Walking the Globe Way
The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people. — Tom Peters
MANILA, Philippines - How does one build up and maintain the success of a top conglomerate like Globe Telecom in the fast-changing technological environment and highly-competitive market of Philippine telecommunications?
For 82 years, Globe has pioneered Philippine telecommunications with its mobile phone, landline and broadband internet services. Globe was the first to introduce SMS or text messaging in 1994; it was the first to launch the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) for mobile services in 2000. Its GCASH product has magically turned phones into mobile wallets, and Globe Platinum was the first-ever premium service for discerning mobile users. In recent history, Globe came up with an array of customizable plans dubbed the SuperPlan, which let customers pick the services they wanted and not worry about the rest. And most recently Globe has blazed yet another trail, launching Mobile Advertising thru SMS as a new way for users to earn rewards on their Globe phones. We can be sure they always have something interesting up their sleeve, some new and innovative way to make us smile and keep us in touch with everything that’s important to us.
How do they do it? More to the point, after 82 years, how do they keep on doing it?
Apart from its impeccable Globe brand, its cool and hip Tattoo brand, and the broad-market TM, its vast yet shrewdly-guarded financial resources, its lineup of cutting-edge technologies, its reputable major shareholders led by Ayala Group and Singapore’s blue-chip SingTel (which up to 2007 had the legendary statesman Lee Kuan Yew’s Cambridge-educated second son as CEO), its very solid Globe management team led by the entrepreneurial former BPO pioneer Ernest Cu, I believe one potent secret weapon behind Globe’s dynamism is its over 6,000 employees. It is people that have made and continue to make Globe the powerhouse that it is today.
When this writer had the opportunity to speak with some exemplary longtime Globe employees, I was keen to know more about the lives and thoughts of these women and men who represent the thousands of employees behind Globe Telecom. Ensconced in a cozy table at Café Juanita in Pasig City, I attempted to plumb the depths of Globe’s history through the eyes of its people.
My six new friends are the 55-year-old Demand Department Head Jessie C. Alano, 51-year-old Sonny Medina of Customer Operations Support-Field Operations GMA, 51-year-old Security Division Head Ronald M. Uychutin, the 49-year-old Enterprise Portfolio Management Office Head Tess V. Teng, the 30-year-old Community Relations (Corporate Social Responsibility) Head Jeffrey “Jeff” Tarayao and 37-year-old Branch Activations and Partnerships Head Carmina “Chooey” V. Villo. Collectively they have amassed 118 years of working for the leading telco, and speaking to them was like looking through a window into the company’s soul. The conversation gave me an idea of the kind of rich heritage that Globe enjoys.
Here are some excerpts from our free-wheeling interview:
Philippine Star: When did you first join Globe Telecom and where did you come from before?
Chooey Villo: I joined Globe Telecom in May 1997. It was my first job after I graduated A.B. Interdisciplinary Studies from the Ateneo de Manila University. Before joining Globe, I worked in Belgium for two years with the youth organization called AIESEC.
Ronald Uychutin: I started working for Globe in 1994 as a contractual employee. Then I was regularized in July 1998 and luckily rose from the ranks. I think I’m the only group head who started out as a contractual employee. My department, Security, is also the biggest at Globe, with 5,000 people. Before Globe, I was fortunate to be a scholar of my cousin, the media personality Julie Yap Daza. It was she who gave me tuition fees for my management studies at University of the East. Later I earned my masters degree from the Philippine School of Business Administration.
Jessie Alano: I joined Globe in July 1984 after working for Meralco for eight years. Prior to that I studied accounting at Far Eastern University.
Jeff Tarayao: It was in July 2001 when I joined Globe. It was my first job after graduating with a Communication Arts degree from University of Santo Tomas.
Tess Teng: I joined Globe in December 1984, after working at my first job for one year at the Development Academy of the Philippines. I had graduated with a B.S. Industrial Engineering degree from University of the Philippines.
Sonny Medina: This is my first job. I joined Globe in 1983 after earning my degree in Electrical Engineering from FEATI University.
What was your happiest moment working in Globe Telecom?
Tess Teng: When I met my future husband Joaquin “Jong” Teng in 1984 here at Globe (laughs). He was formerly with the finance department. We married in 1994 and had our child Angela in 1995.
Sonny Medina: My happiest moment was when I met my future wife Rosario “Bebeng” Alasco at Globe in 1988. I courted her and we married three years later. Though I courted others before, at Globe it was only her. I was then in field operations in telex machines, while she was the secretary of our boss. In the office, people call my wife Baby.
