IKEA Philippines set to hire almost 500 for Pasay City store - Swedish home furnishing retailer launches mass recruitment drive in the Philippines

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The world’s largest home furnishing retailer is looking to hire another 496 co-workers for its first Philippine store in Pasay City. IKEA Pasay City will be the largest IKEA store in the world, with a Call Centre operation and a supersized warehouse to support eCommerce fulfillment. The online store will open before the store in Q2 2021. 

“The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for many people. Creating meaningful, stable jobs and great workplaces is just one way that we fulfill this vision – more important than ever during these challenging times,” said Christian Rojkjaer, the Managing Director IKEA Southeast Asia & Mexico, owner of IKEA stores in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Mexico. 

The company is looking to fill a wide range of vacancies—including Sales Associates, Recovery Associates, Food Assistants, Customer Service Associates, and more. There are also many open posts for part-timers. 

Georg Platzer, Market Development Manager and Store Manager of IKEA Philippines, noted that the IKEA culture and values make it different from other retailers. At IKEA, co-workers at all levels are encouraged to lead, ask questions, share ideas, and drive the business. There are endless possibilities to grow and develop as co-workers take charge of their own learning journey and move across functions. Part-timers are treated like full-time members of the family, with all the same benefits as full-timers on a prorated basis – including health insurance, annual leave, subsidized meals, and IKEA discounts. 

When asked what IKEA is looking for, Platzer was quick to answer: “The right attitude.” He added, “At IKEA, it’s all about putting we before me, empowering people to make decisions, and challenging the status quo.” 

Bringing Filipinos home 

The newcomers will join a team of 73 people already working for IKEA in its Makati office as well as a project office at the Pasay construction site. As part of its recruitment drive, IKEA will be bringing home 20 OFWs from IKEA stores abroad — primarily from the Middle East. 

“Family is very important to us, and we’re glad that we’re able to reunite some of our Filipino co-workers with their families in the Philippines,” said Mr. Platzer. 

Throughout the pandemic, IKEA’s Southeast Asia and Mexico has retained all its co-workers, despite closures of up to 73 days. The company will continue filling local positions in June 2021.

For more information about IKEA recruitment and how to apply, visit the IKEA Philippines website, WWW.IKEA.PH

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About IKEA Southeast Asia & Mexico 

Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has created a better everyday life for the many people by offering well-designed, functional home furnishings at affordable prices. As a franchisee, we inspire and enable people to make home count in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – and has plans to enter the Philippines, Mexico and Vietnam. Our portfolio of five shopping centres, operated by Ikano Centres, are anchored by IKEA and create meeting places at the heart of our communities. With partners and investments in other types of real estate, we also create walkable communities where people shop, work, live and play. Part of the Ikano Group, we are the only IKEA franchisee owned by the Kamprad family that founded IKEA.

TikTok Enhances Privacy with New Family Pairing Options

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This latest update provides parents with the industry's most comprehensive suite of options to better guide their teen's online experience

TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile videos, is enhancing privacy and browsing options for families on the app by building on its existing Family Pairing features. 

As more families continue to turn to internet platforms like TikTok to stay entertained, informed, and connected, parents now have the option to manage their teen's online experience by linking their TikTok account to their teen's, and setting discoverability and safety controls. Developed for parents, this suite of new features is intended to jumpstart digital wellbeing and online safety education for families.

The new features include:

Search: This allows parents to directly control whether a teen can search for content, users, hashtags, or sounds on the app. 

Comments: Parents may decide who can leave comments on a teen's videos - Either all users, friends only, or no one.

Discoverability: This lets you regulate whether your teen's account is private or public. With a private account, your teen can choose who can see their content. When the account is set to public, anyone can search for your teen’s profile, and view their content. 

Liked videos: Here, you decide who can view the videos your teen liked.

"Parenting a teen's digital life can be daunting and many parents feel as though they're playing catch-up when it comes to the latest technology and apps their teens use. Working with our community and industry partners, we are committed to helping facilitate important conversations within families about internet safety," said Arjun Narayan, Director Trust & Safety, TikTok, Asia Pacific. "Family Pairing was developed to help parents build upon their online safety education and define the experience that is best for their families."

