By April Joie T. Cunanan, Office Clerk, Division Office

Whenever you hear the term, “Filipino Culture”, I am pretty sure that you think of the
negative traits of Filipinos. The reason for this is that sometime in your life, you might have seen
or experienced the service of your fellowmen. But we will be talking about the new trend in
workplace efficiency – synergy then we will relate it to our “Fiipino Culture”. Really? Yes, indeed!
Synergy, as defined by Business Review (2021) is a collaboration of people in giving their
efforts to improve their achievements and produce great results. Well, “collaboration” is near
impossible when imposed in a workplace, knowing the “utak-talangka” people are out there,
lurking around; even sometimes that negative concept only crosses in our minds because we feel
threatened to a new working environment.
But have you ever thought that not all Filipino traits are purely bad?
Let’s just assume that you are just one of the lucky ones who experienced bad service and
witness the negative side of our culture. Let us go beyond the tinted window of our eyes and see
the positive side.
In a hundred percent, I assume you had called an unrelated person in your life “Kuya” or
“Ate”, and “Tito” or “Tita” if he or she is much older than you. Diversify (2017) said that it is our
way of saying that a person is welcome to our life, in our circle. That is why some call their
workplace, “Home” and making it a place of socialization to better establish better bonds.
According to Business Review (2021), communication helps the team to collaborate thus provide
better results. Meaning, the stronger the communication, the more promising the results would be.
Good relationships can be also associated to everyone’s commitment to the group’s plan (Indeed,
2021) to achieve its vision.
Filipinos are believed to be reserved and shy, this trait avoids conflict in workplaces; not
because they compromise, but they wait for the right time to talk about the conflict. This protects
the bond by not reacting quickly so that every word or decision that can be made are not based on
the sudden shift of emotion which causes long-term damages.
A workplace slows down and becomes unproductive when people are not in collaboration.
The culture of individuality and competition arise abnormally, leading to deception, biased
perception, and unfounded conclusion. This destroys a team which makes the workplace stressful
and toxic.
The secret recipe for synergy is being an organization that is clear to its goals, that is open
to its employees, that is encouraging to its members, and that is open for evaluation. All of these
are possible and can be easily done by having a good relationship through our traits.
Some say Filipinos are late. Some say Filipinos often compare their lives to others. Some
say Filipinos like to gossip about other people’s lives. But have you ever thought of the opposite?
That some are early birds, supportive, and protecting?

We might had been traumatized by some of our own people, but magnets are appreciated
because they have opposite sides, aren’t they? Let us be a magnet that despite of our differences,
there will always be another side that would make us positive and productive. Be the best Filipino
employee that you can ever be.