Using Data to Build a Great Company for All

Q: How would you characterize Mexico’s business environment?

A: Mexico has an advantageous geographical position in Latin America. The country struggles with the same challenges of its pairs in the south but has gained inspiration from the globalized access of the north, sharing similar market trends with both sides. Many global directors and CEOs are located in Mexico. The country has gained a closer, agile and more current understanding of business thanks to this geographical position, benefitting from enhanced demand.

Q: Based on the current scenario, what are Great Place to Work’s (GPTW™) ambitions in the medium and long term?

A: There is plenty of work to do. We must redefine what it means to be a Great Place to Work®. Our model is and will continue to be valid for the values that are required in an organization to generate better workplaces. However, having already gone through a pandemic, we continue to go through a parallel mental health pandemic. What is more, the expectations of employees have changed a lot. This new understanding of people must be quickly attended to. This is a task for both GPTW™ and company leadership, as it is no longer a matter of understanding the employee experience once a year, but all year round.

To do so, we must install technology that continuously collects data. We now collect about 9 million voices globally. We want to use this to gain fresh data from each country about what the employee is feeling to be able to empower leaders with immediate actionable paths. We will focus on daily connectivity so leaders can understand the people in front of them. Finally, we aim to improve on our gold standard, which will be dictated by employees.

Q: What new business standards is GPTW™ seeing emerge in global businesses?

A: People want to work in a place where they feel connected with a purpose and with a company that cares. Human capital will continue to be the most important asset that organizations have.

Leaders must have a different skill set and engender a more humane and much closer type of leadership than before. This has nothing to do with hierarchy. In our culture, it is often thought that being a humane leader means giving up power. That is not the case. The better we treat our employees and the more we tell them that they make a difference, the more they will embody that truth and remain committed. This leads to more competitive companies, much happier communities and a productive country. Mexico has impressive potential; the quality of its people is another key differentiator. Making sure this quality workforce can perform to the fullest will become the new standard for this new era and doing so will turn GPTW™ into a key actor.

Q: What value does the For All™ Model add in this shifting environment?

A: The For All™ Model is another issue employees have begun to ask from companies, as a company cannot be a great workplace if it is not offering the same benefits to everyone.

When we arrived in 2000, it took us a while to convince companies to invest in a GPTW Certification™ because becoming such a place takes effort. We look for real conviction. As a society, we must be attentive and ensure that people of different ages, genders, sexual orientations, educational levels, socioeconomic levels and hierarchical positions are all happy to work at a company. Gaps in satisfaction can be minimized by paying attention to different demographic sectors.

Ultimately, that is GPTW’s job: to make companies increasingly better, raise Mexico’s living standards and boost the economy’s sustainability. Soon, we will modify the model to foster green organizations, too.

Q: What are the biggest gaps that you have identified regarding inclusion?

A: New generations want to work in organizations where they feel linked to a purpose in life. GPTW™ also sees it is important to attract talent that helps keep new generations in the company as well as to open opportunities to all socioeconomic levels and focus on all types of talent.

Furthermore, gender equality is an important issue that has advanced, albeit at a slow pace. We must pay specific attention to really having a mix of women at different hierarchical levels. To make this happen, companies should build crucial infrastructure around women so they can continue working. The addition of a female vision in politics and in the corporate world will bring a balance to the historically masculine power structure in a business.

It is important to measure best organizational practices to ensure women can reach high executive levels. Yet, speaking of women is oversimplified because many other issues intersect with gender. Other important topics are the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community, of those with disabilities and of vulnerable people in society. It is important to be inclusive.

Q: What will be the next challenges for chief human resources officers (CHROs)?

A: CEOs need to make HR the organization's strategic priority if they are to face the challenges ahead. HR must participate in strategic decisions and be aware of the key concerns of all the leaders in the company. Only then will CHROs be able to add value where they need to. The best formula to face today's operational complexities is a CHRO accompanied by an integral strategy sponsored by the CEO.

Mental health is the next paramount challenge. Business leaders are not fully aware of the level of burnout in the labor market, and Mexico has a higher burnout level than the US and China, a whopping 75 percent, according to WHO. Companies need to closely mind health. As a leader, it is important to understand how employees are doing but this requires a culture of trust. If the leader is not trained to detect health issues or if the person does not tell the leader, it is difficult to create safe spaces. Employee health must be among the Top 3 priorities for leaders. Companies gain success with people, or they gain nothing at all. We live in a world where the person is the center of what we do every day.

Great Place to Work is the global authority on high-trust and high-performance cultures in the workplace, with offices in nearly 60 countries.