Social Responsibility | Printer-friendly Version

Environment | Communities | Our People

Del Monte Pacific is committed to the growth of its people as it grows its business.

Around 5,700 workers at our plantation, manufacturing plant, and administrative and marketing offices count among the most dedicated and skilled professionals in the global pineapple industry.

Training and Development 

Through value formation, skills training, and knowledge-sharing programmes conducted year-round, the Company ensures that its employees continuously improve the quality of their performance. Employee training and development are also linked with a management succession plan that selects potential leaders across the organisation.

Employees are given every opportunity to enhance agricultural methods, manufacturing practices, technical skills, supervision and management, and teamwork. Over 4,000 employees were among the training participants in 2003.

A culture of excellence and innovation pervades throughout the Company. The Sales and Marketing Conference held in March 2003 promoted the Company’s theme “Be best in class. Innovate!”  We encourage our people to innovate relentlessly in seven key result areas: increased productivity, better cost management, improved product quality, better customer service, higher volume and market share growth, inspiring people and responsible corporate citizenship.

Communication 

We keep our employees informed of the Group’s performance through our regular internal magazine aptly called Tidbits. This features new product launches, awards, new recruits and promotions, among others. We also have a newsletter called Fresh Cut which informs plantation and cannery employees of the team’s programmes and direction.

Benefits

Our workforce enjoys one of the most attractive compensation and benefit packages granted to agro-industrial workers in the Philippines. Workers at our plantation live in housing camps and Company-subsidised housing subdivisions, complete with schools, chapels, social halls, playgrounds, water reservoirs and other facilities.

"A plantation employee credits the Company for many ‘worker-friendly’ privileges: “My entire family is taken care of. We live in a clean, safe and peaceful community. We enjoy free housing and transportation. We have schools, a hospital, a fire station, and cooperatives. We can’t ask for more in life! Where else can you find a Company like this?”

A generous retirement package awaits long-serving employees upon retirement. Complementing government-mandated privileges is a voluntary provident plan with vesting provisions and a group insurance plan. All employees and qualified dependents also enjoy a broad range of free medical and dental services at our 100-bed Company hospital and dispensaries and designated hospitals and clinics in the country.

Industrial Relations and Staff Turnover

The Group has enjoyed a sustained period of industrial peace, with no notices of strikes and lock-outs for more than 30 years. We have one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, averaging two per cent since 1988.

Awards

Recognising the continuing excellence of our human resource programmes, leading government and professional organisations have once again bestowed their highest awards on our Company in 2003.

The Group is the first company to receive the prestigious Employer of the Year Award three times (1981, 1988, 2003) from the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP).

Two Del Monte teams were chosen among Outstanding Quality Circles for innovative productivity enhancement projects in the workplace. Five other employees were similarly honoured for outstanding contributions in their respective fields. Leading the awardees was Jaime Ong, Vice-President for Corporate Human Resources and Corporate Affairs, who was chosen by PMAP as Personnel Manager of the Year.

Del Monte Labour Management Councils (LMC) were also honoured in the Search for Best LMC Practitioners jointly sponsored by the Philippine League of LMC Practitioners and the Department of Labour and Employment. Through expanded LMC forums, Management and labour teams have worked together to enhance our employee retirement and provident plans, health services, working conditions, and social programmes for employee families.

Our continuing support has elevated our employee cooperatives to the ranks of the country’s largest and most stable. The Cooperative Development Authority has awarded the Outstanding Cooperative of the Philippines Award to our agrarian reform, credit and consumer cooperatives within the last four years. Made up mostly of workers, dependents, retirees and community residents, these cooperatives offer broad-range services to members.