The Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) of the local government of Parañaque will ask the city council to pass a resolution seeking to require companies in the city to hire seniors.
Under the resolution, all companies based in the city that end the year with a minimum annual sale of P10 million should hire at least two seniors, Osca-Parañaque chief Dante Pacheco said.
A study is being conducted whether to set the annual sale requirement at P15 or P20 million, Pacheco added.
“But it should be above P10 million,” he said The companies will hire the seniors as contractual employees, replacing ones with others every six months.
In this way, Pacheco noted, all able seniors in the city who are interested in working will have the chance to get employed.
Under the proposed measure, seniors will be hired only for jobs that do not require strenuous physical exertion, and will be required to work for only four hours a day, he said.
A physician will issue a senior applying for a job with a certification that he or she is physically fit to work. “They can be employed by companies as greeters at information [desks] and who can escort the clients,” Pacheco said. The seniors will be paid at least P60 per hour, he added. The hiring of seniors by companies can be viewed as corporate social responsibility, he said. The job may not be financially rewarding, but it may provide the seniors a sense of fulfillment.
It may also help them avoid “physical and emotional rot” at home that may shorten their lives, he added.
At least 250 companies operating in the two districts of Parañaque will be covered when the resolution is signed into ordinance and takes effect, Pacheco said.
This means at least 500 able seniors employed at a time, and replaced by at least the same number after six months, he said.
Currently, Parañaque has 22,500 senior citizens residing in its two districts according to the office’s updated database, Pacheco said. This figure is expected to grow by about 7, 000 next year.
Osca-Parañaque is currently finalizing the draft of the resolution for the first reading of the city council. In 2014 the office received the Dakilang Adhikain ng Ating Lahi (Dangal) Award from the BusinessMirror, in partnership with the United Bayanihan Foundation, RiteMed, and CDO-Foodsphere for its outstanding contributions to uplift the lives and improve the welfare of senior citizens.