TACLOBAN CITY – To improve the efficiency and productivity of office workers, the provincial government of Leyte in collaboration with the provincial office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) organized and held a seminar dubbed “5 S of Good Housekeeping” at the Small and Medium Enterprise Center, Tacloban City, on Jan. 27.
The seminar, whose main goal was to instill values formation on the part of employees in the province, was graced by no less than Leyte Gov. Carlos Jericho “Icot” Petilla. In addition, high-ranking provincial employees and representative workers from various offices in the city, including employees from the Leyte Provincial Library, Assessor’s Office, Legal Office, Engineer’s Office, Treasurer’s Office, and Provincial Population Office, were also present in the day-long affair.
Highlighting the seminar was the lecture delivered by Celito Francisco Yap, senior Trade and Industry Specialist (TIDS) of the DTI provincial office, on productivity concepts.
In his discourse, the DTI official acknowledged that the Philippines, formerly Asia’s second most powerful economy, has fallen behind other Asian countries like Singapore and Thailand because of low and decreasing productivity of its workers, including office employees.
“The Philippines has fallen way behind other Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, and even Vietnam is fast catching up in terms of economics performance,” Yap stressed.
Subsequently, to make the point clear, the DTI officials highlighted the various unproductive practices that have plagued offices in the country. According to him, those practices included tardiness, laziness, engaging in gossip while at work, making alibis, wastage of office resources, and engaging in unproductive practices in the office like gambling and answering crossword puzzles.
“Those practices have made offices in the country less productive,” he pointed out. “And less productivity has contributed a lot to the decline of our economy from being No. 2 in Asia to one of its poorest,” he added.
To improve the productivity of offices around the country, especially the ones in Leyte province, Yap stressed that several positive steps should be taken.
According to him, employees should adhere to productive practices like adhering to biblical virtues, which included honesty, industry, fellowship, and truthfulness. In addition, according to him there should be employee involvement and empowerment in the workplace, labor-management consultation like in PASAR, and suggestive schemes like the use of advanced productivity tools.
The productivity lecture was preceded by an inspirational talk delivered by Gov. Petilla, and the welcome remarks of the Provincial Administrator Vincent Emnas.
