Essential Guide for Australian Employers on Hiring Filipino Professionals
Many countries around the world have been looking at the Philippines to address their labor shortage problems. They like working with Filipinos because they are hardworking, courteous, efficient, and have a good grasp of the English language. They also have the necessary skills to do the tasks at hand.
Australia is one of the countries that have been benefitting from the employment of Filipino workers, whether as healthcare workers, skilled workers, or white-collar workers. If you are an Australian company looking to employ workers from the Philippines, here are important things you need to know. Read these helpful tips from Staffhouse International Resources, your trusted Philippine Recruitment Agency for Australia.
Which Australian employers are eligible to hire Filipino workers?
The Philippine Overseas Labour Office of the Embassy of the Philippines in Australia has laid down guidelines for employers who want to hire workers from the Southeast Asian country. First, to be eligible, a prospective Australian employer needs to be either approved under Australian immigration rules as a standard business sponsor or “covered by a Labour Agreement, an Enterprise Migration Agreement, or Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) in specific industries to hire skilled and professional foreign workers for jobs allowed to be filled up under Australian laws.”
How does an Australian employer or foreign placement agency hire Filipino workers and professionals?
Direct foreign employers or foreign recruitment agencies are obliged to source their workers through recruiting or staffing agencies in the Philippines licensed by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) which was formerly known as Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). DMW is the agency that accredits foreign principals and employers looking to hire Filipino workers and approves manpower requests from foreign employers.
Some Australian employers are exempted from the direct employment ban, but they may employ only up to five Filipino workers without the help of accredited recruitment agencies.
There are two types of recruitment agencies in the Philippines—landbased and seabased agencies. Landbased recruiters find workers for all land-based jobs for and on behalf of foreign employers. Meanwhile, seabased agencies recruit seafarers.
By sourcing employees through these licensed recruitment agencies, you can guarantee that only those qualified and medically fit are hired.
For government entities or government-owned or controlled companies, hiring Filipino workers in Australia is done through the Government Placement Branch of DMW.
Once the Australian employer or placement agency has selected a DMW or POEA-licensed recruitment agency in the Philippines, what will the Australian employer do next?
1. Australian employers can search the web page of DMW
For accredited recruitment agencies. Once they have chosen an agency, they need accreditation from the Philippine Overseas Labour Office at the Philippine Embassy in Canberra (POLO-Canberra).
To be accredited, they need to submit the following documents:
a. Recruitment Agreement;
b. Job Order indicating the positions, the number of positions required and salary per position;
c. Copy of valid commercial registration and business license of the principal issued and authenticated by the chamber of commerce or a relevant government office, including information on business activities, number of years in operation and volume/size of current labour force;
d. Master employment contract signed on all pages by the principal or his/her authorized representative; and
e. Contingency plan as may be applicable.
Foreign placement agencies, need to submit the following additional documents:
a. Business license or valid commercial registration of the actual employer hiring Overseas Filipino Workers;
b. Master employment contract from the employer, signed jointly in all pages by the Foreign Placement Agency (FPA) and the actual employer or his/her authorized representative;
c. Manpower request from employer;
d. Service agreement between the FPA and the client/employer; and
e. Undertaking by the FPA/employer to monitor the employment of Overseas Filipino Workers and to submit a report of remarkable events relative thereto.
Meanwhile, staffing or sourcing companies have the following additional requirements:
a. The list of names and addresses of its clients;
b. Manpower request from the client; and
c. Service agreement between the company and its clients.
If you are an Australian employer who wants to directly hire not more than five (5) workers, you are required to submit the following documents:
a. Verified/authenticated original employment contract which is over and above the DMW or POEA prescribed employment contract;
b. Business license/Registration of the company/employer;
c. Passport valid at least six (6) months from the date of intended departure;
d. Valid and appropriate visa or work permit.
2. POLO-Canberra shall verify and authenticate the submitted requirements.
Once the documents are verified and authenticated, what do we do?
You need to submit the documents to your partner recruiter in the Philippines, who will then submit them to the DMW or POEA for registration. Once they approve the registration and Filipino workers are selected for deployment to Australia, the workers shall undergo the mandatory Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar. By attending the seminar, the workers will get their Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC), which will be presented to the Immigration Officer when they depart for Australia.
Get Help from Staffhouse Recruitment Agency
If you are an Australian company looking for Filipinos to fill job vacancies in your company, then let Staffhouse International Resources help you. Staffhouse is an accredited recruitment agency that has been in the business for more than two decades. It has deployed over 25,000 Filipino workers to the Middle East, Africa, North America, Asia, and Oceania. Because of its reputation and expertise, it has received several awards, such as being named POEA’s Top Deploying Agency in 2018, 2019, and 2020. It was also a POEA Top Performer Awardee. With its long-standing partnership experience with foreign placement, Staffhouse can help you find the right Filipino workers for your company. Contact us to learn about our recruitment services.
