Bernard Testa’s Instagram account (@mousatesta))
(Names and details have been changed.)
A day before the lockdown was announced in March, Josie, who helped manage the backend of her company's news website, was told by her supervisor to brace herself.
She nodded, even though she didn't know exactly what that meant.
It became clear the next day when Metro Manila's borders were sealed off and public transport service was halted to prevent transmission of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
At the end of her shift that day, Josie was approached by her boss who informed her that a company car would take her home, wait for her to get clothes, and bring her back to the office.
It was crucial for her and several others to stay in the office for the duration of the quarantine, her supervisor said, citing several business factors.
This sounded reasonable to Josie, who lived in Bulacan, a province an hour or so away from her office.
Since commuting to work was no longer possible, having the company pick her up and bring her home everyday would be too costly.
Broadly speaking, Josie knew what the company she worked for was up against, financially. It was struggling to get advertisements, which were getting harder to come by every year.
Her decision to stay in the office during the lockdown was her ambag (contribution) to keep the company afloat, she said.
After securing her parents' permission, Josie took her boss's advice and braced herself.
Simply put, staying in burned a hole in her pocket.
The PhP160 food allowance that she got wasn't enough to get her through the day. Nearby establishments which served cheaper food were closed, prompting her to order takeout with fellow stay-ins.
Food allowance halved during lockdown
The situation didn't get any better in April.
Early that month, she got an email which said that the food allowance will be halved that week.
Later, she found out that the office's security guard — who was employed by a third party — got a PhP300 allowance daily, on top of his salary. The same guard, who was previously assigned to a bank, told her that bank staff who were required to report for work throughout the lockdown got an additional PhP800 daily.
Josie got dismayed.
Here she was staying at the office day and night all throughout the quarantine and spending more than usual on food, instead of being home, helping take care of her parents, both seniors.
By mid-April, she had wanted the lockdown to end so desperately that she thought about quitting. (It didn't help that she already was getting cabin fever after spending days with the same group of people who got on her nerves.)
But quitting was an option that she couldn't afford taking just yet.
Her savings had been cut by one-third, no thanks to her increased food spending incurred by staying in.
On May 31, she and other stay-ins prepared to go home for good. This was after the government gave indications that lockdown restrictions were going to be eased the next day.
Before lunch that day, Josie was summoned to her supervisor's office.
While in the presence of her company's human resources officer, her boss handed her a letter saying that the company no longer needed her services. She was also instructed to pack her stuff, leave the office before the day's end, and never come back.
In return, she would get a month's salary, an equivalent amount for every year of her service, and additional compensation representing benefits she was entitled to.
While the severance package was fairly generous, losing her job wasn't exactly the reward she was hoping for after staying in the office for two and a half months.
Before her shift ended that day, Josie would learn that nineteen others were let go.
Among them included the driver and the very same human resources officer who gave her the bad news that same day.
Before Josie left her workplace one final time, someone told her that another batch of 20 employees would supposedly follow in their footsteps.
However, a person familiar with the matter issued a denial, pointing out that the company was doing its best to weather the crisis arising from the government's tepid response to Covid-19.
But one thing is clear: Josie's story is one of several that shows how media companies have responded to the slowdown so far.
Media companies try their best to avert lay-offs
Just like other businesses, some media companies have implemented shifting, an industry representative said.
Under the arrangement, staff are told to work two to three times a week, instead of the full five days. To get paid in full, they are prompted to use their vacation leaves to cover their non-working days.
However, at best, that's a temporary solution.
After all, vacation leaves are just like operational funds — if not replenished, both are likely to run out.
After trying out shifting for a month or so during the lockdown, management of another media company allegedly decided to take the plunge and cut off jobs as gingerly as possible. Managers supposedly chose to let go of one person each from every department.
Another company reportedly terminated more than 30 people, all employed by an affiliate. Yet another company was prompted to discontinue the services of someone from editorial — the core department of any media business — who was in a situation just like Josie's.
In Mindanao, Sunstar Cagayan de Oro announced that it will not only stop print operations, it will also close down its newsroom, according to a report by Mindanews.com. [See: SunStar Cagayan de Oro stops print operations but will remain online]
"...[M]anagement is also closing down its newsroom and has already advised its reporters and editors that their services will also end on June 30," the same report said.
Meanwhile, all of these terminated media workers — Josie, the driver, the HR officer, and dozens more who have suddenly found themselves jobless in the middle of a pandemic — will soon be reduced to being a set of statistics, if things don't pick up anytime soon.
They will most likely add to the increasing numbers of the unemployed, which, as of April 2020, have reached 7.25 million. This is according to a June 5, 2020 report by BusinessMirror. [See: Jobless rate rises to 17.7% in April, swelling unemployed ranks by 5 million]
Without a substantial stimulus package from government that could boost growth and — hopefully enough, support ad spending to help revive media companies — everyone may just have to deal with the uncertainty a little bit longer.
Question is: how long can companies afford to play the waiting game?
