Great Place to Work® Philippines has just concluded the Philippines Best Workplaces™ 2021 Virtual List Reveal, held on March 3, 2021. It was a heart-warming affair, watched and shared by countless organizations not just in the Philippines, but also within the ASEAN region and across GPTW’s global network. The event was joined not just by the members of the GPTW Community but also by their families and friends, who rallied for them from the comforts of their homes.
Re-watch the live reveal of the Philippines Best Workplaces 2021
It was not so much the celebration and the awards that were the highlight of this event, but in giving back and honoring the Filipino workers and employers who have persevered through adversity together, supported one another, and have gone beyond self to care for customers, uphold their organizations, and serve the Filipino community and the world, especially in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
As aptly expressed by the Guest of Honor, Mr. Silvestre Bello III of the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment, “Indeed, the year 2020 was a very challenging time for our countrymen, particularly those from the labor and business sectors. The COVID-19 pandemic killed many businesses and rendered hundreds of thousands jobless. But the damage could have been worse had it not been for the ‘Bayanihan’ (community) spirit of our people and the resilience of our race. A level of cooperation between our workers and employers to address the impact of the global health crisis probably reached its peak during the pandemic. During the very restrictive ‘Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)’, accounts of employers and workers exploring together for ways to keep businesses running were truly inspiring.”
The Philippines Best Workplaces 2021 List Reveal brought a positive perspective to the unprecedented catastrophes in the year 2020. Organizations who prevailed through these tough times doubled their efforts towards their people, providing more than the standard benefits to ensure the safety, productivity, health, and well-being of their workforce. As a result, they were assured that their employees gave back and kept their businesses afloat. Special recognition was given for the bold acts of leadership by managers and supervisors, who led their teams through the transition to the ‘work-from-home set-up’, exemplified the new ways of working, and spent time and effort to check on each of their members in order to sustain a cohesive, high-trust, high-performance workplace culture, even outside office walls.
Great Place to Work® Global CEO, Mr. Michael C. Bush, shared “At Great Place to Work®, we believe in a concept called ‘Innovation by ALL,’ which means as a leader, you want your members innovating on your behalf, finding faster and better ways to do things, creating a better experience for them, and a better experience for your customers. And what we know is that you cannot have ‘Innovation by ALL’, you can’t have a sense of inclusion, without people feeling that they are cared for, and without people feeling that they are treated fairly, and being respected in an equal way across the organization. What we learned in 2020 is that organizations that were already working towards building a high-trust culture did better than organizations that don’t. So we all have to concentrate more on giving a great experience for our employees to get that great financial performance that we need during these uncertain times.”
This event was truly a gathering of kindred hearts and minds; of witnessing a connected community on its mission to be ‘Better Together’; and a true testament that ‘resilience’ is not forged by will alone, but by the strength of relationships that propel us beyond our boundaries and inspire us to carry on. This event was a tribute for colleagues, mentors, leaders, friends, frontliners, and even family members – the heroes among us.
Xyris Tapia
Xyris loves to look at life through a broader lens. She is a certified bookworm, occasional writer, intrepid traveler and design enthusiast. She likes to create and breathe vibrancy to things. When not organizing events, she is a content contributor for GPTW PH and likewise handles corporate matters. A happy wife and a doting mom, she finds joy in unique experiences and believes that everyone has the potential for greatness.
