THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in Central Luzon was commended for its best practices and innovations after maintaining its ISO 9001:2015 certification.
This was announced Wednesday, November 28, by DQS Holding GmbH’s Audit Team during its closing conference with the Dole ISO Team after concluding its second surveillance audit on the labor agency.
The two-day audit spearheaded by Lead Auditor Luisito Soriano along with co-auditors Romeo Zamora and Marlou Aquino, covered the regional office, Nueva Ecija, and Zambales field offices, respectively.
During the conference, Soriano highlighted and lauded the strengths of the regional office and field offices, exceeding far from the requirements of the ISO standard/specification.
First is the completion of the Dole regional office’s covered court and parking space which came at zero cost on the labor agency’s part.
“This is a very positive result of your effective networking and strong linkages with other line agencies for the construction and completion of this covered court-cum-parking space. Now you have a large venue of your own to hold various momentous events such as work-related activities, sports festivities, general assemblies, or unified flag ceremonies,” Soriano said.
Meanwhile, the Dole-Nueva Ecija Field Office was commended for securing a 250-square meter free office space at the newly-built Palayan City Business Hub in the province.
Dole sees this as a positive development since the new field office is housed with other line agencies operating at the third One-Stop-Shop Center for OFWs (OSSCO) in Central Luzon.
Aside from this, the Dole Clark Satellite Office was able to secure an additional free office space used for holding various training under its “Dole Clark Academy Center” initiative.
The Dole’s goal of strengthening industrial peace among employers and workers of various locators operating in the Clark Freeport Zone will be achieved through its Continuous Labor Education Services, it said in a statement.
The labor agency was also commended for developing a computer and software-based Labor Inspection Tracking System (LITS) and a Data Tracking System (DTS).
Soriano underscored the benefits that the labor agency has developed using available technology in fast-tracking the processing of its various services, particularly labor inspection and records management.
“We commend this office for tapping its home grown talents in developing systems that could reduce the process cycle time in reports generation of some of your programs and services to address traceability and accountability,” Soriano said.
“The LITS will enable end users to input data such as labor inspection results as well as generate statistics for various uses while the DTS makes the management of records easier, faster, and very convenient,” Soriano explained.
“Having a system like this will further improve the Dole’s effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of services to its clients and program partners,” he added.
Lastly, the Dole Zambales Field Office was commended for its hard copy record keeping practices as well as garnering high satisfaction ratings from respondent clients.
Soriano concluded the meeting by announcing the good news that the labor agency successfully implemented and maintained its management system in accordance with the ISO 9001:2015’s applied standards.
In addition, Soriano said there were no Non-Conformities (NCs) but only Opportunities for Improvements (OFIs) for certain enrolled program areas.
Dole Regional Director Zenaida Angara-Campita, who was at the Dole Head Office during the conference, lauded the entire Dole Central Luzon family, through “FaceTime” video.
“The moment I received a text message from ARD Deng Panlilio that we passed our surveillance audit, I could not help but immediately relay the good news to Secretary Bebot (Bello). On his behalf, I am sending a heartfelt congratulation to everyone in the regional and field offices for taking “an extra mile” in ensuring that we are continuously providing customer satisfaction to our clients,” Campita said.
Assistant Regional Director Geraldine Panlilio assured the Germany-based ISO-certifying body that the Dole will continuously find ways to further improve the delivery of its services.
“We are grateful for the DQS in taking notice of our efforts at the wake of this two-day audit and rest assure that we will continuously do our best to prove our worth as an ISO-certified government agency,” Panlilio said.
The labor agency will now be embarking on new challenges and opportunities as it will be renewing its ISO 9001:2015 certification next year. (PR)