 IN THIS ISSUE: Carmelray Plant's First Anniversary | USA Roadshow | Website's New Look! | Mark Ranario's Hearth and Home | Smiles of Goodness Dental Mission | Upcoming Volunteer Events! | ||||||
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| FIRST ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION A lot of people say that in most endeavors, taking the first step is the hardest, and Human Nature's very own Carmelray Plant is a living testimony of this adage. But after a year of starting with only a mere warehouse and a handful of people who put their faith in the management, the Carmelray Plant along with the rest of the Human Nature family, celebrated its first anniversary this September with pride and joy.  A lot of changes has admittedly happened in the plant-from the growing number of personnel, new equipment, and ensuring that all systems are up and running efficiently. But for Michelle Lucido, Carmelray's HR Officer, the plant's achievement that feels the most rewarding is that 95% of its employees are already have been regularized by the time it reached its first year. "Attaining job security through regularization means a lot to them. One of the best feelings I experienced here is when I see them sign their regularization contracts." The reason why Michelle feels strongly about job security is because she too has worked for a multinational company for four years but was never regularized. After working at the plant for nearly a year now, Michelle can confidently say that she sees herself retiring at Human Nature. "Being with Human Nature changed the way I looked at life; it reminded me that there is hope. This is the first company I worked for where I felt appreciated and where everyone is treated equal. I love it here because I really feel like we are family. I always say that Human Nature is my soulmate-I waited for it and here I will stay." Loyalty is something leaders work very hard to earn but in the case of Carmelray, employees didn't find it hard to pledge their allegiance. In recognition of their excellence, hard work, and loyalty, Human Nature honored Carmelray Plant's pioneer team by bestowing them the the Padugo Award. These are the people who have been with the plant from the start and stuck it out up to this day. Two of these awardees are Allan Saludes from the Liquid Compounding Team, and Apol Austria, a Warehouse Line Leader. Being with Carmelray through its humble beginnings, Allan and Apol have seen the plant bloom from its infancy and witnessed its gradual but consistent growth.  "When I got employed, the plant has already begun implementing the systems and there was a big room for improvement. There was a time when we had to multitask to make up for lack of manpower in other departments, but the beauty in it was that we learned how every area functions," says Allan as he shares how working at Carmelray was when he started. However, as more people came in, the work load was eventually distributed and the risk of errors significantly lowered. While receiving accolades is not new to Apol and Allan, they are quite thankful for the Padugo Award because they know it is proof that hard work they do at the plant doesn't go unnoticed. This includes the little ways where they were compelled to showcase the value of padugo. For Apol, changing from the kind of employee who would file for overtime whenever he extends his shift to someone who doesn't mind working beyond hours is what he considers his act of bloodletting. He said what continues to inspire him to give his best to Human Nature is that he agrees with its ideology "Less for Self, More for Others, Enough for All". Seeing this message on a shirt during his immersion was what sealed his commitment to the company. "If I spare an hour or two at work and not file it, I simply consider it as bleeding for Human Nature's cause. I changed because I agree with the company's ideology, and not because my work demands me to do so. That, I think, is more important." THROUGH COMPOUNDER TRAINING Now that Carmelray Plant has surpassed its first year of business, it can only mean that they're gearing towards becoming better at what they do, especially in the manufacturing of Human Nature products. This is also why the company has invested in rigorous training for Compounding.  Compounding has to be one of the most critical stages undertaken in the production of Human Nature goods because it involves the actual manufacturing of the products. As such, the company provides the compounders proper training and implements paramount quality control measures to guarantee the precision of every stage that make up compounding. As soon as the Carmelray Plant opened up shop, the compounders were subjected to a battery of trainings to ensure that they are familiar with the procedure by heart. The compounders also took a series of exams after every training session to test their knowledge of the processes. According to Ms. Bles Graida, Senior Formulator at Carmelray Plant, the training mainly consisted of practical applications and written exams that help them gauge the compounders' familiarity with their work. They were also required to meet a passing rate, and those who were not able to make the cut are retrained until they pass. One year of strict trainings after, six compounders were given certificates during the anniversary celebration. These were Allan Saludes, Jomel Pagco, John Pathrick Diwa, and Rizaldy Reyes from the Liquid Compounding Team, and Lexter del Rosario and Rommer Palivino from the Soap Compounding Team. Ask anyone who has been with Carmelray Plant since day one and they will tell you how tough it has been in the beginning, and how rewarding it felt when they see that all of their hard work and bayanihan pay off. Today, the people at Carmelray are inspired to look into a future where they are not just secured with jobs that they love doing, they are also fulfilled knowing that a job well done is an opportunity to help others. * Some interviews were conducted in Filipino and were translated into English. | ||||||
