How Nico and Globe’s HR Department faced the challenges of the pandemic

As the story goes, a child is on the beach, picking up starfish and gently putting them back into the ocean to prevent them from succumbing to the elements.

An old man approaches and says, as Nico recounts, “It’s kind of foolish, because there are millions of starfish in the world. How would you make a difference?” The child pays no attention to the man, continuing picking up starfish, and says, “I made a difference with that one.” Nico credits this perspective to her time in the Ayala Young Leaders Congress (AYLC) in 2003. The AYLC is the Ayala Foundation’s student leadership summit that hones and nurtures young talents. There, she learned of the starfish story that would shape her philosophy on work and changing the world. And it is this outlook that guides her today. As part of Globe’s Human Resources (HR) group, Nico’s job is to ensure that the company’s employees — lovingly referred to as “Ka-Globe” — are well taken care of. She is changing the world by making a difference in people’s lives one by one.

During the height of the pandemic, Nico and her team put the starfish story into practice: “[The pandemic] opened a lot of opportunities for us to showcase the real heart of HR,” Nico says. “Imagine being able to take care of not just the employees, but also their families. Pag may mga nagka-COVID-19, hihiram ng oxygen tank, sige, padala.” Nico’s mission in HR, more than just providing services and processing things for employees, is to take care of people.

And to her team’s credit, this is not something Nico does, or can do, by herself. One of the most important things she’s learned in Globe, and in the Ayala Group, is that she can’t change the world by herself. “I never said that I can do everything alone,” she says. The key to success, Nico says, is “rallying people to believe in your cause, and create that impact you want to happen.” By converging people and empowering them, just as she is encouraging her niece and nephew, Nico is making her own starfish story come true. “That’s 8,500 employees times their family members — I think that’s more than enough to tell me that I’m in the right place, and on the right track to make a difference in those starfish.”