IMPACT REPORT
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An ongoing global war for talent amid a pivotal transformation period presents companies with multiple risks, including stunted growth and a loss of market competitiveness. These circumstances have instilled companies with a sense of urgency, leading them to fortify and reevaluate components of their value propositions, including the performance of ESG initiatives and the effectiveness of retention mechanisms. Simultaneously, companies have found it necessary to explore the possibility of expediting their automation ambitions, prompting the market to respond with the proliferation of human resource software and technologies. However, a prolonged reliance on manual practices has created a technology literacy gap that has effectively hindered organization’s motivations to adopt AI, robotization and automation technologies.
At the center of this transformation are Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO), who have to balance digital innovation with human-centricity. In the short-term, organizations that are able to harmonize these two productive forces are likely secure in their long-term competitiveness, according to industry leaders. Downstream priorities for organizations also include new regulatory compliance measures, multigenerational synergy and the impact of their DEI initiates.
At Mexico Talent Forum 2022 ECHO, industry leaders highlighted a shortage of qualified talent and the risks its continued deficit represents for their organizations in the face of a rapidly evolving digital transformation. This multifaceted challenge presents CHROs with multiple projects to spearhead but with greater mobility to upgrade and fortify talent initiatives. As the premier event in the human resources and talent sector, Mexico Talent Forum 2022 ECHO provided an ideal space for key decision-makers to share their perspective and build a discussion around the latest trends affecting all industries and sectors of the Mexican economy.
attendance
Breakdown by job title
Conference social media impact
direct impressions during MTF
Pre-conference social media impact
direct pre-conference LinkedIn impressions
click through rate during MTF 4.84% pre-conference click through rate
conference engagement rate 13.2% pre-conference engagement rate
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7-eleven
Accenture
ACH Foods México
ACNUR
Advisory Network for Wellbeing
AES MEXICO
Air France - KLM
Alphacredit
AMCG
AmCham
ATCO
Atramat
Axity
Banco Forjadores
Bayer
Baz súperapp
Ben and Frank
BIC
Boletia
Bosch
Brella Ltd
Bridgestone
Bristol Myers-Squibb
Carrizal Mining
Centro de Liderazgo Emergente
Centro Médico ABC
Chubb
Clarios
Coca Cola FEMSA
Cognizant
Collective Academy
Daimler
Data Warden
Deel
DGCp
Diehl Controls Mexico
Digital@FEMSA
Director Recursos Humanos
Distribuidora de la Rosa
Dominion Global
Dräger
Endeavor
Energía Real
Estafeta
Evolutive
Evolutive Agency
Fieldwood Energy E&p Mexico
Globalization partners
Grupo Brisas
Grupo MC
Hasbro
Hasten LLC
Heidrik
Heineken
HireRight Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V.
Hitch
Holcim
Incode
Interceramic
INTRARE
ipS powerful people
JCp Consulting
KANTAR Insights
Kimberly Clark de Mexico
KpMG
KraftHeinz Mexico
kubo.financiero
KURIOS
Kyndryl
LafargeHolcim
Latina Chief | Diversity Executive Search
Lavartex
Lease plan Mexico
LG Electronics Reynosa
Marketing manager Latam
MasAir
Mercado Libre
Mexico View
Minsait at Indra Company
MSD
Multiplica
Nativa Global
NIC México
NTT DATA Services
Nu
pacto Mundial México
palenca
pearson Education
plerk
prestone
prixz
pRODEHO
pulpi
Robert Walters
Sanchez Devanny
Schlumberger
Seis Grados C
Shermind partners
Smurfit Kappa
Soriana
Starkey
Talent.com
Talentu
TEC
Telmex
Tul
Udemy Business
UNHCR Mexico
Von Wobeser y Sierra sc
Walmart
Wärtsilä
WeeCompany
WeWork
WillScot
Zubale / people
Zurich
09:00
SYNTHESIZING TOMORROW’S LEGAL LABOR CHALLENGES
Speaker: Lorenzo Roel, CCE
09:30 DRAWING THE LINE: REMOTE AND IN-PERSON MENTAL HEALTH
Moderator: Edgar Rosas, Centro de Liderazgo Emergente
Panelists: Eduardo Amaya, Centro Médico ABC
Moisés Flores, Kantar
María Martha Gómez, Telefónica México
11:30
BACKSLIDING FROM COLLECTIVISM OR RETURNING TO IT?