Chooey Villo: Like them, I also found happiness with a good husband Carlo Jose Villo, thanks to Globe. He was not a fellow employee but a former supplier. We first met in November 2003 and he started courting me in March 2004, but I didn’t entertain him and I even told Gerry Ablaza, our CEO who was my direct boss at the time, about him. I hardly paid attention to him for one year, because I thought there would be a conflict of interest and I also thought that he was just courting for his business. It was only after one year of his persistence that I realized he was serious, because then he stopped becoming a Globe supplier, and I saw this was truly a case of love over money (laughs). We finally married in 2007 and we even asked Mr. Ablaza to be our ninong (godfather).
Ronald Uychutin: My happiest moment? Everyday is a happy day for me working for Globe Telecom, because I’m happy and ready to face any challenge.
Jessie Alano: I believe my happiest moment was in 2007 when I won Globe Telecom’s Innove Leadership Award. Innove is the wireline subsidiary of Globe. Another happiest moment was in 2004, when I won as “Employee of the Year” at Globe. I felt very honored, both times.
Jeff Tarayao: My CSR job itself is a source of joy, because I know we have the resources at Globe to really help others multiply the blessings they already have. We help out through public education, entrepreneurship, youth development, volunteerism, the environment. My work brings me to some of the most underprivileged places in the Philippines like Masbate, Basilan or in Western Samar. There’s joy when we can help others in places like Tawi-Tawi province, for example, by once giving a public school with 4,000 students their first computers. It’s also a joy to encourage fellow Globe employees to volunteer and help local communities, and we see how the experience helped to change people’s lives.
When you joined Globe, what was the big technological breakthrough at the time?
Jessie Alano: In 1984, the new technology then was the fax machine. It was the “in” thing!
Tess Teng: The same with Jessie, fax was the new technology when I joined Globe in 1984. There was also the international record carrier with no voice yet then but just data service printing.
Jessie Alano: Among Globe’s biggest clients then for that were the U.S. military bases in Subic and Clark, because Globe was then the Philippines’ biggest leased line provider. Our speed then was 9.6 KBPS or kilobits per second. But today, those speeds are long gone and now we use gigabit speeds even just for our home computers!
How fast is technology now compared to the 9.6 KBPS then?
Sonny Medina: Now, our technology is 10 million times faster! (Laughs)
Ronald Uychutin: In 1994, Globe’s expansion was concentrated more on the fixed lines or land lines. At that time, our tools for security work were the pagers and hand-held radios, as well as the big Nokia 2110 model cellphones which looked the tool use to crush ice (laughs).
Chooey Villo: In 1997, text messaging was really popular and was picked up nationwide. I recall Globe’s TV commercials of two deaf-mutes communicating via text messages. It was one of our most-loved and best-remembered commercials. At that time, texting was free and Globe promoted “no cloning” to give our customers good security on their calls and text messages.
Tess Teng: Text messaging was actually introduced earlier in 1994, but it became popular by that time Carmina has mentioned. I remember we were even ahead of Singapore in texting, because we used to even teach our SingTel counterparts how to text.
Jeff Tarayao: In 2001, the technological breakthrough I saw was the Globe Auto Load Max, which enables people to sell cellphone load over the counter or just via texting.
Sonny Medina: I recall in 1983, Globe’s packet-switching technology made it possible for bank ATMs to talk to the main database of banks, so we employees started getting our salaries from ATM machines. Before, ATM cash withdrawals were not possible, so we employees always had to get money over the counter in envelopes at the bank. We’ve come a long way!
How has working at Globe enriched your lives?
Tess Teng: The entrepreneurial mindset is encouraged at Globe, so we think like an owner. I’ve worked in various departments and that has allowed me to develop different interests. Globe allows me to pursue those interests and my own professional development. For example, Globe helped me to become an internationally-certified Project Management Professional.
Chooey Villo: I think Globe allows employees to cultivate physical development like encouraging you to join marathons or sports competitions outside of work, or internal sports competitions like bowling or badminton. There’s also spiritual fulfillment like first Friday Catholic masses every month, and also charitable opportunities and civic work that we employees can join, like helping to build homes with Habitat for Humanity.
Ronald Uychutin: I’ve been able to enrich my life through my work in establishing good rapport with various government agencies and also the AFP and the PNP. We’re a favorite target of some dangerous elements because we are not willing to pay things like so-called “revolutionary taxes”. But our good relationships with those government agencies help us to manage the situation and ensure safety of our people and our network.
Sonny Medina: In my 28 years of working for Globe, I’ve realize that Globe is the best educator---whether in technical matters or on leadership. Pinopondohan ka. The company believes in you and supports you.
Jessie Alano: Globe really invests in its employees. It invests heavily in people management.
Tess Teng: There’s also a mentoring initiative at Globe, like in the case of my boss Mario Domingo, who mentors me so I can do my best work.
What are the changes you’ve seen in Globe?
Jeff Tarayao: It’s like Globe is becoming faster by the day. Before we used to train engineers for months; these days it takes only one or two weeks.
