Why not a coop in the office?

During last Saturday night's Technical Analysis Graduation cum xmas party I was able to chat with one of my batch mates in the training, Sir Gil Garcia. Sir Gil is a professor at UST and he is currently teaching co-op class at UST. Yup you've heard it right co-op as in co-operative, like credit cooperative, consumer coop etc.

According to Sir Gil, UST is the only school in Manila offering such curriculum. I've heard from news report before that cooperatives will be included in high school curriculum. But I think it did not push thru. But definitely teaching of business/finance/co-op classes in HS is a welcome change.

I have had chances before of hearing presentations on the benefits of coops but I've brushed aside invitations to become a member. My main reason for brushing it aside is pure ignorance. My initial impression on coops is that its something for the "rural", but ofcourse, its pure ignorance. Coop is a vehicle for affordable financing much like your Zero percent installment craze of you credit card and it’s a perfect example of Pinoy's Bayanihan.

Though you might not have heard nor have been part of any cooperative, im sure you've been at one time, part of a "Paluwagan" system. A Cooperative is nearly the same, where in members contribute to build up a fund except it is much more complex ofcourse ;) .

On the course of our discussions, I’ve learned that Sir Gil is managing the fund from the UST teachers coop. I got much more curious on how the coop has been beneficial to the teachers. Since the start of their coop's existence, they have already gathered millions in pesos for their pooled funds. Sir Gil patiently answered all of my queries on coop and i must say he has explained it to me with zest. Lets just say that if cooperative was a religion, I would have been enticed to convert faith =p.

That’s when I got the idea of "why not a coop in our office?” Maybe it’s the first IT company based coop (but I think Intel employees already bagged that title). We already have a Socials Committee in our office tasked with creating FUN for the employees, why not create another group...a Coop group tasked with creating FUNDS for the employee =). This is one thing that the company should take a look into. Its not just beneficial to the employee, but also to the company. A Socials Committee and a Coop Group hand in hand can supplement the employees Social and Financial welfare within the company. Its a powerful tool for the company for keeping valuable human resources intact within the company.

My hats off to Sir Gil Garcia for being such an advocate of Coops. For more info visit the CDA website http://www.cda.gov.ph/