Moderator: Jorge Ponga, Deloitte
Panelists: Isabel Martínez-Carrera, WeWork
Alejandro Ureña, Evolutive Agency
Itzel Gama, Starkey Óscar Lizárraga, MUFG Bank
12:15
RECRUITMENT MARKETING
Speaker: Sebastián Domínguez, Talent.com
12:45 ACHIEVING MULTIGENERATIONAL SYNERGY
Moderator: Michelle Flores, Hasbro
Panelists: Yolanda Rodríguez, Walmart
Arianna Chaparro, TikTok Mexico Fabiola Luna, Bic Gustavo Bolio, AMEDIRH
15:15
DISCARDING AGE: A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR TALENT INITIATIVES
Moderator: Ana Karina López, Kyndryl
Panelists: Sandra Jaime, Zurich
Yamile Nacif Rueda, Accenture Raquel Castañeda, Incode Karlo Mondragón, Grupo Salinas
16:45 DOING AWAY WITH “CHECKBOX DIVERSITY”
Moderator: Hannah Töpler, INTRARE
Panelists: Cristina Mesón, Heineken
Lilia Nahon, Smurfit Kappa México Verónica Pantoja, Lease plan
Daniel Berino, Clarios
09:00
DEI: TAPPING INTO OVERLOOKED TALENT POOLS
Speaker: Pamela Soria, ACNUR
Speaker: Kermith Morales, United Nations Global Compact Mexico
09:30 TRACKING AND RESPONDING TO THE RISE OF AUTOMATION
Moderator: Eduardo Mouret, PRODEHO
Panelists: Alejandra Allard, Bristol Myers Squibb Olivia Segura, KPMG
10:15
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES START WITH LEADERSHIP
Speaker: Lizette Ibarra, Latina Chief
12:00 MEXICO’S UNIONIZATION CHALLENGE
Speaker: Pedro David Martínez, CEMEX
12:30 HOW TO: SELECTING RECRUITMENT TECHNOLOGIES
Moderator: Hugo Jiménez, LinkedIn
Panelists: Abraham Ortega, inDriver
Arturo Aguilar, AMCG Jair Olguín, Hitch
13:15 RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES IN A LABOR-LED MARKET
Moderator: Carlos Lau, Kurios
Panelists: Nivia Trejo, Chubb
Ibeth Ríos, Pulpi Andrea Alguera, Bridgestone Mireya Rangel, Indra
15:00
DEFINING THE RULES OF SUCCESSION PLANNING
Moderator: Antonio Purón, Collective Academy
Panelists: Eduardo Amaya, Centro Médico ABC Juan Ignacio Pérez, Heidrick and Struggles Fabiola Quiroz, Bosch Hector Ornelas, Bayer
15:45
PROTECTING UPSKILLING INVESTMENTS WITH RETENTION EFFORTS
Moderator: Pato Bichara, Collective Academy
Panelists: Nicolás Zuzenberg, HP
Angélica López, Pearson
Araceli Ramírez, Estafeta
16:30
TALENT REGULATORY FRAMEWORK OF RISING DIGITAL ECONOMY
Speaker: Alfredo Kupfer, American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico
MEXICO MUST TACKLE TOMORROW’S LEGAL LABOR CHALLENGES
Mexico faces complex legal labor challenges. The country is known for its manufacturing capacities and cheap labor, making it an attractive business destination. Despite this reputation, experts agree that it is necessary to migrate and adapt to the global new trends in order to attract and retain labor talent and remain reputable. Lorenzo Roel, p resident of the Labor Commission, Business Coordination Council (CCE) saw three areas of opportunity: higher salaries, personalized incentives and legal benefits.
Individual Challenges
Businesses in Mexico are facing high turnover rates. As younger generations start to demand more from companies, it seems that the days when one person worked his whole life in the same office are far away. Roel identified three concepts that need to be addressed in order to tackle these challenges, as improved wages, more individually-focused incentives and legal benefits can provide security and confidence to workers.
Mexico’s labor law must shift and adapt towards today’s necessities since many of the world’s strongest economies already provide a clear path on how to achieve better working conditions. Many
changes have already been made in the past few years in Mexico: For example, the Federal Labor Law largely prohibited the subcontracting of personnel.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to remote work. Many companies and employees saw that their work could be done outside of the office and even though this shift brought on many positive changes. Nevertheless, the speed at which this change occurred proved that adequate regulations were not in place. For many years, Mexico’s Labor Law has aimed to provide for appropriate working conditions, including through visits to medical professionals. However, how can companies ensure this with employees working from home?
This is what the Mexican Official Standard NOM-037 aims to answer, as it has been created to safeguard occupational health and safety conditions for remote work. However, this brings about two complications, the first of which is the obligation for employers to provide an ergonomic chair to the home office employees, which represents a significant cost for many SMEs around the country. Meanwhile, companies must also contribute to the cost of electricity and internet service, s aid Roel.
