Travel and Positivity Buzz
Hello Mexico City! Welcome party for me (complete with sparklers) hosted by my Mexico team.
My transfer to Mexico City at the start of the new year has been a year in the making. I worked for a global company in Manila when this role was brought up to me around September 2021 (around the time of my Mom’s passing) which is still under the same global company but in different location and legal entity. At that time, I didn’t give much thought on applying for the role since I was mourning then until the different regional heads encouraged me to apply. When I finally hurdled the interviews and accepted the offer on January 2022 (I initially rejected the offer back in December 2021), everything went downhill from there right after I got my temporary resident visa, when Mexico HR bungled what was supposed to be a relatively simple task of having the job contract authenticated/verified by the Philippine Embassy in Mexico as a requirement of Philippine government before they would allow its citizen to work abroad. Long story short, my initial visa expired before securing the exit clearance from the Philippine government so I have to re-apply again before I could proceed with the process for the exit clearance.
Shopping and dining options
When I finally got to Mexico City, my travails (with Mexico HR) continued. Though the company has external vendors to assist me with the legal documents that I need to complete before I can get onboarded by the company (ie immigration lawyers for my residence card application, consultants for my tax ID application, relocation specialist for my hotel accommodation and apartment hunting, etc.), I didn’t get any support from Mexico HR. Not even when I asked who can help me with the document that I need for one of my applications. In other words, I was able to complete all the legal documents that are required for onboarding with no help at all from Mexico HR. To add insult to injury, after completing all the onboarding requirements, Mexico HR told me that they cannot onboard me unless I get offboarded first by Manila. It’s not even a conundrum of chicken or egg, it was plain incompetence at its finest.
Sights and sounds
So for over a year, Mexico HR has put me through untold stress and anxiety. There was a point in the last quarter of 2022 where out of frustration, I almost gave up before I could even fly out. The only thing that was holding me from telling my global seniors that I’m not going anymore was that I don’t want to harbor “what ifs” in my life. It still looks like a good opportunity then (being the first Filipino and Asian from the company’s Asia Pacific franchise to be offered a role in Mexico) and letting go would make me wonder what I have missed out. But I should have read the signs then, when Mexico HR put me through hell again when they told me that the housing allowance is gross of tax (meaning I won’t get the full amount) contrary to my understanding when they made the relocation offer. This happened the night before I was scheduled to sign the lease contract for the only apartment that I liked (after viewing more than half a dozen apartment units). It felt like getting assaulted multiple times and the stress and anxiety I was put through was something I was totally unprepared for. The saving grace was that my onboarding contract (which was all in Spanish) has explicitly provided that the amount that I should receive is net of tax, coz if it wasn’t, I would have probably served my two-week notice and booked my flight home.
Old town vs new town
If Mexico HR is the super villain in this story, there were superheroes as well. There’s this angel of an expat from Hungary (same global company) who has been helping me even before I flew out of Manila. He went thru similar unpleasant experience with Mexico HR before, that’s why he has been helping me every step of the way. I can’t imagine how I could have survived my first few weeks here in Mexico City without his help. I even said that he should be doing HR work coz he’s more competent that all of them combined. There’s also my Mexican team, who are all super nice and reminds me of my Manila team of yesteryears which I had the opportunity to mold and develop (where some of my former staff have reached greater heights in their respective careers). Now I have the same opportunity to bring out the best in them and achieve their full potential and hopefully when the time comes, make a difference in their careers.
Mexicans love their breads and pastries
All these drama with HR unfolded amidst the backdrop of Mexico City. Unlike Mexico HR, the city is hard not to love. So no matter how much I despise HR for what they have put me through, I won’t deny the fact that I’m loving the city. The city is vibrant, green, full of life and culture. I haven’t been around much (aside from the HR fiasco, I’m bogged down with work and the stress that comes with the new role which my years with the company have prepared me for) but gauging from what I have seen, heard, felt, tasted, and experienced so far, this is a place I can consider home. People are nice, food is great, sights and sounds are delightful and cost of living is affordable (except eating out or ordering in, which is very expensive compared to Manila). I know that Mexico (as a country) has more to offer (I haven’t seen their famous beaches and “magic towns” yet) so once I started exploring both the country and the city, that will provide me with more material to blog about later.
My new apartment (I thought I won’t be able to fill up the walk-in closet lol)
So what’s my greatest learning and regret so far? My regret was that I didn’t escalate the lack of ownership and accountability on the part of Mexico HR in all their dealings with me early on. They may have been accustomed to their incompetence for years that it probably is the norm for them, oblivious to how the same impacts people’s lives (imagine if I have my own family that I have uprooted and brought here only to find out that I’ll be having issues with both onboarding and relocation benefits where I’ll end up being unemployed and/or having expenses outside of budget because I won’t get the full amount that I was told I’ll be receiving). My greatest learning (so far, aside from translating and reading my contract knowing that the devil is in the details) is that you can never go wrong with kindness. The reason why I’m still living and breathing inspite of the difficulties and the challenges of being new to the country and adjusting not only to the general environment but also to the work environment is the help I’m getting from my team. I don’t think I would have gotten their support and earned their trust if not for the kindness that I have shown so far. Someone told me to be more tough with them, but that has been done before (by their previous manager) and that didn’t work. I’ll be just pushing them away if I do that, that’s why cultural sensitivity is important and kindness is universal. Knowing such cultural nuances as avoiding embarrassing a Mexican in front of others, always have greetings in emails before getting down to business, greeting someone when you bump unto them or when in calls or meetings, making an effort to speak their language no matter how limited your Spanish vocabulary is (in my case, it also helps that my accent is spot on), all these little things will go a long way in endearing yourself to them. All these translate to being kind and respectful. So I have to strip and do away with some of my western influences (particularly those that they would find rude) and continue to adapt to my new environment and in the process, rediscovering my old, unadulterated, provincial self before I have evolved into this “boss” man (from a mildly derogatory meaning of the word) courtesy of the old work environment I was in.
My newfound friends (United Colors of Mexico)
When asked how do I find Mexico so far, my usual response is I’m loving the city but not the work. Maybe because I’m still trying to navigate my way around the work environment (and that covers navigating around people and organizational culture) and get familiar with and have appreciation of the lay of the land which does not give me as much a chance of winning as the next guy. But I’m still keeping an open mind and we’ll see whether I continue to be a Filipino expat in Mexico City or a Filipino on his way home.
Goodbye or Hello Philippines?
columbusbee 