To improve productivity in the office especially public service, the Iloilo Science and Technology University Human Resource Management Office gathered its newly hired and promoted employees to a two-day Seminar Workshop and Lecture Forum at the Students Services Building of the university on July 11 – 12, 2024. Human Resource Management Officer III, Mr. Bonnie S. Arenal designed SHARP or the Seminar Workshop on Harnessing Agility and Responsiveness in Public Service which included Seminar-workshop on Soft Skills Needed for Workplace Agility and Lecture –Forum on Disciplinary and Non- Disciplinary Cases under the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in Civil Service.
On the first day of this activity, it was emphasized by Ms. Rowena Y. Diaz, resource person on Building Soft Skills Needed for Workplace Agility, that “to be able to achieve the goals of the institution, the Human Resource Office must be able to hire the right person for every position that it creates. “A mismatched,” according to her, “would create problems thus resulting to non-achievable goals. Aside from the hard skills or technical knowledge that is required, an employee must also possess soft skills or personality traits such as leadership, communication skills and time management.
Ms. Diaz who is also a soft skill training consultant, discussed agility in the workplace, managing difficult people, how to become an active listener, stress management and workplace ethics. The participants had a great time doing the crossword puzzle and the spaghetti-marshmallows tower which tested their team work and stress management.
The second day of the seminar became intensed as Atty. Erna T. Elizan, Assistant Regional Director of the Civil Service Commission Regional Office 6, discussed the disciplinary cases and classification of offenses in the workplace. She emphasized that government employees are like celebrities who are accountable of their actions at all times even after the employee’s work schedule is done. However, she clarified that, “The CSC Rules, as well as the rules of the university, are not made to punish but to correct employees.” Also part of the discussion was the Revised Rules on the Administrative offense on dishonesty, misconduct, tardiness, online sexual harassment, nepotism and many others. Sample cases were also presented for participants’ additional information. An open forum was conducted after the lecture to shed light to certain questions especially on falsification of documents, nepotism and absenteeism.
The two-day seminar workshop concluded with the participants being grateful for the opportunity of learning new ideas on building up confidence, improving their soft skills and gaining an understanding of the CSC Rules on Administrative Offenses.