Furthermore, Roel highlighted that younger generations do not always work from home, so it is difficult to ensure quality working conditions when the companies cannot control the place where workers perform their activities, such as in parks, coffee shops and other easily accessible places with an internet connection. Adjustments need to be made: As new employees seek flexibility at their job, companies must adapt to these demands, or they will be left behind.
In 2019, the Labor Reform generated the p rejudicial Conciliation p rocedure, which establishes the obligation between employers and workers to request a conciliation procedure before moving a lawsuit to labor courts. Roel said that companies must ensure that they follow procedures correctly since potential lawsuits can become serious threats to companies.
“Younger generations do not always work from home, so it is difficult to ensure quality working conditions when the companies cannot control the place where workers perform their activities, such as in parks, coffee shops and other easily accessible places with an internet connection”
Lorenzo Roel President of the Labor Comission, CCEuntil 2025 or 2026 because of the high inflation SMEs are battling.
Challenges Regarding Collective Issues
The USMCA brought important changes to the business models in the country. One of the most important shifts is the established four-year time limit to legitimize collective bargaining agreements. If no agreement is reached, the possibility of forming a new independent union is left on the table. What is more, contractual reviews must be carried out every two years to approve changes.
It is no longer possible to sign collective bargaining agreements negotiated directly with union leaders. Now, it is necessary to talk to the workers, who are empowered by a free, direct and secret personal vote. The measure sets out to create stronger and more legitimate unions that benefit both companies and workers. “As of yesterday, there are 7,548 legitimate collective contracts, which represents only 9 percent of the active collective contracts,” said Lorenzo Roel.
Reform Initiatives
This conciliation must be done at the Federal Center for Labor Conciliation and Registration or Local Conciliation Centers, depending on the circumstances, and may not take longer than 45 days.
Roel also pointed toward the government’s target to increase the minimum wage by 2024, with the aim to ensure that two people working and earning a minimum wage would be able to provide for four members of a family.
The Northern Border Free Zone (BFZN) has already seen an increase in the minimum wage. However, for the rest of the country, this increase may have to wait
Mexico needs to update its Labor Laws. Roel highlighted the importance of doubling the legally mandated vacation days after the first year of work from six to 12 days. However, he insisted that this must be a gradual change because SMEs are not ready for this drastic alteration. The vacation bonus is also an issue to address since the country is lagging internationally. However, he also argued for a progressive shift to avoid informal work gaining strength.
Overall, these factors will help companies address the many challenges ahead. The government will also do its part to tackle various issues. “In the coming years, vacations, labor violence, inclusion, gender pay equity and digital platforms will be the biggest talent initiatives in Congress,” concluded Roel.
MENTAL HEALTH: AN OVERLOOKED TALENT DIFFERENTIATOR
Mental health has and continues to be, an afterthought for many organizations as they contend with market pressures, including digitalization, talent shortage and a forecasted recession. In contrast, companies that prioritized mental health through the COVID-19 pandemic have observed high retention rates, lower burnout rates and generally happier employees. Their success points to an overlooked market differentiator in a highly competitive labor market, according to industr y experts.
“Given its established importance among millennials and generation z, access to digital and in-person mental health services stands to be an attractive contribution to companies’ value propositions,” said Moisés Flores, Senior Director HR Insights, Kantar.
Telehealth services played an important role in supporting the mental health of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, when inperson consultations were discouraged.
Three years later, it is time to analyze the advantages and problems that have come from this modality to marry the best of these approaches in a post-COVID-19 reality. Clarification on the strengths and limitations of mental telehealth services will help organizations and health professionals define when collaborators should be deferred to seek professional, in-person consultations.
Understanding this rule of thumb is imperative ahead of a forecasted economic recession which threatens to place additional economic, and therefore mental pressures on workers.
“All in all, a lack of response to the increasing demand for such services under the ‘new normality’ may bring a series of undesired consequences, ranging from regulatory fines to higher employee turnover and accident rates,” wrote Jorge Merida puga, Director General, Advisory Network for Well-Being, for MBN.
“Economic and emotional stressors triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the manifestation of mental health disorders including emotional distress, isolation, depression, anxiety and stress at elevated rates in Mexico,” said Edgar Rosas, Founding p artner, Centro de Liderazgo Emergente. By the end of 2021, these disorders had evolved and compounded, doubling the observed levels of depression and anxiety in Mexico, according to data analysis by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Furthermore, given the limited access to mental health services in Mexico, it is likely these figures will not reach their apex soon. Understanding that unaddressed mental health burdens contribute to higher suicide rates, employment and declined life expectancy are all important motivators to intervene and encourage the use of mental health services.