Tess Teng: It’s not only in training that Globe has become faster, but also in our growth as a family. I remember that in 1984 when we had the Globe Christmas party, we had about 350 employees then. There were fewer employees and it felt like a family. These days there are many more of us, so we continue to expand. And it shows that Globe also serves more businesses and more customers nationwide.
Jessie Alano: Yes, Tess is right, Globe has become bigger as an organization with more employees, but the good thing is with our new technologies, everybody is just a text or an email away. And these days we are healthier too. In the past, whenever I entered the Globe offices at United Nations Avenue in Ermita, Manila, I’d always smell the cigar smoke at the lobby because we then had a male telephone operator who smoked cigars. Before at meetings, other people used to smoke and we’d have no choice but to inhale the cigarette smoke. Nowadays, Globe is healthier. No smoking inside the office, only in designated areas outside.
Tess Teng: Speaking of meetings, before people used to bring notebooks or papers with pens, but nowadays at meetings, lots of people are texting or using their Blackberry phones.
Chooey Villo: Before Globe was very marketing-oriented because the brand was not yet very well-known, but now the company is very customer-focused. But what has not changed is that we are still intent on delivering the best service we can to our customers.
Ronald Uychutin: Before we could focus our work on the traditional solutions to security problems. Nowadays, we face out-of-the-box problems like the armed insurgents and also information security issues which require our out-of-the-box security solutions. In the past, we used motorcycles and sometimes even rode horses in the rural mountains for inspections; now we have 4 x 4 vehicles. We now even have speedboats to patrol and secure our fiber optics like in Gigantes Island near Roxas City of Capiz province.
Jessie Alano: Another big difference at Globe: we used to hold office only in one building at UN Avenue, but now we have multiple offices in various locations all over Metro Manila and even around the country.
Chooey Villo: Hopefully in the near future, we’ll all be in one big office: Our new corporate headquarters that will rise in the Bonifacio Global City.
What are your funniest moments at Globe?
Ronald Uychutin: No funniest moments for me, sorry, because we security personnel are serious people (smiles).
Jessie Alano: Lots of funny moments at Globe parties, at departmental parties or annual Christmas parties and otherwise (laughs).
Jeff Tarayao: Yes, lots of laughter at Globe Christmas parties.
Sonny Medina: In the 1980s, we used to have out-of-town excursions at Globe, we had lots of funny moments in the games. Those were whole-day excursions during summer. I remember one trip to Anilao in Batangas, we employees rode two buses for three hours to reach there. There were lots of laughs and games.
Chooey Villo: The funniest memory for me was when I joined Globe in 1997. Back then it was the boom period of mobile expansion and I was brought in as assistant to then Globe President Del Lazaro. But when they hired me, there was no more available office space. So my boss installed a small cubicle inside his office, where I would sit and listen to his meetings as part of my job training. I would sit and listen but I was not allowed to talk yet. People would come to his office and wonder what on earth this girl in a small cubicle was doing sitting in there. I thought that was really funny..
What keeps you with Globe? What is it that makes you want to stay with this company?
Sonny Medina: Working for Globe is rewarding. The company is financially stable and takes care of you.
Jessie Alano: The people that I work. My fellow employees actually give me a lot of inspiration.
Tess Teng: The values the company espouses are aligned with my personal values, most importantly the value of integrity. There is maximum transparency in Globe.
Chooey Villo: Yes I agree with Tess, I’ve never been forced at Globe Telecom to do something that I’m personally against. You see other companies out there doing all kinds of questionable or illegal activities, but Globe will not do any of that.
Jeff Tarayao: The strong sense of moral uprightness of Globe is what keeps me here. It means that to achieve something, you do it the right way in Globe.
Ronald Uychutin: What keeps me with Globe? It’s because of you, our Globe customers, because we are happy to be of service to all of you.
Others: Pang Miss Universe iyang sagot mo ah! (laughter)
It’s unimaginable nowadays to be without a mobile phone even for one minute, whether for our work or leisure. With the company’s most recent advertising campaign espousing “Your Globe Your Way”, it’s easy to see that much of Globe’s success lies also in its ability to constantly respond to what is out there, to shift with the times and keep reinventing itself to become just what people need: A provider not just of services but of freedom to express yourself, freedom to explore all options available, freedom to pursue your passions and discover what fuels you. It’s the Globe way, and it’s a way that its longtime employees practice everyday.
I trust that Globe and its people shall not rest on the laurels of past accomplishments and shall continue to work hard in helping to better the lives of customers like us.
This writer’s very first mobile phone was a postpaid Globe cellphone, and after interviewing this random sampling of six exemplary employees and hearing their first-hand experiences, I have more confidence than ever before that Globe shall continue its commitment to integrity, excellence, innovation and service.
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