The Inherent Inequality of Expat-Local Workplace Relationship
After a night of unproductive carousal at the local nightclub, the author is starting to get the realization that perhaps developing more substantial (i.e. not strictly work-related) relationships with one's coworkers may be much more fulfilling than trying to carry on pointless conversation with a complete stranger in vain hope of finding some sort of common ground. After all, in the case of coworkers, one can always fall back on talking about entertaining rumors and incidents of the workplaces, when attempts at conversations of other topics falls flat due to, say, lack of common interest or cultural differences.
So one would think, but as the author go forward with testing such hypothesis, one unseen factor threatens to make workplace connections just as, if not more, difficult than carousing with random strangers in random places. This is the concept of "workplace inequality," not so much a reflection of who is on top of who in corporate hierarchy, but how the corporate hierarchy somehow manages to equate itself with social hierarchy. In other words, people at different levels of any company seems to lead different lives outside work as well, in a non-ethnic version of parallel society previously described for Malaysia.
The locale for testing was a weekly gathering of a coworker for a rousing round of badminton on a Tuesday night. In a random dark alleyway in the random part of a city that no expat really knows about, there is a dingy set of dimly light stairs leading to the second floor. The door-less front entrance does not look like much, but once those dark set of stairs are climbed, one is led to perhaps one of the best facilities for badminton that can be found in this country...or anywhere. Specialized shoes, drinks, and courts greet enthusiasts from all over the city, dressed in their most elegant exercise attires.
Having a hobby is expensive in this country. Many people, especially those who make-up the backbone of the Filipino economy (various kinds of services, such as tourism, call centers, and medical treatments) do not have substantial time off from work (many work seven days a week, literally). They will not have the time or the energy to pick up a habit of, say, playing three rounds of badminton on every Tuesday night. Nor are they willing to pay for it. Equipment is expensive, especially for a country without any substantial manufacturing base to speak of. Importers and middle-men help to make anything used here costly.
So given how expensive it can be, the group was exclusively well-off. Architects, managers, entrepreneurs, independent business owners...the cream of the crop, the elite of the elites, the leaders that keeps an often-unsteady Filipino economy (especially its non-foreign-related portion) somehow on-track and growing, was well-represented. Scarily enough, the premise was also almost exclusively populated by Chinese-Filipinos ("chinitas"), and European-Filipino mixed bloods ("mestizos"). Few pure-blood, dark-skinned Filipino natives ("morenas"). Ethnic composition, like is the case for Mexico, has correlation with wealth.
The sight at the badminton center says much about the state of workplace relationship in the Philippines. Instead of going across different segments of corporate hierarchy within their own companies, people rather choose to hang out with people in same or similar level of hierarchy in other companies. Why? Because different levels within a company means completely different lives outside the company. Hierarchy in a company, by the virtue of social connections, difference in pay, and familial origins, become reflective of one's social circles, both within and outside the workplace.
The author's other attempts to speak frankly, not as a coworker seeking cooperation on projects, but as a person with humanist concerns, to people at lower levels of any company is often met with dismaying display of self-depreciation laced with cynical sense of jealousy and a tinge of anger at childhood hopes dashed by the daily grind of the corporate world. Almost working uniformly more than five days a week, they seem to be much more robotic and emotionless in their conversations, trying their best to hide their disappointments in themselves for ending up where they are.
It is no wonder that those up high cannot speak to them for long. The elites talk about interesting ideas at work and interesting hobbies outside it. They have financial capacity and mental freedom to engage in both. They are quietly condescending of those below them, without taking into account the negative influences they themselves played to make those below them as such. Such inequality at the workplace, transcending simply difference in pay, is what makes a Filipino workplace nothing more than a workplace and scary microcosm of inequality in society in general. It neither helps to unite a company or Philippines as a country.
So one would think, but as the author go forward with testing such hypothesis, one unseen factor threatens to make workplace connections just as, if not more, difficult than carousing with random strangers in random places. This is the concept of "workplace inequality," not so much a reflection of who is on top of who in corporate hierarchy, but how the corporate hierarchy somehow manages to equate itself with social hierarchy. In other words, people at different levels of any company seems to lead different lives outside work as well, in a non-ethnic version of parallel society previously described for Malaysia.
The locale for testing was a weekly gathering of a coworker for a rousing round of badminton on a Tuesday night. In a random dark alleyway in the random part of a city that no expat really knows about, there is a dingy set of dimly light stairs leading to the second floor. The door-less front entrance does not look like much, but once those dark set of stairs are climbed, one is led to perhaps one of the best facilities for badminton that can be found in this country...or anywhere. Specialized shoes, drinks, and courts greet enthusiasts from all over the city, dressed in their most elegant exercise attires.
Having a hobby is expensive in this country. Many people, especially those who make-up the backbone of the Filipino economy (various kinds of services, such as tourism, call centers, and medical treatments) do not have substantial time off from work (many work seven days a week, literally). They will not have the time or the energy to pick up a habit of, say, playing three rounds of badminton on every Tuesday night. Nor are they willing to pay for it. Equipment is expensive, especially for a country without any substantial manufacturing base to speak of. Importers and middle-men help to make anything used here costly.
So given how expensive it can be, the group was exclusively well-off. Architects, managers, entrepreneurs, independent business owners...the cream of the crop, the elite of the elites, the leaders that keeps an often-unsteady Filipino economy (especially its non-foreign-related portion) somehow on-track and growing, was well-represented. Scarily enough, the premise was also almost exclusively populated by Chinese-Filipinos ("chinitas"), and European-Filipino mixed bloods ("mestizos"). Few pure-blood, dark-skinned Filipino natives ("morenas"). Ethnic composition, like is the case for Mexico, has correlation with wealth.
The sight at the badminton center says much about the state of workplace relationship in the Philippines. Instead of going across different segments of corporate hierarchy within their own companies, people rather choose to hang out with people in same or similar level of hierarchy in other companies. Why? Because different levels within a company means completely different lives outside the company. Hierarchy in a company, by the virtue of social connections, difference in pay, and familial origins, become reflective of one's social circles, both within and outside the workplace.
The author's other attempts to speak frankly, not as a coworker seeking cooperation on projects, but as a person with humanist concerns, to people at lower levels of any company is often met with dismaying display of self-depreciation laced with cynical sense of jealousy and a tinge of anger at childhood hopes dashed by the daily grind of the corporate world. Almost working uniformly more than five days a week, they seem to be much more robotic and emotionless in their conversations, trying their best to hide their disappointments in themselves for ending up where they are.
It is no wonder that those up high cannot speak to them for long. The elites talk about interesting ideas at work and interesting hobbies outside it. They have financial capacity and mental freedom to engage in both. They are quietly condescending of those below them, without taking into account the negative influences they themselves played to make those below them as such. Such inequality at the workplace, transcending simply difference in pay, is what makes a Filipino workplace nothing more than a workplace and scary microcosm of inequality in society in general. It neither helps to unite a company or Philippines as a country.
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