In retrospect, mental telehealth services have outlined both positive and negative implications that can now be combined with in-person mental health services for a more holistic impact on patients. yet despite
the proliferation of digital mental health platforms, access to mental health services remains a major challenge, prompting the financial support of companies in facilitating access. Furthermore, the absence of direct physical examination of non-verbal cues has complicated the diagnosis process for professionals, according to BioMed Central Journal. However, this has been a tradeoff between the gained insight into a patient’s physical environment which can provide other important cues about their mental health. Lastly, mental health professionals have also pointed to concerns regarding a maintained therapeutic relationship, changes in engagements and expectations.
Through Mexico’s NOM-035, Mexican employers are uniquely positioned to interject where health professionals cannot, placing an implicit social responsibility on organizations to communicate, support and direct collaborators struggling with mental health. This capacity requires organizations to consider mental health as an integral objective on behalf of the company. As a result, “this demands that organizations first conduct an internal assessment necessary to identify and mitigate risks, provide additional support to the most vulnerable departments. This will allow for the most efficient use of resources,” said Eduardo Amaya, HR
Vice p resident, Centro Médico ABC. “By extension, it demands that executives, human resources directors and other organizational authorities be educated and informed on the subject so that they can transmit this value in practice,” said María Martha Gómez, Head of Human Resources and Administration, Telefónica.
The latter is fundamentally important in addressing often entrenched practices that contribute to toxic work cultures and feed mental health issues. In practice, it will require leaders and other authority figures to be mindful of work-life boundaries, support and transmit healthy company guidelines and nurture the capacity to identify signs of psychosocial risks. Furthermore, since these capacities cannot be developed overnight, companies should consider establishing a robust accountability review process so that talent management teams can address toxic workplace behaviors as they arise. Consequently, companies must be prepared to follow through on disciplinary measures and even contract termination for leaders or collaborators that contribute to toxic workplace behaviors, said Amaya. Reluctance to follow through on disciplinary measures jeopardizes collaborator confidence, the development of a healthy work environment, productivity and engenders other costs that will hurt the company in the long run.
INDIVIDUALISM BOOSTS CO LLECTIVISM
As companies transition from a performance-driven approach to purposedriven company cultures in an increasingly
disaggregated digital work model, are company cultures moving towards individualism or to collectivism? According
to industry leaders, individualism must be prioritized to boost the achievement of goals through the collective.
“We come from cultures focused on collectivism but companies indeed seek to move towards individualism to give more priority to the person as a cell of a work team,” said Itzel Gama, Regional Director of HR LATAM, Starkey Hearing.
Talent scarcity has forced companies to move away from cultures focused on performance, which place a weighted emphasis on individual performance, and toward a culture based on purpose, as workers increasingly look to work for organizations that offer a sense of motivation toward a greater mission.
“Today we live in a society that questions the reason for organizations. This is important because organizations have to be part of the community,” said Oscar Lizárraga, Head of HR LATAM, M UFG Bank.
Consequently, companies have realized that they are neither separated from the environment, nor the social context. “The more aware we are of other companies, the more we can collaborate to create something better,” said Isabel Martínez, LATAM Head of people, WeWork
At the same time, companies are increasingly adopting flexible and disaggregated work models at the overwhelming demand of
an empowered post-pandemic worker. “If the person is motivated, involved and committed, we can have more productive work teams and the individual objectives can be aligned to those of the company,” according to Gama.
Industry experts agree that organizations should prioritize the person if the company is to grow and achieve its objectives. Meanwhile, organizations can positively impact society and even boost social development.
“It is important to understand who I want to be in the community so that together we can evolve. We must contribute to the social evolution,” said Alejandro Ureña, CoFounder & CIO, Evolutive Agency
“Organizations are shapers of culture, and if we promote values among people this can also have an impact on society,” added Lizárraga.
A shift that will change human resources directors to develop creative mechanisms to transmit company culture despite proliferating digital channels. Building this capacity is fundamental to the organization’s ability to work, pivot and innovate as an organization. Digitization is a tool to multiply the impact of any organization.
“Technology brings many benefits and increases efficiency, but we must not leave aside the community,” added Gama.
Digitalization aids organizations to stay connected despite the distance. However, the human side is still essential for collaborators to feel comfortable in an organization. “Around 53 percent of workers want to return to the office three days a week. We must create intentional spaces to connect,” said Martínez..
according to Jorge ponga, Human Capital partner, Deloitte
“The current scenario is forcing many organizations to reflect on working models. Before the pandemic, companies talked about the employee experience. However, now we are talking about the human one,” he added.
The great resignation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is now forcing companies to come up with strategies for retention. “The rotation in the market is because there is no attachment or connection to the organizations and we must see how to retain our in this scenario,” said Lizárraga
“There are many opportunities in the digital world but they cannot be taken advantage of if the human aspect is not well-founded within a company,” added Ureña.
