Caveats on team-building activities

The tragedy that marred the team-building activity of the men’s basketball team of Ateneo de Manila University in a beach resort in Aurora should be food for thought to companies that engage in similar activities.

It is common practice by some companies in the country that have a lot of employees, e.g., 20 and more, to spend several days in resorts outside of their principal place of business during the months of April and May to hold those events.

Often held in resorts that have facilities for group discussions and water-based recreation, the activity is aimed at building camaraderie among the staff and giving them a pleasant breather from their daily work.

For employees with financial constraints, the expense-free vacation is heaven-sent. The morale boosting is enhanced if the employees’ families are included in the event at no additional cost to them.

Properly managed, the two- or three-day break has proven to be an effective way to improving communication and coordination among the employees, including the higher-ups.

Before any site is chosen, a team of employees is usually sent to prospective resort areas to check on their accessibility, accommodations, security and availability of medical services.

All boxes have to be checked first before any arrangements are made because those activities do not come cheap, so management has to make sure it will get its money’s worth.

The selection process is easier if the chosen resort is accredited by the Department of Tourism (DOT), which is tasked by law to ensure that primary tourist establishments in the country meet the minimum requirements of public health, safety and service quality.

Those establishments, which include resorts, are required to secure accreditation from the DOT before they operate.

(Incidentally, according to the DOT, the operator of the resort where two Ateneo basketball players drowned does not have DOT accreditation.)

Since team-building activities are conducted at the auspices of the company to accomplish objectives that are beneficial to it, they are, under the law, considered as work performed during official working hours within office premises.

In the same token, any disciplinary infraction committed during the activity may be punished under the company’s rules and regulations.

Thus, management has to exercise the “due diligence of a good father of a family” to ensure the safety and health of the employees on their way to the site, during the activity and on their way home.

If any untoward incidents happen during the event, the company is obliged to pay for their costs or expenses. In case something similar to what happened to the two Ateneo basketball players occurs, the company may be held liable for civil and criminal liabilities if it can be shown that it was guilty of gross negligence in the conduct of the event.

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As an offshoot of the Ateneo incident, a caveat that should be taken into consideration in the planning of team-building activities is the manner, as well as the objective of the conduct of some of its activities.

Note that the Philippine National Police (PNP) had recommended that the Ateneo coaching staff be charged, aside from homicide, of violation of the Anti-Hazing Law.

The PNP said some of the physical activities during that event may be considered as acts of physical initiation that the law prohibits. Although this allegation may look like a stretch, it would have to be answered by the concerned parties if it is included in charge sheet.

This is not to sound paranoid, but it is not far-fetched that an employee who participated in a team-building activity and is later suspended or dismissed may, in an effort to prevent its implementation, threaten his or her employer to complain to the authorities that the said law was violated during that event.

Without meaning to, the Ateneo tragedy may oblige some companies to take a second look at the once-a-year all-expenses-paid event that their employees look forward to.