Building a strong nation, one business at a time

NURTURE Spa started small, with four employees. Now they have around 80, hired from the surrounding barangays.

Our business started small, with just four employees. Now we have around 80, hired from the barangays surrounding Nurture Wellness Village in Tagaytay City. I am truly proud of them, they have made Nurture what it is today—a thriving business, ranked as a top destination in Tagaytay by Trip Advisor.

Recently, we had our summer outing—a day of food, games, laughter and fun. Our staff members live in humble surroundings, and to see them enjoy a fun day at the beach every year is such a blessing and a privilege. We are now planning our Christmas party with the theme “Nurture’s Got Talent.” This will allow our staff to proudly demonstrate the rich talent all of them have in such abundance.

Leading a business is not just about numbers. It is all about the number of lives you touch. We influence our staff to incorporate wellness into their lives: to stop smoking, lessen alcohol drinking, eat the right food, avoid junk food and to exercise. We are proud of our running team members who participate in 42-kilometer runs whenever possible.

Each monthly meeting is permeated with wellness education so that our staff members practice what we preach. Our therapists practice alternative medicine in their homes—we teach them to save money by using natural healing for simple ailments and nonemergency cases.

We started projects with the barangay: A child feeding program and bimonthly wellness education sessions “Martes Wellness” (Tuesday Wellness) for mothers. Previous “Martes Wellness” sessions featured lectures on cancer and kidney disease by our doctor, as well as healthy food preparation and Tai Qi Gong demonstrations by our chef and wellness staff.

We will soon start Wednesday Zumba sessions for our staff and the barangay residents, and open a library in the Barangay Hall with a computer donated by Nurture so that students/teenagers will have a place conducive to study and to hang around in, safe from negative influences.

The need for values education is evident. Many of the staff members grew up without proper role models and many times with the wrong role models. A lot of them grew up with absentee fathers and mothers. Thus, we see the need to be actively involved in values formation, starting with our employees, with the hope that they can influence their families and friends.

We have introduced the concept of the ideal Nurture Man and Woman. The ideal Nurture Man is a responsible bread winner, a good husband, an involved father. He believes that there is no shame in helping out in the house, treating his wife with respect, being involved in the upbringing of his children, practicing self-control when drinking and family planning and making the right choices when handling negative influences.

The Nurture Woman is smart, independent, a great mother and a supportive wife. Nurture Men and Women conduct themselves properly wherever they go: They protect the environment, do not litter and practice courtesy and respect with whomever they interact.

We are slowly incorporating character and values in our performance management system to build a strong foundation for personal change to take root. Thus our HR systems covering recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, rewards and sanction are strongly influenced by the value system that we would want our staff to imbibe.

Our staff members spend practically 90 percent of their waking lives at work. This gives us employers a rich opportunity to influence our staff to develop the right values. Lee Kuan Yew built Singapore on a very strong foundation: discipline and hard work. The Singaporeans have reaped the benefits—enjoying top quality education, infrastructure and a great medical system.

The Filipinos deserve a great country. But we should not and cannot wait for government to do it for us. As business owners, we have the opportunity to influence those who work directly with us. Our success should be measured beyond numbers—not just in the amount of profit we make, but the number of lives which we have helped improve, one person at a time.

(The author is president of Nurture Wellness Village in Tagaytay City).