Additionally, there is no one-size-fitsall formula that every organization can successfully implement due to the digital gap. In the US, for example, 40 percent of employees cannot use a computer and work remotely. Meanwhile, in the most developed countries, over 80 percent of the workforce cannot do home office,
“A lack of commitment among workers generates a series of problems for organizations: high voluntary turnover, low productivity, lack of interest in innovation and even brand detractors,” said MBN Expert Contributor Alma Rosa García p uig, CEO, Great place to Work Mexico.
To tackle this problem, companies should make transparency a priority for employees to generate a sense of attachment. “Now, we must have cultures based on transparency so that collaborators do not choose another place to develop their professional careers,” added Martínez.
RECRUITMENT MARKETING CRITICAL TO ATTR ACT TALENT
Attracting and retaining talent is becoming an increasingly important issue for companies as they seek to remain competitive in a globalized and interconnected marketplace.
For Human Resources departments, it is critical to use technology tools to create more efficient recruiting processes and scale businesses.
Companies have altered the way they attract talent. As traditional methods are no longer as impactful as they used to be, digital platforms have taken the lead as the most efficient and popular way to advertise jobs. Sebastián
Domínguez, Vice p resident of Sales Latin America, Talent.com said that “The perfect candidate can be anywhere. Therefore,
your job offer must be on the right digital channels.”
To see how trends have transformed recruitment marketing, its history should be examined. Traditional methods relying on media such as printed press, TV and radio started to decrease their impact in the 2000s due to the introduction of Google AdWords, which allowed for sponsored advertisements Then, 10 years later, the use of AI and tracking for customer targeting allowed companies to reach more potential customers and create digital environments to connect with them.
Most large companies already use a recruitment management system (RMS) to
“Now, we must have cultures based on transparency so that collaborators do not choose another place to develop their professional careers”
Isabel Martínez-Carranza LATAM Head of People, WeWork
design, manage and personalize recruitment process. Domínguez said that an RMS enables companies to receive, evaluate and give feedback to applicants. RMS also lets companies maintain follow-ups with both their clients and applicants.
He added that companies need to understand that the “post and pray” concept is no longer efficient as it does not give the company control over the results of its job offer. Instead, other useful methods can be utilized to maximize advertising budgets. To establish such an approach, the ability to measure Key performance Indicators (K pIs) is the most important step.
Domínguez emphasized the difference between organic and sponsored recruitment: An organic post is very likely to be missed by a candidate, but a sponsored one gives much more visibility to potential candidates. “It is easy to measure your recruitment strategies’ performance to transform all investments into clicks and apps,” highlighted Sebastían Domínguez, pointing to three key metrics.
Firstly, Cost per Click (CpC) is the total budget invested in the campaign over the number of clicks received. This is followed by Cost per Application (C pA), which equals the total budget invested in the campaign contrasted with the number of applications received.
Thirdly, Cost per Engagement (CpE) is the total internal and external costs associated with the recruitment campaign over the total
number of engagements. “Knowing this data allows the company to understand the basis for growth in the upcoming periods,” said Domínguez.
He continued that companies must define their goals to understand the weaknesses in the candidate process. To set such goals, companies must find an ideal business partner, define a specific budget and understand which digital channels are the most effective and grant the highest C pA. Attracting candidates looking for a job is insufficient: companies must make an effort to create digital marketing strategies to impact people who are interested in their industry and want to understand market dynamics.
Branding and showing off company culture are equally important. “Employer branding is a marketing, communication and human resources issue, as it is a strategy that involves communication, marketing and talent selection and attraction,” Domínguez said. Recruitment marketing is an essential part of every recruiter’s toolkit. They can use this to write better job descriptions, generate better relationships between employers and employees, define recruitment targets and create a strong brand for companies.
In today’s world, the implementation of technology tools is critical for business success, as candidates become more digital the recruitment process must be present in several aspects of their lives.
COMMUNICATION, EDUCATION: KEY TO MULTIGENERATIONAL SYNERGY
Today’s workforce spans five generation categories, each with different communication styles, general workplace practices, collaboration and employer expectations, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. In consideration of these divergences, industry leaders outline communication and education as the best mechanisms to draw out and synergize the strengths of a multigenerational workforce.
“Many of the generational conversations in the news today rely on false stereotypes and clickbait headlines, rather than taking the time to understand the important differences that are a part of our generational identities,” Megan Gerhardt, Director of Leadership Development, Miami University, said in an interview with HBR.
