Challenges of the Great Place to Work Program

por Nancy Montoya Nancy Montoya | Nov 17, 2021 12:20:24 PM

Casa Sauza great place to work

We started working on the implementation stage of the Great Place to Work GPTW® program for Casa Sauza in 2008. Our productivity achievements have been registered ever since and, to this day, we still see constant advances for our company. Find out how we've done it.

We are proud to inform that one of the indicators that stand out among our achievements is the staff satisfaction indicator, which has increased by 30% from the beginning of the program to this day.

This has placed Casa Sauza as one of the "10 best companies to work at" in the Western region of Mexico, registering a 91% of employee satisfaction.

In 2008, the vision of the company and of our CEO, Servando Calderón, focused on increasing the degree of competitiveness we had, for which all internal processes had to be improved. This meant that Casa Sauza would no longer measure its results internally only, but that it would also compare itself with other beverage companies of the group to which it belongs, Beam Suntory.

Changes done when implementing the Great Place To Work program

total productive management tpm at casa sauza

The GPTW program was carried out almost at the same time as the implementation of other methodologies, such as TPM (Total Productive Management). TPM seeks to improve processes as well as to increase product quality by means of the full involvement and training of all our people, with the intention of reaching the four zeros:

  • Zero failures
  • Zero waste
  • Zero defects
  • Zero accidents

For which many adjustments had to be done in different areas, including the staff area. We also optimized our resources with lean manufacturing methodologies.

It all meant a dramatic transformation, since our aim was to change the culture of our co-workers. We would work on the developing people who would do and think differently from the way they used to do. They should prepare themselves to break paradigms and to focus on innovation. We would develop leaders in our company.

In order to achieve such a goal, we had to inspire, talk, listen to, develop and motivate our work teams. We wanted to educate, train, certify, innovate, and think further, in order to find different ways of working.

By implementing this, productivity increased. We witnessed a growth in the volume of production, a reduction in costs and a decrease in the workforce.

We worked hard and we always tried to stay close to our collaborators in order to strengthen their morale. Undoubtedly, the changes have been positive and have indeed improved our work environment. Our employee satisfaction has been constantly increasing and is currently at a 91% degree of satisfaction.

Management of the change that the Great Place To Work program brought and unionized workers

casa sauza workers

One of the toughest challenges we faced was the level of unionized workers (operational level). The work culture that we used to have gave us all the resources and yet, optimization was not key. Our work with the union required a lot of communication, which led us to achieve a smooth transition. The agreement was that, pursuing their own development and recognizing their talent, our collaborators would carry out more activities and receive more training, and their effort would be economically rewarded.

Changes and new projects always require people that can fully commit and that are decided on collaborating with the adjustments. In collaboration with the union, we together analyzed the challenges that we were facing. We helped those who could not find their own personal goal within the company's project, leave the company with a fair compensation plan and a support program that would help them find new opportunities.

We can now say that the key to a successful transition to a new work culture is based on communication and team collaboration. They both helped achieve the innovation and the change that was much needed.

Come and visit Casa Sauza yourself and talk to our experts on-site!

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