SEAMEO BIOTROP staff members received an orientation on “Creating a Conducive and Customer-friendly Work Environment” on 24 February 2011 at the Centre’s Matoa Room as part of the series of in-house seminar-workshops on “Building and Maintaining the SEAMEO BIOTROP Corporate Image”. The seminar speaker was Dr. Jesus C. Fernandez, SEAMEO BIOTROP Deputy Director for Programme and Marketing.

It is important to pay attention to our work environment because we spend a great number of hours each day in the office;  it reflects who we are and the quality of work we can provide to our clients, and we can become more productive and motivated to perform well if our office is conductive to working,”stressed Dr. Fernandez.

Dr. Fernandez expounded on the 5 important aspects in work environment, namely:  (1) orderliness, (2) cleanliness, (3) equipment and facilities, (4) ambience, and (5) noise and smell level. He also introduced the 5S System, a  Japanese-developed method to create a safer, cleaner, and better-organized workplace. The 5S system consists of the following steps: sort, set in order, sweep, standardize, and sustain.   This system has been proven to improve work quality; achieve work standardization; decrease changeover time; improve safety; reduce storage costs, cycle time, machine down time; and boost employee morale as well as work environment.