Family Pairing, which allows a parent to link their TikTok account to their teen's, already offers features such as Screen Time Management, Restricted Mode, and Direct Message regulation to provide parents with insight and control over how their teens use TikTok.

Over the past year, TikTok has taken steps to improve and enhance its teams, policies, controls and educational resources. Along with its tools for families, the platform continues to strengthen its youth safety and well-being policies. Just recently, TikTok added more guidelines and resources to support body positivity within the community, and remove harmful content such as hateful ideologies. Sending of images or videos in comments or messages is also not allowed on TikTok, because studies have linked the spread of child sexual abuse material to messaging on apps, especially those with encryption.

TikTok has developed global partnerships to protect against child exploitation and to remove such content, terminate accounts, and report cases to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and local law enforcement agencies. Protecting minors – online and offline – is highly important and requires collaboration between platforms, governments, and child safety organizations. This is why TikTok supports the implementation of the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, which offers a framework that can be consistently applied across sectors and services to respond to changing behaviors and protect young people.

For families who want to learn more about online safety, TikTok has created several resources, including its Youth Portal, Parents page, and educational safety videos. TikTok remains committed to the security of its community – especially the youth – and will continue to develop resources, tools, and policies as it aims for the highest level of safety.

Certified Lokalista: No Region Too Far-flung, No Seller Too Out Of Reach - J&T Express encourages support for local products on Double-day sales

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Courier service J&T Express Philippines, known for efficiently delivering parcels even to far-flung and hard-to-reach locations in the country, showcased its Certified Lokalista Campaign in a webinar during its highly anticipated double-day sale on Nov. 11. 

The campaign, which started on Oct. 16, 2020 and will run up to January 14, 2021 encourages people to ‘buy local’, patronize, and support small-to-medium-sized entrepreneurs, and thus promote regional products to a larger national audience.

J&T’s Certified Lokalista campaign has been attracting entrepreneurs from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, many of whom are promoting and distributing their wares in other islands and regions outside their own for the very first time.

Officer-in-Charge Executive Director Nelly T. Dillera of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Trade Training Center (DTI-PTTC) pointed out one distinct factor that set this new e-commerce explosion apart from similar trends. She said:  “Culture is the basis of how we can and should develop products, from food to wearables. What is important is preserving them while adapting to the new global economy. E-logistics has made it possible for local products and crafts to be brought to the homes of the people.”

With 75,000 online entrepreneurs now active on digital marketplaces, DTI itself, which is focused on exports, “did a backward integration on helping people to start their own business and onboard e-commerce,” Director Dillera continued. One support that the DTI-PTTC will be providing these new entrepreneurs is training in vital areas like the digitization of their processes; business finance and operations; business marketing; business human resources and organization; and working in the logistics and supply chain.

According to Zoe Chi, Vice President of J&T Express Philippines, the Certified Lokalista campaign celebrates the hard work, creativity, and nationalism of the online sellers. She said, “Filipino entrepreneurs, especially those who went above and beyond amid the mobility restrictions brought about by the pandemic, deserve to be supported and recognized for their creativity and tenacity.”

Panel moderator Amor Maclang, the Co-founder of GeiserMaclang Communications Inc., enthused that the increasingly popular digital double-day sales, launched on the same day of the same month by different online marketplaces, can be a long-overdue opportunity where shoppers can support regional entrepreneurs. She said, “It is because of these men and women that our local products are finally getting the recognition they deserve! Generations-old family recipes, regional specialties, and other proudly Filipino wares are becoming stars on these e-commerce platforms.”

The Certified Lokalista campaign kickstarted in 2020 by awarding Filipino entrepreneurs with a Certified Lokalista badge that will recognize them as J&T trusted sellers. These Certified Lokalistas, whose inspiring work has paved the way for the promotion of Filipino goods,  will be awarded P20,000 worth of free shipping by J&T Express. These citations are also designed to influence more sellers to represent their own regional products online.

Ms. Chi described how the challenges brought about by the coronavirus crisis and its lockdowns became instead an opportunity for businesses to discover the advantages of e-commerce and e-logistics. She looked back, saying, “After the pandemic greatly reduced mobility, both old and new entrepreneurs without any previous e-commerce interest or experience joined the platform in droves. It was a matter of survival because people were staying away from brick-and-mortar stores and were doing a lot of their shopping online. But what these sellers may or may not realize is that by joining e-commerce, they aren’t just boosting online sales--they are becoming ambassadors of their own heritage.”

