Category Archives: on the job

THE CHANGING TIDES

Posted on by
moon-oceantides

photo courtesy of lunarland.com

I’ve been having this work-related conversation with a friend who is having a hard time motivating himself after not getting the expected rewards for hard work the past year. I told him that I remember my older sister telling me this: in the workplace (this particular workplace that I was supposed to go to) bawal maging bibo (don’t show you’re smart). Why? Either they will 1) dump more work on you; 2) idiots will feel threatened by you and sabotage your work and reputation; or 3) completely ignore you and not reward you for your hardwork and sacrifices. Better just as do what is expected of you; nothing less, nothing more.

I know it’s really a bad principle to adopt but it really makes a lot of sense. That is the reality and have seen it several times in my career. It’s idealistic to expect that the company will value you as you think it should but that is not always (or never) the case. It’s normally how you project yourself (face value/packaging), connections, and how thick your skin is that gets you the prize. Sadly, I’ve seen that several times over the 16 years of my professional life.

So what did I tell my friend? You can seethe and rant all you want and your only recourse now is to resign OR scale back on the work load and take it easy. Perform and do what is expected of you but don’t overdo it again. Save your hide. No point in giving your soul. (Another friend ranted to me one time “Ano pa ba ang gusto nila eh nakuha na nila kaluluwa ko?!” But that friend had a happier ending than this first friend of mine since he got a high double-digit raise.)

So why did I say “changing tides?” Well, I heard a number of people in the company where my friend works are now looking for other jobs. One even had four job interviews in one week. That’s how bad things are, how badly managed the company is. They don’t know how to value people.

I’ve read an article somewhere that people leave because of bad managers. True. I stayed with a job before despite the crappy pay and all because I had a good boss/mentor. In the case of my stark raving mad friend, the company is badly managing people and is rewarding the wrong people (the deadwoods).

If the Facebook memes are to be believed, it was Sir Richard Branson who said that companies should value its workers first before customers. Pay attention to your own people before chasing the profits. Sadly, only a few do. (On a related note, read “Can Small Businesses Afford To Adopt Sir Richard Branson’s Approach to Employee Benefits?”)

hqdefault

So what are we to do? We should work for ourselves then. But that route is not for everybody.

Love the profession, not the company

Posted on by

I have a friend who is so pissed with the raise the company gave him this year. He said: after all the suffering, this is all I get?!

I didn’t have any soothing words to offer him that time because I know exactly how he feels. I’ve also been in his position, giving so much more of myself to a company that didn’t appreciate me at all. It failed me a couple of times and my bosses were too blind to see it. Then they got pissed off with me for leaving.

So I told my friend, “You know, somebody told me that we could love our professions but not the company because it will never love us back. We’re just workers, a means for it to generate profits. So just do what is expected of you but there’s no point in giving too much of ourselves to something that wouldn’t give as much as we do.” And no one is indispensable.

Learned the lesson the hard way.

And oh, I told him, “I’ve also set my expectations much lower than yours.”

Hahahaha. Bitterness sometimes can get you somewhere.

MALL FOOD

Posted on by

Had been in Singapore for 8 days now. Flying back to Manila tonight. I didn’t plan on blogging too soon but the horrible chicken rice somewhere in ION Food Centre (or whatever it’s called) has prompted me to say something about it.

I had been spoiled by good food for a week now, mainly courtesy of hawkers centres or those hole-in-the-wall restaurants near the business district where no white guys dare go. A co-worker brought us to Maxwell Hawkers Centre one day for white chicken rice since I had been hankering for it for days. SGD25 for 5 of us was not bad at all.

Then came the white chicken rice at the mall that I just had earlier today for SGD7++…It had my blood boiling. What a rip off! Tasted like—nothing! It was just like chicken boiled in water and I had to drown it with that gooey dark sauce, some chili oil and lots of garlic paste just to make it palatable. For the life of me I can no longer remember the name of the vendor but I’m sure I will not be coming back. I was just too hungry at that time to go searching for something nice to eat so I had to settle for mall food. Should’ve known better. *sigh*

SOLO FLIGHT

Posted on by

Here is my workstation nowadays. I’m half-home telecommuter, half-digital nomad. I work solo about 90% of the time and the rare moments that I get to share a table with fellow journalists is when i get to go to one of the government banks in Makati that miraculously still maintains a press office. Most of the time I interact only with avatars and my main means of communicating with the outside world, aside from mobile phone texting is through Skype and Facebook Messenger. If I need some kind of human interaction, I go to a coffee/milktea shop.

Welcome to the world of the international correspondent.

OFW FOR A WEEK

Posted on by

Went overseas because of some assignment and because i had to deal with some administrative stuff for work. I just experienced how it is to be an OFW and i say it was one hell of an experience. My only consolation was that I knew I would be going home by the end of the week whereas real OFWs had to deal with months or years of loneliness.

While I was away, I missed my twins’ first public performance in school where they sang danced. I wasn’t able to take photos.

I learned about my kids’ late night/early morning cries as they searched for mommy in bed. It broke my heart but I was so far away and all I could do was pray.

My routine was to walk to work (my hotel was just near my place of work), do the usual stuff a reporter is supposed to do, go home at 8:30 pm, have dinner, and plop on my hotel bed at 10 pm. Repeat. Everyday. Thank God for Viber, I could communicate with my family whenever I was within a wifi hotspot. My phone was on roaming mode but of course calls are expensive.

I couldn’t wait to get back to Manila.

Imagine, it was just only for a week. What if I was faced with months and months of loneliness but financial circumstances didn’t give me any choice?

Salute to the OFWs. I just wish you didn’t have to be there wherever you are. I wish jobs are plentiful here back home.