TO FOSTER a “sense of community and appreciation” among its staff, the Office for Mission and Identity (OMI) hosted its annual Employees’ Gathering last October 23 at the Blue Eagle Gym.

With the theme “HOPEcoming,” Assistant Vice President for Ignatian Spiritual Formation Rizalina Simpas shared that this year’s gathering aims to celebrate holistic development while “recognizing goodness” amid hardship.

In contrast to previous iterations, this year’s event featured an opening program to provide a shared opportunity for community building and formation through rapport-building activities and an examen prayer. It also included booths catered to specific advocacies, as well as a mass that concluded the celebration.

Beyond the gathering

Faculty member and one of the event’s hosts Melissa Maramara, PhD recalled that the celebration arose in response to “tensions” from conflicting perspectives across different University sectors how to create a better campus environment.

“Any community will find itself in a conflicted situation, […] [and] conflict is an invitation to grow. […] [W]e constantly seek to challenge each other to improve and to understand each other’s perspectives,” she explained.

Further expounding on the purpose of the event, Senior Program Officer for Employee Formation Hilda Ventura shared that the gathering served as an avenue to “complement the existing formation programs by the University.”

Among these formation programs are the New Employee Orientation, which is done in partnership with the University Human Resources, and the Ignatian Spirituality and Education Workshop, a retreat seminar conducted to “train and inspire” Ignatian values-formation among employees.

Ateneo Employees and Workers Union (AEWU) Raymond Tano noted that beyond training, shared experiences like the Employees’ Gathering also strengthen employee morale and make vital spaces for connection and encouragement.

Hence, he hoped for the event’s continuation and suggested that it be held every semester rather than annually, given its positive impact on work ethic and enthusiasm.

Echoing similar sentiments, Office of the Vice President for Digital Information and Technology Services (DITS) Shared Services Solutions Head Adrian Pascual underscored how the gathering became a setting for “casual interaction,” allowing employees to build rapport outside workspaces.

Employees’ support and welfare

Despite the existing initiatives that aim to improve the working environment, Tano said that maintenance employees sometimes face exhaustion due to their workloads. He added that AEWU had requested job audits due to concerns about the workers’ load, but these requests were often dismissed by the administration, who reasoned that such requests cannot be written on someone’s behalf.

Tano also noted that apart from programs supporting employees’ spiritual growth, there is a need for more staff development initiatives, such as skill-enhancing seminars for the maintenance workers who make up the majority of the University’s worker population.

Meanwhile, Pascual mentioned that his office is currently struggling with adapting to the recent centralized systems within the University’s offices, such as the University Human Resources and the Finance Office.

Regardless of this challenge, he recognized the University’s openness to communicate and address the concerns within DITS. Similarly, Tano acknowledged the University’s current efforts to alleviate worker concerns, such as the hiring of new employees to lessen the scope of their duties.

Room for change

Further sharing their insights as employees, both Tano and Pascual expressed their continued hopes for more dialogue with the administration to immediately address employees’ concerns.

Likewise, Maramara shared her hopes for the University to help “bridge the gap” between faculty and students in creating a more conducive learning environment, noting that educators have to compete with the digital world to get students’ attention.

“We are all allies here—teachers, staff, admins, [and] students. […] [Being] allies means working together in spite of and because of the conflicts we come up with. We constantly seek to understand, grow, [and] expand [our] community. […] Hopefully, being allies will really help our country,” she stressed in a mix of Filipino and English.

Acknowledging the importance of working together, Simpas stated that conversations with stakeholders are fundamental for the University to know what should be improved with their initiatives.

Meanwhile, Ventura affirmed that the Employees’ Gathering will remain a yearly commitment to “spiritually” form and orient the employees about the University’s core values.

Expounding on this, Simpas emphasized that formation efforts like the gathering aim to help employees embody the University’s mission in their work and vocation. She added that the whole idea is to foster a deeper sense of connection, service, and care for the community and country.

Moving forward, Simpas assured that the OMI will be open to feedback and suggestions for improving employee welfare. With this, she expressed her hope to continue inspiring the employees with “a culture of encounter and accompaniment,” as well as practicing discernment and mission in their daily work.