Four Certified Lokalistas who represented the three major islands of the Philippines spoke about and showed their own homegrown products and produce which gave their respective regions their unique edge.

Maria Todi, founder of the School of Living Tradition, based in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, emphasized the intricacy and beauty with which native artisans design and weaveT’boli shirts, bracelets, necklaces, and rugs, among other heirlooms. Because the handicrafts are a collective effort, Todi said that buying from the T’boli means “not just helping one weaver or organization, but helping a community.”

Meanwhile, Katherine Jordan, the Marketing Head of the Leyte-based online food store Mary’s Abuyog Special Toskolyet Moron, atp., named the following delicacies that have become popular outside the region:  pili nuts, chocolate moron, binagol, sagmani, and suman latik.

Rica Dakudao-Buenaflor, who relocated from Davao to Bicol in 2002, founded Que Rica to manufacture, promote, and deliver the latter’s best cuisine to other parts of the archipelago. She maintained that Bicol should be known as the “land of Keto” because of its nutritious food:  “We produce the healthiest recipes when it comes to heart-healthy fats. Coconut milk is high in fat and with no carbohydrates.  The pili nut contains the highest healthy-fat content, and 95% of the overall production of pili nut comes from Bicol.”

Finally, Bulacan-based culinary whiz Rheeza Santiago-Hernandez said it is about time that the normally reticent Bulaqueños start promoting the dishes that they are known for. One example is the hamon bulaqueña which has a rich place in Philippine history. Santiago-Hernandez said, “It is historical. It was served during the liberation of Bulacan in 1898 during the time of General Gregorio del Pilar, who was then a lieutenant colonel. Other national heroes who have dined on it are Jose Rizal and Apolinario Mabini.”

As celebrity host Robi Domingo put it, the work of these regional entrepreneurs I “making local the new premium.”

Ms. Chi emphasized that J&T Express Philippines is passionate about supporting Filipino entrepreneurs and the whole local e-commerce landscape considering the wide reach of their courier service. She said, “Community can be vital in the promotion and expansion of entrepreneurship as we have heard from our guests. Lokalistas or local entrepreneurs are the best ones to reach out to their fellow entrepreneurs, and J&T will support them in that endeavour.”

Zoe Chi, Vice President of J&T Express Philippines

“As the logistics company with the fastest and farthest-reaching operations, no region is too far-flung and no seller is too out-of-reach. With a safe and trustworthy partner like J&T Express, e-commerce can continue to boom and fuel our economy while acting as a platform for Filipino entrepreneurs,” Ms. Chi added.

Globe announces “People’s Champ” Manny Pacquiao as newest Brand Ambassador

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Globe announced that it has partnered with the twelve-time, eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao, as its brand ambassador. The partnership is in line with the telco's position to stay closer to its customers who are reeling from the impact of the pandemic and the current economic downturn.

Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, and Ayala Corporation Chairman and CEO and Globe Telecom Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala

“Manny is the epitome of a true global Filipino, a homegrown talent who rises above challenges to bring pride to the country. Much like Manny who remains unfazed by the challenges of this pandemic, Globe has remained steadfast in providing Filipinos with digital solutions, mobile and internet services that have become lifelines under the new normal,” says Ernest Cu, Globe President and CEO. “Globe has always been an active supporter of local talent. Globe and Manny share a common desire to uplift people’s lives, which makes him a fitting ambassador for us,” Cu adds. 

“Ang pandemyang ito, at ang mga kaakibat na suliraning pangkabuhayan, ay maaari nang pinaka matinding laban na hinaharap ng bawat Pilipino. Ako ay nakikiisa sa sambayanang Pilipino, kasama ang Globe, sa laban na ito,” said Pacquiao. “Ako ay nagagalak na maging katuwang ng Globe sa paghahatid ng mensahe ng pag-asa sa aking mga kababayan, anumang kalagayan sa buhay, sa mapanghamon na panahon na ito,” Pacquiao shares. 

