Ina Teves, Organizational Development Consultant

Ina Teves is an organizational development consultant with a change management firm dedicated to making a difference wherever it goes by journeying with the client through the entire process of organizational transformation. Email your questions to ina.b.teves@gmail.com.

I’m an immigrant who made good in the First World…but why do I want to return to and work in the Philippines?

Dear Ms. Ina:

Over 20 years of my life has been spent in foreign soil. I was pressured by my parents to move forward out of the country I love at a tender age when I was turning a new leaf in life (19- 20 yrs old). The pressure was motivated by their need to cast me out and start a new kind of life elsewhere so I would be able to provide immigration guarantees for my siblings after a few years.

Before I left the Philippines, I spent a good year of work as a junior industrial engineer (from Mapua) at a reputable food company in Pasig and a bit of time in a semiconductor firm in Pasay. I loved what I was doing but I was compelled to give up my young life, Philippine style, for a much different Western lifestyle which I really never learned to adapt inspite of the length of time I've been here. I did what my parents asked me and assisted all my brothers and sisters. It was an accomplishment that I felt really good about. My father made me feel special about it right to the very last time we were together before he passed away, but he also uttered his regret that my move to a supposedly better Western life was not what he expected I would have after all the years.

I went through the tough times here but managed to jump over the "humps" but have stalled a number of times due to family issues that had also affected my work life quality. I worked for reputable American and Canadian companies (as an industrial and manufacturing/ process engineer with leadership roles) but most of them have closed down while others have moved elsewhere, having me look for better and much stable firms. I ended up opening a small family-operated business for about 7 years which eventually brought us down into bankruptcy last year. It was a tough point in our lives, mine and my wife's along with our young children.

Today, after a couple of years of trying to get back into my professional endeavor, I finally got back being employed as an airport lead hand, then got my feet wet again into production supervision with two Canadian companies in the past year.

For whatever reason that I cannot explain to date, I have not felt job satisfaction, nor sense of accomplishment in these companies I have worked for; and recently I left another firm which I thought would be the last place I probably will work until retirement (another 18 years or so). I have felt bothered and depressed by something I cannot understand within me.

I long to go back to the Philippines and I feel this everyday, every night, and people pick it up every time I speak out. At this point in time, I feel I am not successful here and would want to go back to the Philippines where I know and am strongly convinced that this move could be the missing link in my life. I wish to bring along my family, find the right job within the right Philippine-based organization, and maybe even open up a family business that my wife and children could operate back home with my support.

Why am I depressed, as I find myself on line searching for work in the Philippines, rather than being happy working in a foreign land that took me as its citizen and sharing me its good and safe haven? Is something wrong with me?

Thousands of Filipinos would give up their livelihood back in the Philippines just to get legal documentations to immigrate over here and yet, here I am ready to give up all this just to become part of what I started 20 years ago. My present position as production supervisor in a Nestle plant here does not even trigger my motions to make it good despite a hefty $65,000/year plus full benefits. What went wrong in me? Could this be a mental case? Why am I seeking to go back and work for maybe next to nothing? If there is such a company, do you think I could find that firm who could be willing to provide me a higher managerial position, good pay with some benefits? 

I tried and tried to hook up, apply and register my resume in  various Philippine recruitment portals such as Jobsdb.com. Am I crazy? What could be happening? Why do I think that I belong back there? I seem to think that I could be a better plant manager or general manager in RP than stay merely in a lower category here for the rest of my work life (as a foreigner, though even disguised with citizenship and better education than the regular 'joe', racial issues heavily surround any elevating possibilities).

Ms. Ina, what do you think is happening to me? I don’t feel I want to work anymore back here. I don't feel I want to keep going, I have become irritable and depressed despite getting jobs that most Filipinos here envy. What could be going on within me? What can you suggest?

Dear Jay:

You are not crazy and you are not alone.

Just last year, 1,062,567 overseas Filipino workers began work in 197 countries (OFW Global Presence 2006:A Compendium of Overseas Employment Statistics, POEA). Millions of Filipinos work abroad out of necessity. No longer is it the great Filipino dream to become the citizen of another country and experience life in a land of milk and honey.  More and more, the great Filipino dream is to earn enough to send their children or their siblings to school, build a house, buy a car, put up a small business, and come home. It does not matter if they have a cushy corporate job or a small domestic one, there exists a feeling of uprootedness, of not belonging, of being different, of being exiled.

There are some practical considerations to deciding to come home.  Some questions you might want to ask are:

1. What vision do I have for my family?  Is my vision shared by my spouse and my children? If you have a shared vision and it includes coming home, you are halfway there.
2. What changes in lifestyle will I and my family have to adjust to, should I accept a job there? Are these changes acceptable to us? What are your non-negotiables?
3. What expectations do I have about living here?  How realistic are these?
4. Have I checked up on opportunities that will enable me to do business with clients abroad?  The Internet, the World Wide Web, VoIP, for example, has enabled many Indian and Filipino IT workers to work from their own country and serve foreign clients at very competitive rates.
5. All things being equal, what is it about working in the Philippines that will bring you inner peace? What will help you create a sense of being able to contribute, of doing something meaningful?
6. I sense that you are adrift and looking for an anchor.  It might help to ask, if you were not any of the roles you feel you must play – for example, employee, father, spouse – who are you? What brings you much inner joy and peace? Can these be replicated where you are now?

I invited a senior colleague and friend to share his own insights on what you could do.  Dody Naguiat, associate director for Strategic HR at Ayala Corporation writes:

In our group of companies, you are a perfect candidate for exploratory hiring especially in our Electronic Manufacturing Services foray globally. We are the top conglomerate locally and in recent years have targeted Pinoys pining to return home after experiencing the so-called “good life”.

One sterling quality of those we have hired is their desire to share the best of what they have learned from personal and international experience and best practices to raise the local standards to world-class levels.

I do not wish to raise false expectations but from my point a view I am willing on behalf of our group of companies to explore opportunities. Outside our group there are very competent executive firms locally who can match requirements.

The mining sector here is opening up and you may have generic, replicable skills and competencies most apt for mining. Does that excite you?

I recognize the inner turmoil and hazard a guess this is symptomatic of a deep ache for a sense of purpose and meaning. Seek those who have walked that journey.

Jay, your letter evoked the memory of another story that occurred thousands of years ago.  A young gifted boy was not only sent but sold into exile in an unfriendly land, but he did well by his brothers, remained close to his roots, and became the pride of his people.  His name was Joseph. May you find inspiration in his story and a few lines from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat:

For I know I shall find my own peace of mind
For I have been promised a land of my own

Your journey back home might just be the journey back to your true self.

All the best,