John Jonas (Ep. 91) argues that fear is the primary cause of "mindless" work among Filipino offshore staff (OFS). Unlike some contexts where fear motivates extra effort, in the Philippines fear often leads workers to do as little as possible to avoid mistakes, driven by fears of retribution, job loss, rejection, or embarrassment. Jonas shares multiple team quotes illustrating submissiveness, reluctance to speak up, and cultural patterns, and describes managerial approaches he uses to reduce fear (job security reassurance, prefacing criticism with praise).
Chapters
Why your ofs sometimes work mindlessly Fear. So this is a first in a series of, it's gonna be five or eight episodes about what causes people in the Philippines to work mindlessly. And the number one thing is fear. So fear is an interesting. It's interesting. In the Philippines, it often has the opposite effect as what you might expect. So, like, if you fear failure in, in your work or in your family or in something, you're very likely to make more, more effort, to try harder, to fix it, to do better, to solve it, whatever it is. In the Philippines, it's often the opposite. So fear often says to them, do as little as you can so you don't make a mistake in doing extra or so you don't make a mistake at all in doing your work. It's a big driver in mindless work. So when I ask my team what causes mindless work or what causes someone to ignore a big problem in a final product that you can see is clearly a problem, but you ignore it anyway. What causes this? They give me a bunch of answers. Here are their answers that related to fear, which there was a bunch of them. And I'm going to read these. Being afraid of making mistakes. This is something I've experienced. When I started working for you, I was absolutely terrified that I'd lose my job. I know this is something a lot of us still feel. Don't rock the boat. Being mediocre is better than making a mistake. So that's just the first quote, but super telling about how the Philippines culture reacts to fear. Being mediocre is better than making a mistake. So that's not, that's not how it is in the US Culture. Making a mistake is perfectly acceptable here, but being great is worth making a mistake to be great in the Philippines. They don't always feel that way and fear is a big driver for it. So that one sums it up. Now I'm going to read the next eight or so quotes that came in for my team that are pretty indicative of this. So here we go. We're scared of retribution or any attack, verbal or physical, from someone who's on top or even on their level. Next, fear of getting fired for expressing his or her own opinion or challenging someone's idea to the point that even sometimes getting personal, getting shouted at, or receiving an email. That sounds like it. Next, failing to impress or get challenged. Challenged, slash questioned of the small achievements that they were able to get in life. You'll notice that each of these is just showing a fear that they have of Something. Something not going their way. Next. Some are also hesitant to talk because their opinion might not be accepted. They are afraid that their ideas will be rejected. Next. Americans are very opinionated that some even get to the point of being pushy or bossy. Filipinos are the exact opposite. We were trained to be very submissive religiously and just do whatever someone asks of them. Next. Another thing is Filipinos won't even engage or stand up for what he or she thinks the best, what he or she thinks the best, nor strike up a conversation or argue the topic. There's even a Filipino saying that goes with it. It's called sumon saagos, or just go where the river flow. In English. In English, which develops this passive attitude. Next, they can't relate much and choose the right word to express what is on their mind. Even to some extent, working with a fellow Filipino. Most much worse if they have to talk in English. So you'll notice there's each of these is driving towards a fear. A fear of being rejected, a fear of acceptance, a fear of being put down, a fear of being fired. Fear is a big driving force. So the most telling quote of all will come tomorrow. And in it, my OFS talks about afraid of being wrong about the thing that's wrong and being embarrassed because if they say something, then they're wrong about the thing being wrong. And it's often it's just not worth it to say something for them. So a couple ways that I've tried to quell fear in my OFS is by reassuring them that their job is secure. So like I've told people, look, I don't care if you make a mistake. I'm not going to fire you or I'm really happy with your work. Your job is secure. You're not going to lose your job. If you go above and beyond or do something extra and make a mistake in doing it, you're still gonna have a job here with me. Another thing I've done is give positive feedback. I give positive feedback almost always before giving negative feedback. And that goes a long ways in the Philippines. Also, when something goes well, I'll very often lavish on extra praise, like, so good, so good, so good. When something doesn't go well, I'll very often say, like, hey, you do great work, or I love you working for me, or things have gone really well for you in the past and I'm not sure what's going on now, or this thing is not right now, or so I'll always preface it with something good. And try and lavish on praise and then talk about the bad thing. And it almost always works. The next cause of mindless work is coming tomorrow.
