Living and working in Ayala Land's global ecozone

The first thing you notice when you enter Solaris One, Ayala Land Businesscapes’ 25-story business hub on Dela Rosa Street, Makati, is the high security. Pass through the metal detectors and x-ray machine and sign in; then pass through separate turnstiles wearing your color-coded security badge, without which you can’t ascend to any of the offices housed in this state-of-the-art building.

But Solaris One itself is a nexus of city life. Restaurants and cafes are located outside the lobby, with a bank just outside the corner. A 100-bike rack is adjacent to the building for eco-minded commuters. In some ways, it’s a lot like other office buildings in Makati. In many others, it’s not.

Visit Shell Shared Services Centre - Manila (SSSC-Manila) here — Shell’s largest offshored shared service center, handling finance, human resources and customer service on a 24-hour basis — and you’ll notice more. A private health clinic. Wellness and recreation facilities. Employee lounges. Even a videoke room.

Because SSSC-Manila is divided into three shifts — with employees answering Shell customer concerns or fielding HR queries round the clock from different time zones across the globe — these schedules may pose challenges to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. That’s why Vince Ocampo, general manager of SSSC-Manila Common Infrastructure Management, feels it’s important to keep his 2,200 workers healthy while productive. “Complementing our other health programs, we are developing SWAP - Shift Work Acclimatization Program - which will help employees adjust to shift work required by our business while centering on their health and wellness needs.”

Work is important, but play is also key: year-round, employees participate in fun, centre-wide events. Ocampo enumerates: “Last week we had our bowling tournament. During summer, we have our team-building sportsfest. We have also basketball, volleyball and badminton tournaments. We even have a singing contest here, our very own ‘SSSC Idol.’” Hence, the videoke room.

Most noteworthy is the active involvement of SSSC-Manila staff in socially responsible community activities. “Our employees are among the first to volunteer in Shell's sustainable development projects of Gawad kalinga house builds, marathons for causes, coastal clean-ups, just to name a few,” proudly says Ocampo.

Ocampo overlooks the support functions for SSSC-Manila, with an eye towards health and safety — part of Shell’s “Goal Zero” policy: no harm to anyone. When typhoon Ondoy made commuting difficult for employees, Ocampo took the lead in coordinating for food provision and transportation, and other accommodations for staff who stayed in the office. This kind of attention to employee needs helps make SSSC-Manila the busiest and largest Shell shared service center in the world.

As Ocampo says, “Excellence is about exceeding the expectations of our stakeholders: delivering quality service to our business partners and providing our employees an environment that nurtures learning and development.”

One of the realities of the Philippines being one of the world’s busiest offshored business locations is that Filipinos have to adjust to the rest of the world’s daylight. “When we started in 2004, we predominantly reported during the evening shift to work 'alongside' our American and European counterparts,” says Ocampo. “But over the years, our staff were able to master the work processes, and I’m happy to say that we’re now evenly distributed between the morning and evening shifts.”

Despite the current state of economy, SSSC-Manila is “in a growth mode,“ Ocampo notes. Indeed, job hopefuls could be seen filling out application forms at the office even at 5 p.m.; they know that being part of SSSC-Manila can provide them competitive opportunities in Shell's global network.

Partnering with Ayala Land Businesscapes, SSSC-Manila had their new office constructed on the top ten floors of Solaris One to accommodate its growth in headcount conducive to its expanding business requirements in support of the Shell Group.

“Ayala Land is a premier brand in real estate development,” he notes. “I myself live in an Ayala-managed community, and I personally know how good a developer Ayala Land is.” Ocampo says Solaris One provides an enhanced environment for work and growth — and even annual singing contests. A win-win for everyone.

The Fine Art Of Finance

Another innovative business hub is eBloc Tower, Ayala Land Businesscapes’ work/living space that recently opened in Cebu. It’s a 12-story office/environment space complete with state-of-the-art business facilities as well as restaurants, stores, a wellness center, all located along a strip called The Walk. Clearly, it furthers Ayala Land’s vision of balancing work and lifestyle. One of the occupants of this busy hub will soon be JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPMC). Barry E. Marshall, Senior Country Operations Officer of JPMC, also finds Ayala Land Businesscapes’ concept conducive to bringing out the best in his staff.  

“I think our staff enjoys our office environment, as it is a ‘comfortable’ place to be,” he says. “We provide a spacious, quality workplace environment that allows them to work at their peak levels. More and more today, the urban workforce expect this kind of high-quality — global-quality, really — workplace environment where they can comfortably work.” 

In urban environments such as Makati or Cebu City, it’s more important than ever these days to provide a workplace that isn’t just a place to punch a clock and collect a paycheck: companies have to think about the real-life needs of their staff, if they want them to produce — and excel.