| Last September 12 to 20, Human Nature Chairman Dylan Wilk and International Business Development Manager Dia Lacaba, along with the Human Nature USA team, held a roadshow in five cities in the United States to spread the good news and the goodness that is Human Nature. "We went to Los Angeles, Portland, Dallas, Houston, and Boston to showcase the Human Nature brand - what we do as a social enterprise, our products, our beginnings," shares Dia. The roadshow banked on the most effective classic marketing method - word-of-mouth - as with each talk, she and the rest of the team invited the people to be ambassadors of goodness either through being end-users, being a reseller, or by simply spreading the word to friends and family. "The roadshow was the starting point in promoting Human Nature more actively in the US," she further shares, "which is a challenging task as it's a large country and the market is different there compared here in the Philippines."  Though it seemed like a daunting task, the team knew where to best start - with family. As Dia explained, "Going from city to city was a good first step since in the US, there is a large Filipino community especially in the cities we visited." And like true Filipinos with their hospitality and bayanihan, when Dia's team asked, they answered with cheer. "The Gawad Kalinga communities based in the US have been helpful and supportive," says Dia. "They hosted us, helped us organize the events, and invited their friends and family to these events." "A huge credit goes to them and the US team [in planning for the roadshow]. When the people of Gawad Kalinga helped us out, they weren't working for Human Nature," says Dia, stressing how the GK community, and the Filipino community in general, went out of their way and invested much of their time and effort to make this Human Nature US roadshow a success. "It's really amazing how Filipinos in the US manage to create and maintain relationships," she reflects. "It really made me think that Filipinos, in different ways, always try to connect with their fellow Filipinos." Just like how Filipinos abroad reach out to fellow Filipinos to seek touches of home, the people who attended the roadshow found a new way to reconnect with the Philippines - and even experience a brighter future for it - in Human Nature products.  Dia shares one of her worries when doing the roadshow, "Even though the people there we're not that familiar with the brand yet, I got to thinking 'In the US, they're already exposed to a lot of natural products like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Is Human Nature competitive enough?'" By the end of each talk, Dia would find her answer - in people buying a lot of Human Nature products! "They were pleasantly surprised that the products were so affordable, and that they really appreciated what the brand was all about." She further shares, "It was a happy feeling because they were interested in buying Filipino products. It's always gratifying when we sell to other markets. That other people appreciate our goods, and appreciated the quality and effort we put into making our products." All in all, the Human Nature US Roadshow was a success! In fact, it looks like a second leg could be happening soon. Congratulations to the whole Human Nature US Team and cheers to a goodness blooming brighter in the US and all over the world! | ||||||
| Human Nature's website gets a fresh new look! It was a balmy September afternoon and we'd been hitting F5 with abandon. Darlene Ramos-Gan, purveyor of all things Digital & Social Media in Human Nature, had given us a heads up: a brand new Human Nature website was going live in minutes. If you haven't seen it - here's a rundown of what makes the new design better:  In the past, users needed to go over a sidebar with at least 10 categories to get to the products they wanted to look at. "Our team's goal was to modernize the website and make it conform to the latest standards of HTML5 and CSS3. This translates to a more pleasant and streamlined experience for our users," shares Web Team Technical Lead Philip Ortiz. "We've added a lot of things to make the site look as modern as other sites, such as better use of fonts and shapes, as well as some animations on the menus and various other features." "My main task was suggesting templates, icons, typography and color scheme - all the visual elements that will make it more customer-friendly and consumer-oriented," says Jansen Cheng, senior graphic designer. "I wanted to evoke a minimalist feel." Today, the new website's design features a cleaner top navigation -- that's the bar on top with product categories like "beauty" and "family" - making it easier to find products. Philip shares that streamlining the code for the product option selection on the product pages was what he enjoyed doing most. "You can see this when you're on a product page that lets you pick variants or bundle options," he explains. "Streamlining the code means there isn't a lot of overhead for the system...even with a lot of customizations" "Our team goal was to implement the Design department's idea and make sure it wouldn't affect the performance of the website," Christian Larazo, junior web developer. "My personal goal was to optimize the programming side as much as I can and have a beautiful code. Beautiful code what programmers dream of." (Editor's note: 'beautiful code' is a term used by programmers. It connotes efficiency, clarity, and elegant design in a website or program.)  "I enjoyed helping make the header category menu and the simple animation of progress line in the check out as well," shares Rui Cayanan, junior web developer. "My main and biggest task was the Checkout Page. It was crucial - customers needed to be able to buy our products in new and simplified steps." The new site design's 4-step check out makes payments a breeze.  The new interface also makes it easier to register as a Human Nature dealer. One click of the "Be a Social Entrepreneur" button will take users to a helpful registration page that gives them the option to register at a nearby store or sign up online. Logged in dealers will also have easier access to Goodness Gateway specials via a special drop down menu. "We had to work closely with other departments and with management to ensure that the website's new features met everyone's expectations," adds Philip. At the heart of every Human Nature product is its pro-Philippines, pro-poor, and pro-environment advocacy. The revamped Human Nature site highlights the core philosophies of Human Nature in an engaging way. The advocacy pages has a good stories for everyone: whether you're just getting to know Human Nature, an advocate looking for great ways to present our products to potential clients, or a Human Nature employee who wants to stay inspired. What are you waiting for? Log on to www.humanheartnature.com/buy to find our more. | ||||||
