Initiative Recognizes Volunteering as Work Experience Advancement: Pros and Cons | Republican Congress | Work Experience | Job Opportunities | Peru

Congress woman Katie Ugarte, Member of the United Parliamentary Committee and Parliamentary Dialogue (ex-Peru Libre), delivered on 25 September Bill no. 5999, The law encourages volunteering and recognizes it as work experience Pre-professional procedures. In fact, this project joins two other initiatives: N° 5664 (from Luis Angel Aragón, Acción Popular) and N° 5768 (Raúl Huamán, from Fuerza Popular).

“The general purpose of the bills under consideration is to recognize volunteer service as work experience for university, non-university and professional higher education students” This is mentioned in the Labor Commission’s presentation Congress of the Republic.

The committee unanimously approved the proposal.. What do you propose and what can be brought up for debate in the plenary session of Parliament?

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It is Act no. 28238 seeks to amend Article 11 of the Voluntary Public Law. “Volunteering is recognized as work experience in all its aspects and is considered pre-professional practices if undertaken in a field related to the technical or university career of the participant.”

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Volunteering is counted as one day every six hours, therefore, only volunteers who complete at least 360 hours of volunteer activity equivalent to three months are eligible to receive the certificate.

“The number of hours can be accumulated according to the time availability of each volunteer, therefore, a standard record should be kept. The number of hours, converted into days and the object of volunteering should be mentioned in the certificate issued to the holder. Indicates the document.

Basics

The Bill states that it seeks to facilitate this process youth Access to work experiences so they have more opportunities to achieve employment.

The main obstacle to that, the text argues job opportunity It’s inexperience. He quoted the report as such “Shortage of Job Opportunities for Youth 2022” According to ManpowerGroup, 81% of the youth in the country are having trouble finding a job.

According to this study, There are three causes of problems: scarcity Work experience (33%), decrease Salary (19%) and language management (13%).

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Therefore, companies do not employ youth precisely because of lack of experience, which “negatively affects the new generation of workers and youth talent. “Job Opportunities”.

“(…) If he Volunteering This is an absolutely commendable act, why are thousands of people (mostly young people) who give their time to make a positive impact on society not properly compensated? We are not referring to money but a document. Lets prove them Pre-professional procedures o Work Experience”, For instance, the Congress woman supports Ugarte’s initiative.

The paper also points out that treating volunteering as work experience will create a strong incentive to increase the number of volunteers, making them more likely to be employed in the future. employment And at the same time, contribute to society.

Does it really promote employment?

Mónica Villegas, Director of Employment Opportunities at UPC and expert on the labor market, The initiative was thought to encourage employment opportunities as it would attract firms “Voluntary Withdrawal” Instead of creating Job positions.

“Pre-professional practices have been disrupted. This seems very dangerous to me. (This bill) will lead to job displacement Companies “They’d love to have volunteers work, they’d rotate and jobs wouldn’t be created.”I said management.

The expert recalled that these practices are regulated by Law 28518, which establishes that pre-professional trainees must receive a subsidy equivalent to a subsidy. minimum living wage, After six months half the subsidy will be available and after one year another half subsidy will be available.

This number is well regulated to ensure precisely that the students contributing to the training and institutions are not exploited in some way; The young man contributes and the company pays him for it, he added.

“That’s what is going to happen with this law Businessmen They prefer volunteers instead of interns because this way they eliminate costs. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”, Villegas noted.

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Patricia Soto Quiroga, Director of Studies at the University of Piura, Acknowledging the above and maintaining the same as proposed CongressOrganizations may not approve Labor rights of youth.

“For example, The Monthly Financial Grant It is currently earmarked for pre- and professional procedures, 15-day holidays and health insurance. “It is very important to consider this issue,” mentioned.

Legislative initiative argues youth They don’t get jobs due to lack of experience. For Soto Quiroga, this would respond to formal unemployment in Peru, so measures should be taken to encourage formalization and job creation.

“The focus should not be on how to consider volunteering as a pre-professional practice (in some cases it may be related to the career the young volunteer pursues), but on how to develop it. Access to a procedure will be much easier”, He explained.

Volunteering vs Internship: Which Has More Weight?

Soto Quiroga pointed out that considering volunteering and internships is a risk because it is very good for students’ training level. “It won’t change in any way Prior professional experiences It happens in a workplace”.

“All work relationships, such as keeping a defined schedule, communicating with co-workers, having work-specific tasks, and seeing clients; can’t be replaced by what happens in a VolunteeringNo matter how professional it is”, He noted management.

By trying to equate volunteer work with internships, she added, students miss out on the possibility of getting these first approaches to the working world. Pre and professional procedures.

“Volunteering is wonderful, it develops many qualities and skills in students, but it doesn’t have the same characteristics as a pre-professional internship, which are two distinctly different areas.”said the speaker.

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Mónica Villegas, for her part, considered that in reality these statistics do not carry the same weight for companies. Human resources They value internships more than volunteering.

“Companies consider the experience they see profile and what they talk about with the student. I’m sure recruiters don’t give them the same value because unpaid is not valued. When volunteering, trying to provide an internship certificate is ridiculous because legally they have a different opinion.He noted.

He argued in the case TrainersThese enter an organization to learn and work, so they receive constant feedback and support.

Rather, nature Volunteering It is about collaborative execution of actions, so no orientation or training is necessary.