Making the Mexican workplace a great place to be is one of the things that Tecma does well.

Tecma Group of Companies:

Hello and welcome to another edition of Tecma Talk podcasts. Today we have an internal expert with us. He is the director of human relations and human resources for the Tecma Group. His name is Abraham Medina, and we are going to talk today about his group’s effort to ceate a workplace environment in Mexico truly is superior, and results in to retain good employees. Obviously, the human resource is the most valuable one. Good morning, Abraham. How are you today?

Abraham Medina:

I’m fine. Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here.

Tecma Group of Companies:

It is great to have you here. Tell our listeners a little bit about your position at the Tecma Group of Companies. Perhaps, starting off with a little bit of your employment background, but finishing up with what your responsibilities are within the company today.

Abraham Medina:

I am a senior HR professional, with twenty five years of experience working within the maquiladora industry in Mexico most of the time. I have a Masters Degree in business administration with a concentration in manufacturing. I have worked with several types of foreign corporations. They would be larger corporations like GE and Ford, etc. I am now working locally in Juarez and El Paso with  the Tecma Group human resources department. My main role is to make sure that people have a great work environment, and that this is a Mexican workplace that is one of the best. That is one of my main roles.

Tecma Group of Companies:

That is going to be the main topic about which you and I are going to converse today. I am going to give some very general information, but then I will ask you to provide some specific detail. Tecma has been recently recognized ( and I know that you are going to Mexico City to accept an award in a short period of time) by the organization called Great Place to Work, which is an international organization. This is because of the Mexican workplace environment that you and your team have been able to create so that it is a great place to

The first question that I would like to ask you is what is the “Great Place to Work” program?

Abraham Medina:

The Great Place to Work certification, as you just said, is an international award that certifies that a great Mexican workplace, or, for that matter, a workplace anywhere is built on the basis of the day-to-day relationships that employees experience. It is not a case of just programs and benefits. The most important factor in these relationships is trust. From the employees perspective a great Mexican workplace is one in which they:

  • trust the people that they work for;
  • take pride in what they do;
  • enjoy the people that they work with.

From the manager’s perspective, a great Mexican workplace is one in which they:

  • achieve organizational objectives;
  • have employers who give their personal best;
  • work together as a team in an environment of “family”and trust.

This is what Great Place to Work certification is all about.

Tecma Group of Companies:

Your understanding of the organization is much, much more deeper than mine, but mine is that it is an international organization that has a certain criteria for certification, and they look to certify not only great firms in the Mexican workplace, but they also operate in a lot of other countries to look at work environments their. How many countries, including Mexico, does this program take place in?

Abraham Medina:

This is a huge certification program. It is a very well known international recognition. Great Place to Work research says that about ten million employees in fifty countries that are
representing more than six thousand organizations partcipate in the program.

Tecma Group of Companies:

When you look at the global reach of the program, and I know that they have a very strict process, and have a strict process of determining which companies get on the list and for identifying which companies have created a great place to work. It is almost like, it’s almost like getting an ISO 9001 certification for the human resource department. Would that be a good analogy to make?

Abraham Medina:

Absolutely. As I mentioned before, I have been working in companies that have been certified as ISO and some other technical recognitions, but, yes, you are absolutely right. Obtaining a Great Place to Work is the equivalent in HR of those international technical certifications.

Tecma Group of Companies:

That is quite an achievement. Why did Tecma seek to get recognized by the Great Place to Work program? What is so special about the Mexican workplace that has been created by you and your team in the company at its various locations in Mexico?

Abraham Medina:

Tecma already was a great Mexican workplace. We always have been a “family” working together toward the same goals. However, we wanted to have an external entity certify this. We know that we offered a great Mexican workplace. We knew that Tecma was a great place to work, but we just wanted to make sure that an external entity would give us a third party verification of this. That is what we did.

Tecma Group of Companies:

Pardon me. The recognition, on a global scale, is obviously very impressive.

Abraham Medina:

That is correct.

What makes Tecma a special Mexican workplace? Tecma excels at in recognizing human worth an imbuing the extension of human hospitality in managers toward their employees. This is a primary concern of the president and CEO of Tecma, Mr. Alan Russell, and his management team. There, as I have mentioned, an emphasis of treating employees like family in this Mexican workplace. That makes Tecma a great place to work. Another outstanding aspect of Tecma is that we have several programs that include specific training and education plans for each employee. We are always working towards developing our people. We have some programs that make our company unique, because we are continuously celebrating everyone’s achievements, even outside of the organization. We project a mood of caring and generous appreciation in the Mexican workplace. We see each individual as a collaborator. That is what makes Tecma so special.

Tecma Group of Companies

So that the listeners have some sort of understanding of the process, can you address what the company did and demonstrated to the people at Great Place to Work that created the success in achieving the certification? In other words, what did the certification process look like?

Abraham Medina:

We learned about this important award, and knew that we had created a Mexican workplace that we call the “familia Tecma.” We decided to pursue this certification to learn more about our weakneses and strengths to improve the work environment to be even better. The process involved obtaining feedback from every employee as regards trust and structure. We integrated our employees as teams for improvement. We asked company personnel to help improve the work culture by documenting what we do to make sure that our future in this Mexican workplace will be even better. That’s the
process that we followed. Then, as you just said, we are about to receive our recognition.

Tecma Group of Companies:

Just an incidental question, Abraham, once Tecma is certified as a Great Place to Work, what is required to maintain certification over time?

Abraham Medina:

We are continually reviewing our working systems. We want to make sure that our policies, procedures and our work instructions bring forth an excellent work environment and culture that we have as a family. That is what we are focused on at this time.

Tecma Group of Companies:

This will be one of the last questions that I will ask you: You, as well as some of your team, are going to Mexico City to receive special recognition for creating a great Mexican workplace. Can you explain what is going to be happening in Mexico City when you do make your visit there?

Abraham Medina:

The Mexican headquarters of Great Place to Work is in Mexico City. We have been invited to receive a special recognition for being named to the list of the top 100 companies to work for in Mexico. This means that in the entire country, the Mexican workplace that we have create at Tecma is in the country’s top 100. We will receive this recognition during this coming April.

Tecma Group of Company:

That is great! Congratulations! You all have done a great job. There is one last question that I would like to ask you. How can other folks that have created and maintained a great work environment, as you have, find out about the Great Place to Work program?

Abraham Medina:

Those that are interested in this can visit the Great Place to Work website. It contains lot of information about the certification program, and how to achieve the recognition. We strongly encourage companies to do so. It important for HR professionals to know how extensive of a program this is, how far it goes into the working culture and how important it is for all involved.

Tecma Group of Companies:

Because in each Tecma Talk podcast we talk with expert in specific areas, having gone through the process already, if a listener has interest and wants to ask you questions about your experience, would you be willing to field questions from those that have a desire to tap into your expertise?

Abraham Medina:

Yes. We believe that benchmarking best industry practices make us even better. We are always willing to share our knowledge, experience, expertise and abilities. If anyone needs any type of support, or information about this certification process, feel free to contact me.

Tecma Group of Companies:

Abraham, I am going to put a link to your LinkedIn profile. Those that are interested in this issue can connect with you, and then they can contact you in that manner. Would that be OK?

Abraham Medina:

That’s correct. Absolutely yes.