CEBU, Philippines – QQEnglish is gearing up its employees for the ‘New Normal’ through its ‘Back-to-work’ Corporate Program.
Mr. Raiko Fujioka, CEO of QQEnglish, spearheaded the start of the New Normal as Cebu enters the least restrictive quarantine status. The school, despite constant struggles, successfully launched a series of Corporate program to help save teachers affected by the pandemic. The program is now on its fourth (5th) successful operation, aims to collect all QQEnglish employees who went on unpaid leave, work again.
The goal of the program is to assist QQEnglish employees by housing them for free in several hotels in Lapu-Lapu City and Cebu City. Besides, the program aims to provide teachers free transportation, free accommodation, free laundry service, and free food for a certain period.
However, to ensure safety, they must not have physical interaction with people other than QQEnglish employees for health and sanitary reasons. There will also be limitations in accepting parcels and deliveries, provided that all goods must undergo disinfection outside the hotel first.
Mr. Fujioka emphasized the importance of solidarity and compassion in the middle of the crisis. “All of us are going through a tough time. And I believe that the solution to these problems is rebuilding through solidarity, unity, and compassion. This is the QQEnglish Spirit! This pandemic changed the way we live and affected our lives shockingly.
Since March, QQEnglish has been struggling. We have a manpower shortage because 50% of our population stayed home together with their families,” he stated.
“However, last April, hundreds of teachers sent us a message about when can they work again. Some of their messages touched me. I understand that all of us are unprepared. We did not see this coming. But now that this happened already, I must help my QQEnglish family, so I started this corporate program.”
Miss Noreen, the General Operations Manager of QQEnglish, admitted that the start of the project was very difficult because of the strict safety and quarantine protocols imposed by the government. But she was thankful that the program was very successful.
“The hardest part was on how we gather all our teachers. We found it very difficult to collect them in one place due to the quarantine restrictions imposed in Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu. We did not have any choice but to pick them right in front of their houses and apartments and send them directly to the hotel.”
The Corporate Program has had tremendous benefits for QQEnglish employees. It has roughly assisted 356 displaced teachers because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the five months, QQEnglish already had four successful implementations of the program and is expecting to do more to attain its goals of helping everyone affected by the pandemic.
The 1st Corporate Program which started last April 23 successfully helped 69 teachers to work again. The teachers who volunteered for the program received free food and free laundry service apart from the free transportation and free accommodation benefits of the program. After 18 days of strict quarantine, QQEnglish transferred these teachers to the QQEnglish Seafront Campus in Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City.
The 2nd Corporate Program kicked off last May 17, just two weeks after the first program. This time, QQEnglish reached out to several cities and nearby municipalities in Cebu province just to gather teachers. With its effort, the said program successfully gathered 87 teachers from nearby cities and far-flung areas of Cebu province. They housed these teachers in the same hotel in Lapu-Lapu City. They also received a thorough medical evaluation to meet the requirements required by the Department of Health.
The 3rd Corporate Program started last June 26. The goal of this program is to continue picking teachers who cannot travel to the city because of strict quarantine restrictions. In this time, QQEnglish further secured travel passes so they can enter several borders in the entire Cebu province. This program gave 77 teachers the chance to teach online again and to meet their students who they haven’t had a class for nearly four months.
The 4th program began last July 20. The program seeks to welcome teachers who are living in nearby places within Cebu and Mandaue City. Fortunately, the 123 teachers who volunteered for this batch enjoyed the free accommodation and free transportation benefits given by QQEnglish. This time, QQEnglish accommodated in a hotel in Lahug, Cebu, just close to IT Park. All teachers who joined this program reports to Skyrise 4B to have their daily classes.
Despite the uncertainty of when will things be normal again, the school is positive in giving teachers the chance to recover again through its QQEnglish Corporate program. With the status of Cebu being downgraded to MGCQ, QQEnglish has again welcomed other teachers back to its campus.
The Walk-in Program for teachers started last November 10 giving 90 teachers the job and a new chance to start again.
Although they are back in the office, walk-in teachers are working separately from other employees. That means that they have a specific quarter where they can work in. Moreover, teachers under this program are not allowed to mingle with teachers who are still under office quarantine.
Also, teachers under the program are required to wear mask and face shield all the time. It may sound a little strict but they must since it’s being required by the DOH and the building management as well.
With the successful implementation of the program, QQEnglish expects to operate normally again and more teachers will have the chance to start and recover. The program already saved 75% of the entire QQEnglish workforce. The company is still carefully planning on how will they help employees, especially those who belong to the non-teaching department.
Last September 1, President Duterte relaxed Cebu City’s quarantine restriction to MGCQ. The downgrade in the quarantine status of the Queen City of the South is a good sign that things are slowly getting back to normal. Malls are now open and the city government expects more restaurants and other businesses to open.
The government, however, still obliges the public to follow the rules of the ‘New Normal’ to ensure the safety of everyone.
QQEnglish is hopeful to welcome remaining employees to work in the office starting January of 2021. The biggest ESL school in Cebu is also preparing to welcome foreign ESL students once International flights will resume.
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