More than a workplace: Inside Optum Cebu’s new home for connection, comfort and care

MANILA, Philippines — Optum Philippines, a leading healthcare global capability center (GCC), brings its people-centered approach to life through its newest Cebu site, built around productivity, comfort, connection, wellness and care.

Optum Cebu’s new site spans three floors, each serving a distinct purpose. From warm, inviting lounges and comfortable workstations to recreational areas and wellness facilities, every corner has been intentionally designed around the everyday experiences of its employees.

As a Global Capability Center, one of its highlights is the innovative locker rooms, designed with employees’ needs in mind. The modern and thoughtfully designed space reflects Optum’s commitment to providing a comfortable, convenient and people-centered workplace.

The cafeteria is more than a place to eat. Its flexible layout allows it to transform into a venue for town halls, customer service week celebrations, company activities and events welcoming new hires.

Up on its operations floor, the office takes on an even more relaxed character. Alongside the production floor, where employees work at individual cubicles equipped with high-end equipment, are spaces made for everything that happens between tasks—a karaoke room, music room, gaming areas and wellness facilities.

Comfortable lounge areas are scattered throughout the workplace, with soft couches, armchairs and low tables offering employees a place to sit, talk or simply take a breather. One of these is an operations-area lounge or “Flex Space” designed to make conversations feel less formal—a space where employees can exchange ideas, hold focus group discussions, participate in group coaching, or simply spend their break with colleagues.

Associate Director for Talent Acquisition at Optum Philippines Justin John Jordan said the spaces were intentionally created to encourage connection and make room for conversations that may not happen in a conventional meeting room.

“We wanted to make sure that there are also areas, or settings, where they can openly talk about innovations, or any area that they can give us feedback, focus group discussions, or if they wanted to just talk about any activities,” Jordan said.

That same intention runs throughout the new site. The spaces are not simply designed to look good; they are shaped around Optum’s mission to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone, its purpose of creating a healthier world “one insight, one connection, one person at a time,” and its promise to “deliver better, for you.”

For Senior Director for Corporate Marketing of Optum Philippines Dang Casado, that philosophy begins with the people inside the building.

“We are in the healthcare business. We provide care to millions of people, so while we extend that care to patients, we also want to make sure that we extend that same care to our people,” Casado said. “That level of care is something that we want them to feel, not just hear about.”

That care can be seen in the details.

Each floor has locker areas with dedicated “mud spaces” where employees can conveniently leave their helmets, rain gear and other belongings after navigating Cebu’s often unpredictable weather. Rest areas and quiet rooms are also available for employees who may be unable to travel home during typhoons or heavy rains.

Casado recalled how Optum opened its doors during Typhoon Odette in 2021, even accommodating new hires who could not make it home. Employees were given a place to rest, recharge, charge their phones and access water and shower facilities.

For Optum, caring for its people means anticipating what they may need even beyond their work.

That same sense of care extends to wellness through “The Well,” the company’s clinic, which is equipped with hospital beds, wheelchairs, medicines and other medical equipment. Employees can also book wellness facilities through an appointment system, while exercise equipment, massage chairs and entertainment spaces offer opportunities to recharge.

And then there is the view.

Through the expansive windows, Optum Cebu’s new site unfolds in two directions—the city’s buildings and movement on one side, and the mountains stretching across the horizon on the other.

It is a fitting setting for a company whose Cebu workforce has grown to more than 5,000 employees, with the new building adding more than a thousand slots.

Ultimately, the new Optum Cebu office is built around a simple but powerful idea: people do not simply come there to work.

They come to connect, create, rest, grow and belong.

It is a workplace designed with care—and, in many ways, a home away from home.

Editors Note: This press release for Optum Cebu is not covered by Philstar.com's editorial guidelines.