| The way we define home may differ from one another but for Human Nature store associate Mark Ranario, home is where the heart truly is, knowing that his is built on love and the spirit of bayanihan. Nestled in the cheerful neighborhood of GK Brookside in Bagong Silangan, Quezon City, Mark's bright orange two-story family house is a constant reminder of hope, hard work, and strong family relationships.  It was in July when Mark's house started undergoing renovation, after he was awarded a grant from one of Human Nature's recent initiatives this year, the employee house rebuilding program. As the first batch of raw materials came in along with two skilled workers to lead the renovation, the lot of Mark's friends from Human Nature and from the neighborhood came on the first day to lend a hand-all in true bayanihan fashion. To help hasten the project, Mark also offered to shoulder the expense of an additional skilled worker as his act of padugo, and personally helped with the construction on his days off. First in the agenda was the drywall and the exterior for the second floor, which was followed by the finishing of the walls, and the building of what would be the house's second floor. Eleven weeks into the project, Mark's house was ready for a fresh coat of paint but little did he know that his Human Nature family brewed a surprise for him. Trina Cruz of the HR Department, who also happens to be the one who oversees community initiatives, advised Mark that two more skilled works would come over on September 27 to help out with the house painting. But when Sunday came, Mark was surprised to find his fellow employees at Human Nature arriving, armed with paintbrushes, rollers, and tubs of paint, ready to transform his house into an even happier dwelling.  Mark also recounted how different their old house used to be. "Our roof had lots of leaks that even light rainfall would cause puddles inside the house, and the water would drip over our belongings. My family and I also had to share one bedroom." Today, Mark and his family are looking forward not just to a sturdy roofing over their heads but also to a future where they're going to have three bedrooms upstairs. Renovating their house was actually a project Mark intended to do next year and so he began saving up for it. But now that the construction has begun and remains in full swing, he is inspired to dream bigger dreams for himself and his family. When asked what he is most excited about these days, he beamed that he wanted to go back to school once their house is completed. "I was about to turn 18 when I started working for Human Nature, and I only finished high school. My next goal is to go to college because I want to gain new skills and learn more things." Mark also expressed his gratitude for his friends who went out of their way to help him renovate his house, especially those who came on Sundays. "I thought there were only going to be a couple of volunteers from Human Nature, but when I saw that there were so many of them, I was really touched because I know that they sacrificed their own family time to help mine." He is also thankful to Human Nature Chairman Dylan Wilk, his whole Human Nature family, and his neighbors in GK Brookside who volunteered in helping his dream of having a better home come true. Mark also believes that being the recipient of such a grant is a blessing from God to whom he is most thankful. | ||||||
| Over the past two months, Human Nature in partnership with Minka (the organization behind the Toothbrush Movement) and the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) Laguna chapter has helped people from two Gawad Kalinga villages beam brighter with the Smiles of Goodness Project! Around 250 beneficiaries received free dental services such as fluoridation, cleaning and tooth extraction, as well as oral health education for the kids in GK Jose Rizal in Calamba Laguna, and GK Central in Central Avenue, Quezon City.  "It's been three or four years since a dental mission has been held here," shares Rowen de Juan, Dr. Jose Rizal GK Village's Kapitbahayan President, citing the remoteness of the place as a factor for the rarity of an event like the Smiles of Goodness Project. "The people here who need dental help just try and bear with the pain because they can't afford to go to the dentist. So I'm really, really thankful that there's a dental mission today." Roy Afurong, president of the PDA Laguna Chapter, shares his own thoughts: "We've done numerous dental missions but it's our first time doing it in a Gawad Kalinga village." Dentists from San Pedro, Binan, Sta. Rosa, and Calamba all banded together to bring free dental care to the GK beneficiaries. "It's quite different from our usual places like town plazas and schools. This was a challenging yet exciting first for us."  At the end of each mission, the place would be filled with brighter smiles and laughter as kids, moms and dads, and even grandparents say bye to toothaches and other toothy woes! "Filipinos by nature are very happy people who love to smile. We love to eat, too!," starts Human Nature Oral Care Category Associate Barbs Benesa, "Through the Smiles of Goodness project, we would like to share the goodness of Human Nature to Gawad Kalinga beneficiaries by not limiting their capacity to eat, smile and interact with others." GK Jose Rizal and GK Central are the first two of six Gawad Kalinga villages the Smiles of Goodness Project aim to give free dental care to. Now that's #GoodnessYouCanSmileAbout!  Want to be a volunteer in spreading smiles of goodness? Send an email to our Community Initiatives HR Officer Trina Cruz (katrina.cruz@humanheartnature.com) to get updates on the next missions! | ||||||
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| For more information on how to volunteer, you may contact the champion for each program or get in touch with Trina Cruz of HR at katrina.cruz@humanheartnature.com | ||||||
| Would you like to share your good news and heartwarming stores with the rest of our Human Nature family? Send your goodness stories to Kin at korina.ma@humanheartnature.com. Your story may inspire others, so come and share the goodness! |
