Why does employee engagement matter? Cooleaf highlighted the 6 must-see movies that best show the importance of engagement in the workplace:
1. IN GOOD COMPANY
Best Quote: “Why do you say let them go? They don’t WANT to go. Why don’t you just say fire them?”
Dennis Quaid plays a 51 year old advertising executive whose company is bought out by a large conglomerate. He’s forced to fire his long time co-workers and disengagement spreads like wild-fire as paranoia and “synergy” take over.
2. THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY
Best Quote: “Perhaps I can contact you, possibly through my poetry falcon.”
Walter Mitty is so disengaged that he spends more time in heroic daydreams than paying attention to his job.
3. OFFICE SPACE
Best Quote: “The thing is, Bob…it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.”
No movie highlights the importance of employee engagement like Office Space. This 90’s classic proves that disengagement can lead to theft, dis-trust, and eventually complete destruction of an office.
4. UP IN THE AIR
Best Quote: “All the things you probably hate about traveling- the recycled air, the artificial lighting, the digital juice dispensers, the cheap sushi- are all reminders that I’m home.”
Perhaps no movie displays the harsh reality of the business world like this movie does. A character played by George Clooney is hired by companies to do the dirty work for them, traveling the country and firing professionals as the higher-ups observe.
5. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Best Quote: “You sold your soul to the devil when you put on your first pair of Jimmy Choo’s, I saw it.”
Anne Hathaway plays an aspiring journalist in this 2006 movie. Landing a job as a personal assistant to a successful but terrifying fashion editor. While employees of Runway Magazine might be engaged, they are too petrified to even ride an elevator with their superior (Meryl Streep.)
6. MORNING GLORY
Best Quote: “Hey, I just came to, uh.. offer my condolences on hiring the third worst person in the world.”
This lesser-known movie is a great example of a few bad seeds spreading disengagement and unhappiness. Rachel McAdams plays a young producer who must discover who is worth saving at a doomed TV news station.
Originally published on Cooleaf.
What are your favorite movies about office culture? I’d love to check them out!