DFA Provides 5S Awareness Training to its Personnel in PH, across the Globe

Participants from the Home Office Units, Consular Offices, and the different Foreign Service Posts during the virtual 5S Awareness Training from 15 to 17 February 2021.

PASAY CITY 18 February 2021 - A total of 213 personnel in the Philippines and across the globe strengthened their productivity skills with the three-day virtual 5S Awareness Training conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for its personnel in the Home Office units, Consular Offices, and the different Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) from 15 to 17 February 2021. This is the first 5S Awareness Training for FSPs and the first Quality Management Systems-related/5S Training of the year conducted by the DFA.

At the training, participants were briefed about the 5S methodology and how they can apply it both to their work and personal life. The 5S Methodology is an organization method based on the five Japanese words seiri, seiton, seisō, seiketsu, and shitsuke, which translates in English as  "sort", "set in order", "shine", "standardize" and "sustain.”

Key topics highlighted by resource speakers Mr. Oliver Abarque and Mr. Marco Harder are the role of 5S in this time of COVID-19 pandemic and how 5S can be applied to the digital workplace, particularly as the Department also adopts a work-from-home approach in response to the pandemic.

“As 5S teaches that cleanliness and sanitation is everyone’s responsibility, it is the Department’s and the 5S Committee’s hope that the conduct of these awareness trainings to all the DFA personnel will help increase productivity in the new normal and prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said 5S Committee Chairperson Andre Peter C. Estanislao on behalf of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Administration and Quality Management Representative J. Eduardo Malaya.    

The training, which is part of the efforts of the DFA to promote the continual improvement culture in the Department, was conducted by the DFA 5S Committee. It aimed to capacitate the DFA personnel with information and knowledge as well as practical ways to improve the quality of their work and life through a safe, organized, and clean workplace using visual management and team-based approaches.

The 5S Committee is also composed of Ms. Rie Sheena Au Yeung and Mr. Aaron Erick Lozada as Vice Chairpersons and other members who represent the following offices: the Quality Management System Unit, the Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Human Resource and Management Office, and the Office of Consular Affairs. END

Participants from the Home Office Units, Consular Offices, and the different Foreign Service Posts during the virtual 5S Awareness Training from 15 to 17 February 2021.