Inspiration is a big part of this, according to Marshall; that and a workplace that fosters a sense of joie-de-vivre and group dynamics. “Inspiration is very important to our success, and it can come in all forms and in all directions. Our CEO, Jamie Dimon, continues to be an inspiration in leading our organization through these difficult times, fostering a sense of pride in working for this organization, and raising the bar on our efforts to continue to pursue excellence.”

However, “inspiration comes from our individual staff as well,” he hastens to add. No doubt, last year’s financial tremors and the onslaught of Ondoy presented new challenges for global corporations like JPMC that are located here. “I have been personally inspired by the amazing passion of our people to keep our operations up and running through some of the most challenging circumstances after typhoon Ondoy. It is incumbent upon each of us to find inspiration in others, and be inspiring, leading by example in our own personal pursuit of excellence.”

 As a world-class employer, JP Morgan Chase & Co. recognizes the importance of work-life balance as an important component to sustainable success, Marshall explains. Even in shaky financial times, corporations must think beyond the “expendable workforce” mentality. 

“Work environments that foster this ‘transactional’ attitude miss a far greater opportunity,” he adds. “It is our firm belief that our staff possesses the ability to leverage their education, experience, passion, curiosity and creativity to make this organization better than it already is.”

“Our focus on engaging staff as partners and valuable assets to the organization fosters a strong sense of belonging and respect for one another,” he adds. “We recognize that this is not a lead-from-the-top organization, but our collective success depends on our ability to partner and work together to achieve success.”

 “When this happens, the staff are excited to come into the office. They want to contribute. They invest themselves in making this company — their company — better for the future.”

Ayala Land Businesscapes — a leader in providing ideal work environments to its tenants — has provided JPMC a suitable workspace in Cebu. “We will soon be launching our Cebu-based operations in an Ayala Land building, eBloc, in Asiatown IT Park,” he says. “We expect a lot from our people, we want them truly engaged in what we are doing. We are continuing to expand our Philippine operations and the Cebu partnership with Ayala Land provides the real estate solution we need to house our world-class operations in a world-class facility in Cebu.” Indeed, expecting the best from your staff —and your work environment — can pay some very handsome dividends.

Convergence Of Excellence

It’s not enough to “get through” tough financial times: companies here must raise the bar, because better service is a key factor as to who sinks or swims in business. For Jojo Lloren, director of Facilities-Philippines/Asia-Pacific, Corporate Real Estate for Convergys, excellence is an everyday expectation.

“We want our employees to enjoy coming to work every single day. We want our clients and their customers to feel a smile coming through the phone every time they speak to a member of our team,” says Lloren. “Our employee engagement initiatives and the available personal development courses allow our workforce to be the best that they can be.”

Convergys, a multinational corporation providing outsourced customer and HR management solutions, consulting, professional and billing services, and self-care technology solutions, decided to locate at Ayala Land’s Vertex One office building (located at Felix Huertas St., Sta. Cruz, Manila) because it’s an environment that brings out the best in its 18,000-worldwide workforce.

“An ideal work environment consists of happy employees doing the work they love to do, and at Convergys, we experience this every day. We pride ourselves as the employer of choice in the Philippines,” Lloren adds. “Our people are our greatest resource and by emphasizing talent management, we are able to help them develop their skills and move into more responsible roles within the company.”

Indeed, says Lloren, employee engagement increases performance, lowers attrition, and creates greater customer satisfaction. “We want our employees to create an emotional attachment to Convergys beyond a functional and professional attachment. Our employees need to feel that they matter to the business.”

Toward this end, Convergys cultivates its workers’ strengths through “the best in-class technology and solutions available to our dedicated employees” enabling them to succeed within the company and to surpass expectations. They also encourage flextime scheduling to adopt to a workforce that often includes working moms and special conditions. “Flexibility is very important to our employees as it allows those who would not have been able to work due to family situations, medical issues, school or transportation, to work.”

Located in Manila, Vertex One is another Ayala Land Businesscapes project that gets high marks from its corporate tenants. “When Convergys is looking to expand its brick and mortar contact center facilities, we make site selections based on the needs of both our clients and our employees to maintain the utmost flexibility,” Lloren says. Primary selection factors include client requirements, availability of trained labor, infrastructure, competition in the area, government cooperation, and operating costs. Employee safety is also very important, he adds, and “proximity of the site to where the agents live is paramount, as it ensures ease of access and security.”

Vertex One proved to be another positive convergence, providing a work-life balance that successful corporations and multinationals now rely on to thrive and survive. “Being a premier developer in the country, the Ayala Land projects are truly world class. The complementation of corporate philosophies augured well for both companies, and the quality services and first-rate facilities they provide have served us well in complementing our efforts with the capture of new and additional BPO work from Fortune 500 companies to the Philippines.”