(From L-R) 
Upstream Partner Dondon Monteverde, Director Erik Matti, Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu, Upstream Partner Roselle Monteverde, New Globe Ambassador Sen. Manny Pacquiao, Arnold Vegafria, Ayala Corporation Chairman and CEO and Globe Telecom Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Atty. Brando Viernesto, Globe Consumer Business Head Issa Cabreira, Ayala Corporation Business Development Head, Corporate Strategy and Development Group Jaime Alfonzo Zobel de Ayala, Globe Senior Advisor, Joe Caliro

Also attending the signing ceremony is Globe Chairman and Ayala Corporation CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala. “At a time when the country is facing so many challenges, Manny’s life story has remained a source of inspiration for every Filipino even in this time of pandemic – a constant reminder of the Filipino’s strength, talent, and tenacity to overcome every difficulty,” says Ayala. 

Globe also announced that the partnership will pave the way for Manny's upcoming fights to be made exclusively available for streaming live in the Philippines on the internet through Upstream in partnership with GMovies. Upstream is the newest transactional video-on-demand (VOD) platform. With these digital platforms available, more Filipinos will be able to enjoy Manny's live fights, often considered as a national spectacle. 

“It is indeed a source of pride to partner with Manny Pacquiao, the People’s Champ. His legendary boxing career is a never-ending source of Pinoy inspiration to always strive to be better,” says Upstream partner Dondon Monteverde. “This same inspiration goes in line with our vision for Upstream to become the best entertainment platform for the Filipino. It is with great privilege and honour that Upstream will air his next fight through live internet streaming to the Filipino People,” Monteverde adds. 

Globe is a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact and has committed to implement sustainability principles hinged on four pillars including One Digital Nation, Care for the Environment, Care for People and Positive Societal Impact. Globe is actively supporting 10 UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

For more information, please visit globe.com.ph.

URC-Thailand cited as among the best companies to work for in Asia

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Universal Robina Corporation’s (URC) subsidiary in Thailand has been named as among the “Best Companies to Work for in Asia”, for a work culture that values its employees as key resources. 

The award was given by HR Asia, regarded as an authoritative regional publisher on human resources. 

URC (Thailand) Co. Ltd. was among 38 companies to be recognized out of a field of 138 firms. 

The URC Thailand team. In photo (L-R): URC Talent Management & Organization Development Manager Thinathip Sukpluem; Marketing Director Jane Bernardo; General Manager Tanant Suwanraks; HR Director Matthew Dy; Senior Advisor Premchai Navarasuchitr; QA and
 QMS Manager Boonyarat Chunet; and Media and
PR Marketing Manager Pornsulee Piboonsatsanasakul 

The companies were selected through a survey that measured different aspects of employee engagement. This covered culture and ethics, leadership and organization, active initiatives, emotional engagement, employee intention and motivation, behavior and advocacy, collective consciousness, workplace sentiment, and team dynamics. 

“One of the reasons for our company’s sustainable momentum is the high priority we place on all our employees as key resources,” said Matthew Dy, URC-Thailand’s HR director, who received the award. 

“We promote a culture of openness and collaboration where all employees are always given the opportunity to develop their individual performance and contribute to the business objectives,” he said.

 

Dy said this is done via a “robust performance management system, career planning and individual development plans” aimed at creating a “future-ready organization”. 

“We cultivate a sense of belongingness through relevant workplace initiatives, advocating social responsibility and consistently instilling our core values. This ensures that our employees continue to deliver high-quality products and services that genuinely bring delight and joy for our consumers,” he said. 

Established over 20 years ago, URC Thailand manufactures and exports brands such as Jack ‘n Jill Fun-O, Tivoli, Roller Coaster, Lausanne, Dewberry, Dynamite and Lush. 

It has a factory, research and development center and warehouses at the Samutsakorn Industrial Estate, and a head office in Bangkok. 

URC is one of the Philippines’ largest food and beverage companies, producing popular brands such as C2, Great Taste, Piattos, Cream-O, Maxx, Nova and Nissin. URC is also a major player in agro-industrial and commodities. 

Matthew Dy, HR Director of URC (Thailand) Co., Ltd. receives the award from Virote Sirichanthanont, VP of Government and International Relations of the Personnel Management Association of Thailand (PMAT).