In adopting to today’s new normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sugar Industry Foundation, Inc. (SIFI) together with its staff underwent a socially-distanced workshop last July 8, 2020. This was held at the SIFI Training Center in Talisay City and was facilitated by Resource Speaker Mr. Julius De la Peña, a Multimedia Coordinator from the University of St. La Salle – Bacolod.
The workshop-forum was entitled “Shifting to Digital – The Future of Work” which aimed to enhance the knowledge and cyber tools of the SIFI personnel on how to best utilize online productivity platforms. Novel ideas on transitioning to the “new normal workplace” were thoroughly discussed.
Mr. de la Pena also assessed the critical needs of the SIFI workforce in order to recommend appropriate and useful work-from-home and mobile applications. He presented online communication apps and platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet and Messenger which could be used for group meetings and scholars’ online orientations.
He discussed the features of Slack for group chats and Google Suite. He presented file sharing systems using the Cloud-based technology and the advantages of having Google Drive and Google Calendar for sharing work schedules and events. He discussed the basics of using a virtual wallet such as G-Cash and Pay Maya. Finally, he guided the group on how to fact-check and detect whether articles or commentaries posted online were true or fake news
Over all, the one-day forum proved to be very productive and informative. The SIFI personnel learned how to assess bandwidth speed of internet, develop better and effective systems of communication within the organization, compare the compatibility of apps and platforms like Android and IOS, and align these to operations. All these information and practices related to the new digital direction will definitely improve the performance and delivery of social and educational services by the SIFI project and admin staff to its stakeholders and beneficiaries.
