At PHILSME 2026: What Two Days on the Floor Taught Us
Last Friday and Saturday, May 23–24, the trellis PH team had the privilege of joining hundreds of fellow exhibitors and thousands of business owners at the 18th PHILSME Expo.
Two days.
Countless conversations.
A lot of brewed coffee; a few sore feet; and, most importantly, a renewed sense of why we do what we do.
PHILSME brings together the people who are the true backbone of the economy: the small shop owner scaling up, the family business navigating its first full payroll system, the startup founder who is HR manager, accountant, and CEO all at once. These are our people. For two days, we got to sit down, literally and figuratively, with so many of them.
"Running a business in 2026 means dealing with rising costs from every direction. The last thing an MSME owner should be losing sleep over is their own HR processes."
— A recurring sentiment from the trellis PH booth, overheard more than once
The Conversation Everyone was Having
If there was one thread that ran through nearly every booth visit, every casual chat in the corridor, every panel discussion we caught in passing—it was the question of costs. The ongoing fuel situation has made transportation, logistics, and operational overhead a real challenge felt by MSME’s across industries. Business owners are looking hard at every peso they spend, and understandably so.
What struck us, however, was how many owners hadn't yet looked at workforce flexibility as a lever they could actually pull. There's a tendency to think of cost-cutting as reducing headcount or trimming benefits. What we kept encouraging—gently, and with data— is a different mindset: think about where your people work, not just how many there are.
The Telecommuting Act (RA 11165) has been on the books since 2018, but awareness, especially among smaller businesses, remains uneven. The gap remains large for MSME’s in terms of technology adoption; most people in the expo, even booth exhibitors, are still using manual processes, says trellis CEO King Reyes.
Another hindrance to adoption is that most HR platforms are expensive, requires a setup fee, or often too laborious or time-consuming to set up. MSME’s are expected to adjust to current available software, instead of the software being customizable. Most glaring is the fact that available software solutions are not designed to meet the needs of Philippine businesses.
trellis was built to bridge this gap.
We had some wonderful, eye-opening conversations with business owners who didn't realize that offering even a partial work-from-home arrangement is legally recognized, encouraged, and entirely manageable for the right roles. Compliance doesn't have to be intimidating when you have the right tools and guidance.
What trellis PH Actually Does, and Why It Matters Now
At our booth, we gave a lot of quick demos. One thing we noticed is that people's eyes lit up not at the fancy features, but at the simple ones: "You mean I can process payroll and track attendance in the same place?" Yes. "And I don't need a separate IT team to set this up?" Also yes. The user-friendly design was also a stand-out for booth visitors.
trellis PH is built for Philippine MSME’s. It’s not adopted from some enterprise solution designed for multinational corporations. That means it speaks the language of local compliance, local payroll rules, and the realities of a 20-person team where the HR "department" might be one overworked person with three other responsibilities.
- All-in-one HR management. Payroll, attendance, leaves, and employee records unified in a single platform built for local compliance.
- Remote & hybrid team support. Tools for tracking distributed teams, aligned with RA 11165 telecommuting guidelines.
- Philippine payroll compliance. SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and BIR automated calculations, so nothing slips through the cracks.
- Built for accessibility. Mobile-friendly and intuitive, with no expensive hardware or dedicated IT support required.
A Word About the Businesses That Can't Go Remote
We want to be clear about something, because we said it at the expo and we'll say it here too: remote work is not for everyone, and that's completely valid.
If you run a restaurant, a construction firm, a retail store, or a repair shop, your team needs to be on-site. trellis PH isn't here to pressure anyone into a work arrangement that doesn't fit their business model. What we’re here to do is make the HR side of running any kind of business—remote, hybrid, or fully on-site—simpler, more organized, and less stressful.
The businesses we spoke with at PHILSME ranged from logistics companies to content agencies to neighborhood bakeries scaling their second branch. Every single one of them had HR pain points. Every single one of them deserves tools that work for them, not tools they have to work around.
Building a Community, Not Just a Client Base
One of our favorite moments over the weekend wasn't a sale or a signup. It was a group of three business owners who had organically gathered at our booth and started swapping stories—about payroll headaches, about their best employee they almost lost, about the government forms that still somehow feel like they were designed in 1987.
That's the kind of community we want to be part of building. Philippine MSME’s don't just need software. They need to feel less alone in navigating a business landscape that can sometimes feel overwhelming. They need peers, resources, and platforms where they can share what's working and ask for help on what isn't.
The 18th PHILSME Expo reminded us that those connections happen in person, but they live on online. If you met us at the expo, we hope this is just the beginning of that conversation. If you didn't, consider this your invitation to start one.
Ready to simplify your HR?
Join hundreds of Philippine MSME’s already part of the trellis PH community and discover how you, too, can use our platform—from payroll to compliance to remote work tools, all in one place.
