Reaction Paper to the Film "a Great Place to Work"

A Reaction Paper to the Film, “ A Great Place to Work”

By John Eliceo O. Consignado


Looking at the perspective of the employers, their main problem is surviving the highly competitive corporate world. In a stricter sense, they don’t just want to survive. They want to thrive. This is the reason why they aim at providing a great working environment for their workers. They want to attract the best people that will run their business. They want the best talents available. As illustrated in the film, a company that is open to communication, shares its vision with its workers, treats them well, gives them flexibility and fair treatment, and values trust and respect for individuals generates better productivity from their employees. This positively affects the company’s chance of surviving, staying relevant and even leading in its industry. It only shows that a company’s human resource is truly its greatest asset.

The film also mentioned that by investing in its human a resource, a company invests in its future. It was shown that old repressive and dictatorial ways of doing business is no longer conducive for growth. People will not waste their time and energy for companies that treat them as dispensable assets. Employers should acknowledge the importance of partnership between management and the employees.  It is a partnership that should be anchored on trust, mutual understanding, and a shared vision. Basically, both management and workers should take care of each other. However, it starts with management. A company that takes care of its people will have workers committed to taking care of the company.

On the other side, the main problem for employees in the film is having a great workplace. Improving the quality of the workplace does not solely depend on management. There are employees who are lucky to have visionary leaders, who focus on employees’ welfare. Quadgraphics had one such leader.  Being a former employee himself, Quadgraphics’ founder saw the negative implications of repressive management and shun away from it. However, not all companies are gifted with such a leader. Preston for one used to have a traditional management style, dictatorial and highly authoritative. However, a worker’s act of defiance served as a catalyst for change in the company. Preston’s management eventually realized the need to change its culture that it had to work on improving the working conditions of its laborers. When it did, not only did the workers benefit from it, but the company as well. This is why companies need to take into consideration the satisfaction of their workers.

Other factors that employees look for in their employers are care for their welfare, understanding of their needs as individuals and conducive environment for growth. When all of these factors are present, employees’ morale is high and they become more productive. In FedEx, when the company realized that it had employees who need to juggle family and work life, they implemented flexible work schedules. It first seemed to be counter-productive but people who are well rested and are not pre-occupied with family affairs are more focus and can achieve more. Same goes with trust. When employees feel that their management genuinely trusts them, they don’t put it into waste. Employees have a sense of ownership and fulfillment when their employers trust them with their work. One example is again with Quadgraphics. Its production staffers take turns in leading the production line without their managers. Although they are allowed to call their managers for emergencies during their time as officers-in-charge, they never made use of such provision. It goes to show that employees function better when they are trusted. 

As partners, the problems of employers and employees affect one another. With effective communication between themselves, they can both address their concerns. Businesses should accept the fact that their workers are their most valuable assets. On the other hand, employees should also realize that a better workplace relies not only with the management but also on their attitude toward work, their co-workers and the management.