I admit, I filled out the Fortune best company questionnaire and fibbed. For some reason, I wanted a good rank. But why? Because we get balloons and cookies for our birthday? It wasn't really that great, even in the good times. Why were we deluding ourselves?
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Getting ranked on Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to work for" was part of a strategy to get the company ready for sale and allow JK to eventually collect $400 million. After the big layoffs DW stopped appearing on the list. The company pushed very hard to get the employees to give a good rating. My managers repeatedly reminded us to give the company a good review. The second I year decided to be honest and fill out a bad review. Management seemed to treat me differently after that - as if someone had read my review. The lesson is that the fortune magazine list can be rigged.
This episode captures the culture of the company very well. Management is mostly worried about self-preservation and putting money in their pockets. The message to the employees is that working at Dreamworks is cool, no matter how you feel. I got the feeling that I was living in a cult. Management is there to serve the needs of the executives and doesn't care about you/
I never understood this. Seemed like everyone lied and blew sunshine on these polls, when what the company really needed was the truth.