As suggested by Michelle Flores, HR Senior Manager Mexico, Hasbro, one of the major challenges of managing a multigenerational workforce is a lack of communication, a weakness that forces age cohorts to rely on negative stereotypes and undermines the development of shared workplace expectations. As the COVID-19 pandemic raucously revealed, effective communication is fundamental to the development of a cohesive, innovative and healthy work culture. Nevertheless, building such practices is complicated by
preferred communications styles across multiplying channels and platforms in which interpretation and tone can be lost. Avoiding communication breakdowns is fundamental to bypassing unconscious or implicit bias, an avoidable susceptibility that affects decision-making.
p eople are consciously or unconsciously influenced by their individual or shared experiences of their formative years, as affirmed by numerous studies. For this reason, it is generally easier for employees of the same generation, who were raised and entered the labor market in the same global macroeconomic conditions, to understand one another. While evolutionarily helpful, stereotypes tied to ageism, both downward and upward, “go a step too far in assuming that every person has reacted to the milestones of their generations in the same ways,” according to HBR. These assumptions give way to negative, ageist stereotypes that contribute to dysfunctional, toxic work cultures instead of drawing and combining the strengths that each has to offer.
“Accepting this natural propensity necessitated the construction of biascontrol mechanisms, including eliminating an assumption-based line of question about age, gender, sexual orientation, education and more,” said Arianna Chaparro, HR Business partner, TikTok.
Communication and education are fundamental to surpassing this initial barrier, allowing for the development of the common ground necessary to building accepted workplace processes and expectations that work for all. Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) are relying heavily on communications channels “to identify both how generational needs and expectations diverge, and most importantly, what the common denominator is,” said Gustavo Bolio, Vice president Hotel Sector, AMEDIRH. This is an essential prerequisite for CHROs who need to balance sometimes opposing demands and requests in line with operational processes and budgets in mind. This is particularly challenging for industries with a demographically-imbalanced workforce for issues like technology, which generally relies on younger collaborators.
“Taking advantage of this appetite, companies have opted to defer to reverse mentoring programs that paired people from different departments and ages to create natural, teachable and innovative moments”
Arianna Chaparro HR Business Partner, TikTok México
to people of all age cohorts. To promote intergenerational synergies, companies must create spaces that encourage and support their connection, a practice that will lead to improved and coordinated workplace practices, said Fabiola Luna, Country Head of HR, Bic. “The reality is that irrespective of age, as individuals, we all have something to learn from one another,” she said. This awareness is acutely prevalent among generation Z, who are seeking workplace role models, a surprising observation on behalf of CHROs.
“Taking advantage of this appetite, companies have opted to defer to reverse mentoring programs that paired people from different departments and ages to create natural, teachable and innovative moments,” said Chaparro.
Maintaining these practices is especially important as companies work to advance their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, a process that implies the addition of new perspectives and values. The goal for human resources directors is to make their value propositions concise but flexible enough so that they are accessible
As companies face an upturn in engagement, CHROs are preparing by educating leaders and decision-makers about the language used to discuss values and expectations. “A common language is essential to building initiatives that are understood equally across generations and even within the same industry,” said Bolio. Moreover, companies should be careful to avoid communication fatigue, which could lead to ignoring potentially catalyzing talent initiatives as was flexibility and upskilling prior to the pandemic.
“Overall, it is about taking lead from the input provided by employees and making actionable efforts to address their needs and expectations,” concluded yolanda Rodríguez, p eople Supply Chain Lead , Walmart.
AGE SHOULD NO LONGER BE FOCUS OF TALENT INITIATIVES
The traditionalist generational lens used to design and deliver workforce programs has seemingly handicapped companies from understanding the shared values of their workforce across generations, according to a study by Deloitte. Experts agreed, arguing that age should no longer outweigh tangible, relevant experience.
“The longer I study generations in the workplace, the more similarities I find in what people want out of work. Those fundamentals of meaning, purpose, good leaders, professional growth do not change. What changes is how each generation expresses these needs and what expectations we have about our employers’
fulfillment of them,” wrote Author Lindsey p ollak in The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace.
Generational analysis has served as a prevalent and influential anchor to view, design and deliver workforce programs for decades. Its application rests on the assumption that each generational cohort shares an inherent set of values, needs and preferences that play an important relevance in workplace incentives and processes. y et the prescription has seemingly been rendered obsolete by a workforce that now spans five generations. This development has challenged leaders to consider alternative approaches to workforce strategies.
Karlo Mongragón, CHRO, Grupo Salinas, said that wrongly stereotyping peoples’ needs according to their age can be counterproductive. “ p eople in charge of human capital should gather information about employees, who they are, and their specific characteristics, to create solutions beyond gender and age. There is a need to segment colleagues to be able to take care of them, create personalized solutions and give leaders the flexibility to understand what people want,” he added. These solutions cannot be generic to all company members and should not be top-down, Mondragón continued.
