Philippines best workplaces 2020 revealed

After months of painstaking employee surveys, culture audit assessments, analysis, reporting, and deliberations among participating companies, interrupted by a global pandemic that upended all workplace values and cultures, Great Place to Work® Philippines finally reveals its inaugural Philippines Best Workplaces 2020 list.

The five best workplaces represent various industries—from business process outsourcing to logistics, to marketing and social media graphic design.

The Philippines Best Workplaces 2020 reports an average Trust Index© score of 87%, while other organizations’ average score is 73%. Great Place to Work® Philippines presents a clear picture of a high-trust workplace culture through its Trust Index© model where employees’ three key workplace relationships are recognized: management, job, and employees.

Leading the list is business process outsourcing company Synchrony Global Services Philippines, a subsidiary of premier consumer financial services company Synchrony that has also been named a great workplace in many locations around the world.

Global logistics leader DHL Express is next on the list for its total commitment to deliver its employee promise of having a “culture of motivated people”, and mastering the art of inspiring its workforce, making it natural for all to have the customers at the heart of everything they do.

Web-based graphic design firm Canva Manila makes it to the top 3 for its team members’ firm belief and practice of the core value of “Empowering Others”, achieved through good communication, mentoring and knowledge sharing—essential ingredients in a workplace culture where everyone thinks and acts like an owner.

Global hospitality icon Hilton lands at number 4 on the list, primarily because of the “Hilton Effect”—a strong, positive impact to team members who liken working at Hilton to having another family, a place to call home. This workplace culture has led Hilton to define the hospitality industry and change the world with its mission of creating heartfelt experiences for guests, meaningful opportunities for team members, and positive impact for the communities.

Completing the Top 5 is the world’s largest wholesale technology and supply chain distributor Ingram Micro, represented in the country by Ingram Micro Manila Global Business Services Center. Anchored in an overarching theme, “IM Engaged Human Capital Strategy”, its people practices translate into an everyday experience that is orchestrated throughout the employee’s life cycle.

Livestreaming inaugural awards

The Philippines Best Workplaces 2020 is Great Place to Work® Philippines’ inaugural awards, and has been livestreamed on May 1 with the event theme “Tiwala’t Tagumpay: High-Trust Culture Drives Business Success”.

Great Place to Work® Philippines Managing Partner Antoniette Mendoza-Talosig, who is also the Lead Consultant of Great Place to Work® Singapore, said of the awards, “Publishing our inaugural Philippines Best Workplaces 2020 list on May 1 is a key milestone for Great Place to Work-Philippines and for the companies who for many years have waited and worked hard to achieve this gold standard of recognition. We are also proud of the Philippine Great Place to Work-Certified companies who have embarked in their own journey of culture-building. The leaders and employees of these companies are our nation’s trailblazers in building great places to work for all.”

In her message livestreamed to online audiences, Mendoza-Talosig added, “For the past three decades, Great Place to Work has published hundreds of Best Workplaces lists all over the world. From conference rooms to grand hotel ballrooms, year on year, we have celebrated with thousands of business leaders and their employees who have created great workplaces. Today, we celebrate our inaugural Philippines Best Workplaces 2020 list in an unprecedented way. We are virtually joined by business leaders and employees who are at the confines of their homes.”

Singing ‘there’s no place like Manila’

Their inclusion in the Philippines Best Workplaces 2020 has given the winning companies the much-needed morale booster, given the present difficulties.

Synchrony Global Services Philippines CEO Michael Zolin thanked the people behind Great Place to Work® Philippines for recognizing not only the level of trust among his company’s people, but also the uniqueness of the workplace culture.

“I loved the fact that we got high scores in the Great Place to Work® survey. When I first came to the country back in July 2011, and I walked into the site for the first time, there was a group of about 30 employees that were singing a song to me about ‘Manila, Manila, there’s no place like Manila’, and I realized at that point that this was a whole lot different than the United States. It has just felt that caring and open and wonderful ever since I got here, and I realized I walked into something very special, and that has been the main focus of my 9 years here: Keeping that caring culture, grow it, and enhance it,” Zolin explained.

Ingram Micro CEO Vigor Amador, Jr. said, “I think the first thing that I felt, other than exhilaration, was that all the things that we have been doing paid off. I know the effort that’s being exerted by our HR Team is just phenomenal. I cannot even quantify the effort that has been extended by the leadership to make sure that we are all in sync when it comes to providing the right level of communication, the right level of engagement, the right level of support to our employees.”

Canva Manila’s Country Manager Yani Donato said that the announcement was a shot in the arm for her team.

“The award was really good news. Can you imagine winning a Great Place to Work® badge at the height of a pandemic? It means a lot for us. I always go back to the team. It’s the people. I think the opportunity has unlocked itself where it will help us hire more people. It will help us get our name out there without trying so hard with the employer branding. I guess the badge just speaks for itself. It is an honor.”

Joining 98 other countries

Great Place to Work® Philippines’ inaugural Philippines Best Workplaces 2020 award follows the renowned tradition of Great Place to Work® worldwide, of which Great Place to Work® Philippines is one of over 60 affiliates. While Great Place to Work® Philippines was just incorporated in mid-2019, Great Place to Work® has had a global presence for over 30 years.

In his message during the awards program, Michael Bush, Global CEO of Great Place to Work®, welcomed the initiative to recognize the best places to work in the Philippines.

“You are joining 98 other countries who celebrate companies that create great environments for all employees who work in great companies. The theme of the event is ‘Trust and Success’ (Tiwala’t Tagumpay), because, at the bottom of creating a great workplace is a feeling where everybody feels trusted by the people they work with, and a high level of trust from the people that they work for. This is what fuels success: Our individual and our collective success in our companies,” Bush said.

Since 1992, Great Place to Work® has surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: Trust. It helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees.

Great Place to Work® uses its unparalleled benchmark data to recognize Great Place to Work® Certified companies, the Best Workplaces in the Philippines, and in more than 60 countries, including the 100 Best Companies to Work For list published annually in Fortune.