In the past, most Filipina mothers were only engaged in household care. They were expected to tend to their children while the husband worked to financially support the family. Today, they are more empowered; they take care of the home but also work outside of it to provide for their families. They are more independent and confident and many of them work in companies as tech-savvy professionals. With more moms learning to use tech gadgets, it might be a good idea to see if she can earn extra income by harnessing such a skill.

In this article, to celebrate the end of May, the month of mothers, we’ll talk about how tech-savvy your mom is according to three levels: level 1, level 2, and level 3. 

Level 1: Does Your Mom Know How to Use Her Phone?  

Does she talk on it, text and take photos with it? Does she use apps like Facebook or Instagram? What kind of apps does she use in general? Is she one of those who discovered the joys of online shopping during the pandemic? 

According to online statistics, Filipino spend a lot of time in social media apps, especially Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, in the last two years, Filipinos have certainly come to depend on mobile phone apps that enabled them to shop at their utmost convenience. With thousands of sellers going online though, educating your mother on how to navigate through these online shopping apps can help her spot and avoid scams.   

If she is a level 1 techy mom, you may also help your mother do the following:   

• Familiarize and navigate through the settings of her phone
• Identify what each app on her phone is for
• Use instant-messaging apps for day-to-day communication 

Mobile phones are now one of the basic necessities that your mother should know how to use. A lot of important things can be done using our phones, including bills payment, online banking, reading the news, and many more!  

Level 2: Does Your Mom Know How to Use a Laptop or Desktop Computer?  

Many Filipina moms, especially those who finished a degree, must already have some knowledge and skills tucked away that might just be the ticket for entry into a remote IT job. For example, some moms may have decent typewriting speed for data encoding jobs. Others are natural sellers and could go for online sales or marketing jobs. Others may write very well and could pass for web copywriting.

For moms with these skills, getting DIY tutorials on how to use Microsoft Office applications could do just the trick. There are employers that hire moms who can use MS Office or online platforms, even if they had no prior relevant experience. Level 2 techy moms are those that HR personnel usually categorize as highly trainable. 

Level 3: Does Your Mom Work From Home Using Her Laptop or Computer?  

Suppose your mom already works from home? A work from home mom is a level 3 tech-savvy mom. She will not just to know how to use her laptop or computer but also masterfully navigate through the applications used in her online job.  

Ever since the pandemic hit, most people now work from home, including moms, and they actually find this set-up beneficial. Aside from having less stress from commuting to work, they can also be with their families and spend more time with their children.

The following are three of the most common work from home jobs for moms:  

• Writing  
• Tutoring  
• Customer Service 

These work from home jobs leverage the existing knowledge and experience of Filipino moms. Because our educational system values teaching in the English language, many moms in their 30s to 40s speak very good English. Their experience in dealing with children also means that they have the patience to tutor in English young Korean, Japanese or Chinese kids. Or do sales pitches to US or EU customers.

There are lots of other work from home options for moms in the Philippines. Because these jobs can be done anywhere and at any time—it is perfectly feasible for Filipina moms to work from home.   

What You Can Do Further 

If your mom can be categorized into any level above, she’s a bona fide techy mama. If not, your mother is in level 0, which means she isn’t tech-savvy at all. But don’t lose hope because you can surely help her to get to Level 1 or even 3, with some effort!

So how to level up from zero? For starters, help her set up her social media accounts. Schedule a short walkthrough. Encourage her to explore. Soon enough, she will be asking you questions. Be patient—remember that not everyone grew up on gadgets.  

So there you go. Who knows, you might be able to allow your mom to find fulfillment in a long-awaited career. There are many platforms that advertise remote online jobs. Check out Upwork, Virtual Worker, Jobstreet and the most popular right now, LinkedIn. Here at LegalMatch PH, we’re also very open to recruiting work-from-home moms for IT-related jobs. So if you have a level 2 or 3 tech-savvy mom looking for a work-from-home IT-related job, check out our open positions here. 

The usual design in most offices is that each employees are isolated in their own private space or cubicles.  In LegalMatch, we tear down barriers and walls. We have one huge open space that is our common workspace.  Long tables are strategically placed so that one team can sit on both sides while working. One table represents one team. All the chairs are the same for everyone regardless of position.

On the walls are whiteboards where each team can freely post their discussions, work project status and progress, reminders, and anything relevant to the project development.

We have two enclosed conference rooms we call the Blue Room and the Yellow Room. Both are sound proof so the teams can hold their respective meetings in private and without disrupting others. Previously, while LegalMatch was still renting seats at The Tide, the work tables function as conference room tables too. In our own office, we feel the need of these conference rooms for planning, retrospective, and other team meetings.

Blue Room

Yellow Room

An open workspace is not the conventional design. I know not all are into this kind of setup. It can be both a blessing and a curse. But for LegalMatch, it works best for us in so many ways:

1. It supports agile. It promotes better communication. This also encourages easy collaboration among colleagues and as a result, it enhances the flow of information, speeds up work completion, and creativity and productivity are given a boost.
2. Employees have the sense of belongingness. We feel we are part of a bigger team task rather than just our own individual tasks/duties.
3. Taking into consideration design and practicality, our office looks industrial and modern. It is very lean as we tried to do away with anything exorbitant and unreasonably inessential.
4. We employees develop a stronger bond as we feel we can easily approach each other anytime. We interact with each other on a regular basis and interactions are more frequent and informal. The constant intermingling generates a sense of camaraderie.

I know you are thinking that a setup like this may tend to get noisy that may affect employees’ focus. Another issue could be the lack of privacy which may be intrusive and stressful. In LegaLMatch, the number of employees is manageable enough not to spring workplace chaos. Aside from the size, the maturity level of the group matters the most. The LegalMatch workforce is composed of mature and very disciplined individuals who are very much empowered, dedicated, and driven. Each knows the balance between knowing his/her own boundaries and upholding easy collaboration for faster information flow.