Othe pressures include the increasingly dynamic nature of career progression in an emerging digital economy that
has effectively loosened the “historic correlation” between age and career advancement. This is best evidenced by ongoing organizational changes and the accelerated adoption of technologies triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing organizations and their contributors to reinvent themselves repeatedly. This macroeconomic transformation has in turn made it desirable, if not necessary, for organizations to promote younger individuals over senior contributors.
Furthermore, as workers across generational lines became more vocal about their needs, they realized that they have more in common than previously anticipated.
Elements like congruent value propositions, flexible work models, job security and expectations for advancement have proven to be important across all generations, according to the Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Survey. “Taken together, the evidence suggests that there has never been a greater opportunity to look beyond generation to reimagine how to segment the workforce for the future,” reads Deloitte’s insight article. “We need to develop specific models to make optimal use of this opportunity,” said Ana Karina López, HR Business partner, Kyndryl.
“Our responsibility as HR professionals is to pay attention to those similarities and differences to create better strategies,” said Raquel Castañeda, people Director, Incode. Nevertheless, companies are not always willing to invest and meet the needs of each
segment. Furthermore, companies need to evaluate how much they are willing to invest in their employees’ well-being, commented Sandra Jaime, HR Director, Zurich.
“Generational intelligence is a skill as valuable as emotional intelligence that can help leaders to gain better results and work at a better organization,” added Castañeda.
What is more, the personalization of individual workplace experiences will depend on the collection and analysis of workforce data to discern and understand distinct employee archetypes. This process has been greatly facilitated by the proliferation of new technologies and techniques for measuring key performance indicators, including demographics, firmographics, attitudes toward inclusion and needs from employers. However, companies should be careful to avoid microsegmentation which, as consumer-product and retail companies discovered, has a limited value without also understanding customer values and preferences.
yamile Nacif, HR Lead Mexico, Accenture, mentioned that companies who do
not accompany their HR processes with technology will become less agile. Nevertheless, the challenge lies in taking the data and bringing it to something relevant to make intelligent strategies and define them. By looking for answers there needs to be results and changes that people can notice, Nacif explained. “The labor market has changed and is demanding different factors, we have to understand that. Until today we have failed to read that information and process it,” said Castañeda.
“Organizations today have the opportunity to apply consumer marketing insights and data analytics to design workforce management practices based on a deep understanding of individual behaviors, values and attitudes, as well as demographics and career and life stages,” according to Deloitte. Nonetheless, demographics should not be the base to create a program or a strategy. “We must be more precise to find a more personalized solution. Creating closeness and opening communication channels is very important,” said Jaime. In addition, companies need to involve people from different professional backgrounds that can bring diversity to the teams and interpret this data differently, said Nacif.
MOVING BEYOND CHECKBOX DIVERSITY
Over the past years, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have become an increasingly important topic among organizations. Good intentions and outside pressures have led
companies to “checkbox” approaches to address the DEI agenda. While these measures may play an important role over the first years of diversity strategies
implementation within companies, DEI must be understood as a core business strategy rather than an HR-exclusive obligation to create sustainable strategies, agreed industr y experts.
“DEI is not exclusive to HR; it concerns the entire organization. Companies must create a council that incorporates business leaders. The council must work in-depth to create a sustainable, long-term DEI strategy for the company. Diversity is no longer an HR priority, but a business priority,” said Cristina Mesón, Vice president Human Resources, Heineken.
Companies will not meet their DEI objectives following a so-called Checkbox
Diversity model without first attempting to understand and embrace people’s differences internally, according to the Stanford Social Innovation Review: “When the social sector employs checkboxes to increase the representation of the underrepresented, it ultimately misses the point of deeply understanding differences for genuine, impactful collaboration. It also causes unintended and lasting harm, and ignites frustration and disappointment when a ‘diversity hire’ ends up not working out, failures that get explained away in several ways that reveal the inadequacy of checkbox diversity.”
The rise of social action groups like Mexico’s Feminist Movement and the US’ Blacks Lives Matter have successfully forced
companies to come to terms with their social responsibility in advancing DEI in and outside the workplace. Following these movements, companies have rushed to advertise their solidarity and commitments to advancing gender and racial justice, but upon review, these efforts have fallen dramatically short of their intended purpose, as reported by MBN.
Companies must embrace diversity and inclusion as part of their core business strategy, said Lilia Nahon, Human Resources, Smurfit Kappa: “It is essential to make DEI part of the core strategy. Having leaders lead by example to create a solid DNA within the company to remain consistent is crucial.”
Failing to implement effective DEI strategies could result in damage to companies. In Mexico, the alignment of personal values on diversity, transparency and sustainability with prospective employers was an important deciding factor before accepting a job for workers, according to Randstad’s Workmonitor 2022. Eclipsing a global average of 41 percent, over half of Mexico’s survey respondents indicated that they would turn down a job opportunity at a company that was not trying to improve its diversity and equity. In other words, stale and superficial DEI initiatives will not go unnoticed by new talent, an important differentiator as the war for specialized talent becomes increasingly co mpetitive.
