At the start of the enhanced community quarantine, Abe, who is one of my colleagues from the Logistical Services Team, asked me, “What will I do if most of us will be required to work from home and only those from critical units will be allowed to work at the office?” He was deeply worried. In case you’re wondering why, Abe was aware that his tasks could be done only in the office. Concerned, he asked what he would do if there was nothing for him to do at home and if the Bank would still pay him. He did not expect himself to retire months before his scheduled retirement. As his line manager, I assured him that he would be able to keep his job and that I would let him know if we would need his physical presence at the office.   

When the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) IDs were issued, he was not given one since only employees from critical units were prioritized. Despite this predicament, Abe still decided to report to the Head Office. Very persistent, he travelled all the way from Caloocan to Ortigas. Thoughts of being apprehended at the checkpoint occurred to him, but he said he would just worry about that later. At that time, if there’s one thing that preoccupied him, it was the anxiety of not being able to contribute to his team and to the Bank.   

Between the time of the community quarantine and a few months into his retirement, Abe supported the team. He found for himself work to do—from scanning files to storing and sharing documents in Microsoft One Drive. All of these he learned to do for the very first time. Abe proved that he could still be of big help to the team. It was his dedication and love towards his work that made him productive regardless of the circumstances. True enough as they say, when it comes to learning age doesn’t matter. It’s never to late to learn something new.  

Abe retired in July this year, but his commitment to UnionBank continues to inspire us.