First Pacific HR Congress

Last June 17 and 18, the company I am currently working for joined 15 other subsidiaries under the MVP Group of Companies, in the First Pacific HR Congress at the Meralco Development Center in Antipolo.

As you all know, the President and CEO of this MVP Group is no other than Manny V. Pangilinan, probably the most successful businessman in the whole of Southeast Asia. Parts of his conglomerate are companies such as Meralco, Smart, TV5, Maynilad, PLDT, Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Metro Tollways, to name just half of it, and if you will notice, these companies’ businesses are basic commodities. Can you imagine having control over all these utility giants and medical providers? For MVP, it’s no longer an imagination.

I idolize the man for his work ethic and vision. In a story shared by Mr. Butch Jimenez Jr., who is the SVP and Head for HR for PLDT, every time he walks into the office of MVP, he sees this framed quote saying, “You have all Eternity to rest…when you die.” (Which probably is a reflection of the work ethics of MVP.) Meaning that during this life time, you have to devote, commit, and dedicate all your time and effort in your work and your family, because when you die, you will have all eternity to rest.

Another thing I loved about this HR Congress, are the visions and experiences shared by the other CEOs. We were graced by the presence of Jose Lim – President and CEO Metro Pacific, Augusto Palisoc Jr. – President and CEO MPIC Hospital Group, Ramon Fernandez – President and CEO Metro Pacific Tollways, Ricky Vargas – President and CEO Maynilad, and Oscar Reyes - COO Meralco.

They all agreed that there is only one question that matters to the employees...Are they happy? That is what HR is about, making employees happy with their jobs. They also shared insights on how important it is to focus on strategic and operational issues, succession planning, crisis management, honesty and transparency, how to build a high perfromance credibility and a culture of winning.

But what captured my attention the most, was the motivational-inspirational talk of Mr. Butch Jimenez Jr. on the topic of Current and Future Response to the National Human Resource Agenda. (How we as HR practitioners can contribute to the country; jokingly aside, he said that this is all a bunch of crap and the reason for the HR Congress is so that the HR folks of the MVP Group of Companies can prove that we are not card boards and can party!!) – Which I will share later on, on how we enjoyed the evening and the team-building activities the next day.

In Mr. Jimenez’ talk, for me the focal point of the discussion is the concept of productivity. In the example that he gave; which would be more productive, if a company has 10 workers that can produce one pencil a day for a the price of 100 pesos per worker, or a company who has 5 workers that can produce 2 pencils a day for the price of 200 pesos. The total cost of the salaries paid are the same, the production output is the same, but who do you think is more productive? Thus, it is not the number of workers you have, but the quality of work that they give you, with this, you can put premium on their salaries for their competencies, correct? And to ensure that productivity continues, there are 3 things that you must do; Constant Monitoring, Incentivize and Inspire.

We also had a Breakout session where we were grouped into several committees, to tackle different facets of Human Resources. Our group discussed several aspects of Leadership Development and Succession, which was led by Mr. Ramon Segismundo and Mr. Rufino Rodriguez. We brainstormed on what the best practices were, current and emerging issues, proposed and key solutions, which later on was presented to the rest of the congress members.

Of course, after a full day of lectures and discussions, we had the opportunity to unwind that night in a Funny and Funky way.

check out: First Pacific HR Congress – Funny and Funky
check out: First Pacific HR Congress - Team-Building