Why Filipino's should be paid with their salary once a month

I attended a talk by an Indian executive on 'Working with Indians'. The goal of the talk is for us Filipinos to understand the Indian culture in hope to minimize the cultural barrier between Filipinos and Indians. What stuck to my mind was his slide on Hofstede Cultural Dimension where he presented a study comparison between India and Philippines.

If you want to make a comparison to your country go here: http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html then select your country and then you should be able to add one or more countries to compare.

I highlighted Indulgence in the image above to show you that compare to Indians, Filipinos wants immediate gratification. Indian's tend to look and plan ahead.

Here's a comment that he said that really stuck to me, he said [paraphrased], "When I became the head of HR here (in Cebu) I was confused why you are paid twice a month. In all the countries that I've been to, it is only here in the Philippines where employees get paid twice a month. So I suggested, 'Why not pay them once at the end of each month? We can obviously save man power and effort when we do that.' Then I was surprised in the response from my direct reports, 'Sir, if you do that they will just spend everything in two weeks then they will die after.'" There was a lot of laugh in the room after he said that. Then he added, "Filipinos don't think too far down the road. They want immediate gratification. [paraphrase]."

This is very evident in everything that we do. Take a drive in the streets of Cebu. How many bumps will you see? A lot right? How long do you think the bumps has been there? It has been there for years yet there was no long term fix. We just patch it up and then patch it up again when the problem comes back.

We really don't look to far down the road. We don't practice foresight on a daily basis. Ask a regular employee today, "What's your plan for your life in 5 to 10 years?" What response will you get? Most likely they have no plan at all.

You might say, "But that is who we are Joseph. We cannot change who we are." I'd say, "we can choose to be different." We can make a choice. And maybe it will start with us being paid with our salaries once a month to help us practice managing our money well for the next 30 days. I don't know but we have to change. We have to look past beyond the immediate and try to see how we can better prepare for the future.

We cannot say, "It's up to God anymore." What if God is also saying, "No. It's up to you. I gave you the sun, the rain, the land, the crops, and the season. I gave you your brain, language and the ability to change. I let you decide." Have you ever thought about that?

The definition of being a Filipino has evolve throughtout the years. We've picked up a lot from the Americans. Whey not pick up the good values from the Americans and the Indians. Why not embrace looking at the long term than the near term?

This is just a thought. But I hope this challenge you somehow to impact change within yourself and to others.