MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The first hybrid session of adobo SheCreative on July 28, entitled “Fearless Future — The New Culture of Work” explored what tomorrow’s workspaces might look like. Workbean’s Co-founder Kass Monzon emphasized that freedom was an essential part of the workplace’s future.
Workbean is Southeast Asia’s largest directory of company cultures. It supports organizations in their employer branding journey to help professionals work in places where they belong. The company works with over 100,000 digital job seekers and 32 companies across the Asia-Pacific region.
Kass opened with some insights on the future of job search, which included characteristics of Gen Zs. According to Kass, the world will be shaped by Gen Zs — be it in big corporations, small startups, or traditional companies.
“Being digitally plugged has unlocked a plethora of opportunities,” she said. As digital natives, Gen Zs are attuned to trying out new things and seek experiences worth sharing with other people.
The generation’s clamor for uniqueness and authenticity has led to a decrease in brand loyalty. What matter most to them in the workplace are values alignment, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and communication and transparency across the board. Apart from these, the best workplaces, said Kass, are the ones with a culture of openness, intellectual humility, acceptance, and genuine care.
While work is slated right in their name, Workbean believes that the future of work is not about jobs but the freedom given to people. That is not to say that employees can do whatever they want, Kass told adobo Magazine jobseekers are looking for “freedom to be who you are. Freedom to express your individuality.”
Kass also expressed much interest in the topics covered and the lessons she gained from her fellow speakers.
“DEI is a much bigger conversation,” she added that its depth leaves much room for learning. Her fellow speaker, Merlee Jayme, Chairmom and Former CCO of Dentsu Asia Pacific, talked about DEI and how the Philippines is catching up.
“My greatest takeaway is that more companies and more leaders would want to learn more about DEI,” said Kass. Leaders, according to her, require compassion and practice empathy to be able to weather crisis after crisis. “For you to become an empathetic person or a leader, you have to practice it. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Kass lauded the session for being filled with women who know where they are coming from and who understand the topics.
“I really feel energized, and really hopeful for gigs like this to kind of flourish as we go back to real life.”
Every month, adobo Magazine gathers influential female speakers in a breakfast session to celebrate the power and innate talents of women, as well as their ability to create a positive impact on culture, creative industries, business, and communities — providing a platform for women to connect, educate, and support each other in their endeavors and achievements. We explore the power and possibilities of an all-women network as we gather the country’s most influential Filipinas who are instrumental in taking the first step toward creating a strong community of female leaders in Asia.
In case you missed this session, you can watch the video-on-demand here.
