Back to 'Civilization'

This coming Monday, I'm finally back to my morning shift after 453 days of doing mid-day shift!

    I'm not going to lie, deciding last year to suggest a wild idea to the HR Department and the respective bosses for me to work on the mid-day shift so that I would not end up working more than 12 hours on some days (and then reporting to work early on the next day) was a very, very hard pill to swallow. Hard in the sense that my primary Filipino Work Value based on my Filipino Work Values Scale (FWVS) results was being challenged in this situation.

    You may have been wondering what is a FWVS? Basically it's a questionnaire where it asked you how much you value something based on certain scenarios at work that is suitable for the traits of a Filipino worker. It has 10 different subscales to determine which among these you value the most in the workplace and these are: Environmental, Familial, Intellectual-Achievement, Interpersonal, Managerial, Material, Occupational, Organizational, Religious and Variety. ^[1] You can value them all but with the question in the form of 5-point Likert scale, you would feel some of the values there had less impact to you when it comes for you to be motivated in the workplace and that also means you can see if that workplace can provide that certain value that you've being valuing in the workplace. ^[2] Get it?

    I would just tackle some of the subscales as a I go along in this blog since explaining each and every subscale was not the main point of this. So you'll be wondering what was the work value that was challenged? Perhaps most would say it was money (Material Subscale) and the usual solution would be to throw more money at you right? What if I tell you that was not the subscale I was referring to and I'm referring the Environmental subscale of it?

   Now that I mentioned the Environmental Subscale of the Filipino Work Values Scale, I would explain what is it all about. A worker who is said to have a high value on environment says to value the physical surroundings in the workplace and the like such as the easy mode of transportation or even the favorable work schedule. So here is where the environment subscale of it becomes tricky during lockdown. We know that a work-from-home setup makes the work time and rest time blurred. It may have given you unlimited freedom to do anything you want for as long as you make sure to produce the output that is required by the company, but it also meant that the boundaries between work and rest were unintentionally crossed. So in here it depends on whether you got the short end of the stick or not.

    However in my case, it sure was fun while it lasted. But then given the nature of my work, I was not totally mad or frustrated (maybe a little) because perhaps I understood my role in the company. My De La Salle University's Graduate School's Action Research Paper as part of our thesis defense sure did made me realize that the solution that we found on the issue that our department was dealing pre-pandemic would not work for me - but at least it worked with my fellow colleagues in the same department as mine.

    So you'll be wondering, what the heck happened to me when I decided to start my work shift after lunch until an hour before the start of the government's official start night shift (at 10pm)? Well for one, the sleep pattern definitely changed. Imagine a person who could probably count with her fingers using one hand the number of times she would sleep after 12 midnight in a month (barring online sale) pre-mid shift but now sleeping late becoming the norm. When my department's VP mentioned to me that I might be toast because of the brutal schedule since she mentioned you cannot just immediately shut yourself down to sleep by the time you clocked out at 9pm (barring your supervisors higher than your department's VP would not be looking for you during those times), she was definitely right because at first you could immediately go to bed after 9pm, but as the time goes by your body would take a toll and you would really need to wind down before you could actually doze off to sleep.

    Second, an afternoon shift may have meant more time to cater to the needs of my family (like doing errands for the family or family business) but it also meant that less time to do things for myself. Imagine how many books and movies that were pending (I have not finished reading Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho until now for crying out loud - the book not being a usual story plot does not even help too). It also meant that everything has to be enjoyed short-lived. As one of my friends told me before sometimes in the lines of "before Sarah can be dragged out anytime we want during the work week but now it's even a luxury if we can make her go out with us.". 

    Lastly, I may have gotten the most possible income during the stretch (thanks to holiday pays), but it may have come at the cost of having the longest and the most bizarre sicknesses I've ever experienced during this period. (we are not even counting the number of times I had a fever after I got administered with the COVID vaccine). So you think throwing more money would motivate the time? Maybe it depends on who you ask and what was the situation.

    What struck me while reading Maktub by Paulo Coelho was when one of the wise men shared the story about an explorer. I quote from the book.

An explorer, a white man, anxious to reach his destination in the heart of Africa, promised an extra payment to his bearers if they would make greater speed. For several days, the bearers moved along at a faster pace. One afternoon, though, they all suddenly put down their burden and sat on the ground. No matter how much money they were offered, they refused to move on. When the explorer finally asked why they were behaving as they were, he was given the following answer: "We have been moving along at such a fast pace that we no longer know what we are doing. Now we have to wait until our soul catches up with us."

    This was what I am always thinking of when it comes to stakeholders motivating you by giving you more money. Perhaps I was a little fortunate that I was somehow in a more financial stable state compared to others. But given my health history (especially during college wherein I got hospitalized twice in a span of six months), that my body can seem to only take a certain amount of toll and stress in order not to get sick, I knew that if the material subscale does not have to be that extremely important when I look for the job. I have to prioritize other stuff like the location, workplace where it would generate the least possible distress (because stress can still be good and bad, you just hope you have more good ones than bad). What would be the use of high salary if you always call in sick right? This may be one of the reasons why I was still working in the same company, one of the core Filipino work subscale was still being addressed at the same time the other non-important subscales were being addressed without you desperately craving it at all.

    So after 453 days, the project was finally done (perhaps earlier - I just waited just in case they changed their mind and if I haven't asked someone from the higher ups for the update), got the approval that I could go back to morning shift... except I'm still recuperating from the viral infection I got that still got me on sick leave for 5 days. I would have wanted a long vacation after the project was done, but since I ended up being sick by the time they approved my shift, I guess I might as well enjoy this after never having a two whole days of leave during those time.

    For now, looking forward to going back to 'civilization' where taking leaves are okay, hanging out with friends anytime I want (as long as I do not compromise my colleagues of course), and maybe I dare say get my life back?

References:

[1] Cietowbae, (n.d.). Filipino Work Values. Emaze. Retrieved August 12, 2022 from https://www.emaze.com/@AIZOWWCW

[2] Llenares, I. I. (2015). Contribution of Demographics and Human Resource Management Practices to Work Values of Employees in the Philippines. International Journal of Education and Research , 3(1), 299–310. Retrieved August 12, 2022, from https://www.ijern.com/journal/2015/January-2015/25.pdf.