Ultimately, DEI matters are no issues that can be prescribed through performative checkbox initiatives, as this approach fails to truly understand the biases and behaviors that contribute to the entrenchment of institutional barriers. Once established that DEI initiatives cannot be achieved without internal introspection and education, it serves to shift their emphasis on accomplishing a quota and toward understanding the challenge. This relieves organizations from pursuing immediate results and toward observable benefits and results that come from substantive DEI initiatives.
“Representation quotas and measurement of numbers work for certain stages, but cannot be the long-term metric. It is important to connect the DEI agenda with the business metrics, translating the diversity strategy and connecting it with the business strategy”
Daniel BerinoHR Director Mexico and Central America, Clarios
and touches nearly every aspect of work. To see long-term change, we need to keep moving forward, measuring results, learning from past results, and course correcting as needed, reads Lever’s The State of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts 2021 report.
According to Lever’s report, measuring DEI success is essential to know where companies stand. Among the popular measurement metrics, hiring results, employee experience surveys and employee demographics are the most common. Although it is difficult to measure a company’s “culture,” these metrics help to understand where the organization stands, s aid Mesón.
“Representation quotas and measurement of numbers work for certain stages, but cannot be the long-term metric. It is important to connect the DEI agenda with the business metrics, translating the diversity strategy and connecting it with the business strategy,” said Daniel Berino, Vp of Human Resources LATAM, Clarios.
DEI is an ongoing, ever-evolving effort that involves every individual in an organization
While it is important to leverage data analytics to measure the formal progress of DEI efforts within companies, leaders must be close to their people and ready to listen to them, said Verónica p antoja, Human Resources Director, Lease p lan: “Leaders must forge DEI policies into the DNA of the company. Although big data remains important for formal reports, leaders need to get a close grip on these issues and live the company’s day-by-day.”
Although there is still a long way to go for Mexican companies to become diverse, several of them are already facing the challenge and breaking paradigms. “Companies must understand and accept the diversity they have within the organization,” concluded Hannah Töpler, Founder and CEO, INTRARE.
COMPANIES: KEY IN CULTIVATING DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION
Around the world, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) are some of the biggest hotbutton issues for businesses. The workplace needs to become a diverse and inclusive space where workers can feel like they belong, but companies must heighten their efforts to make this happen, said experts from the UN. The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability
network, born in 1999 when a call was made to companies to build common values and move the global DEI agenda forward. Since then, major adjustments have been made, including the incorporation of the UN Global Compact Government Group. In 2020 the organization blended this agenda with the 2020 Global Strategy and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The agenda incorporates the participation of more than 17,000 companies in over 160 countries around the world. “There are more than 20,000 organizations committed to the UN Global Compact, focused on corporate sustainability,” said Kermith Morales, Impact Coordinator, UN Global Compa ct Mexico.
The UN Global Compact’s Mexico Network includes over 900 organizations, 700 companies of all sizes, 2.4 million employees and has seen the investment of over US$55 billion flowing from the opportunities that come with being part of th is agenda.
Morales highlighted the importance of companies to join the Mexico Network: “We offer training and connect UN agencies with multinational leaders in topics such as gender,” he said.
Mexico Network bases business strategies on four pillars of the Global Compact agenda: human rights, labor standards, environmental sustainability and anticorruption standards. In addition, the affiliated companies get access to benefits such as the Academy, tone-setting business content regarding sustainability, as well as accelerator programs concerning human rights and business, young entrepreneurs and SDGs, gender equality and climate ambitions.
Role of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Businesses also have clear obligations as they must commit to aligning their operations with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN Global Compact. The SDGs are part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Here, 193 member states adopted 17 strategies, aiming to reach a more sustainable world.
The agenda consists of 17 interconnected objectives, 169 targets and 232 indicators that were built on the back of decades of work by the UN and its member states. The UN presents an annual SDG progress report, while every four years a Global Sustainable Development Report is produced by independent scientists.
The world still has a long road ahead to achieve these goals: As many as 150 years are needed to close the global economic gender gap. Global warming is projected to increase by 3ºC by 2100, while the annual cost of bribery may reach 2 percent of the world’s GD p, which is between US$1.5 and US$2 trillion.
Refugees, an Overlooked Talent pool
Morales says that Mexico’s outlook is similarly challenging, as two out of three women have experienced gender-based
violence in their lifetime. In 2020, the UN observed a 9.2 percent gender wage gap was, while the country also has the thirdlargest number of asylum applications worldwide. Companies play a key role in these situations.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is working closely with the private sector to protect and assist refugees around the world while fostering inclusion in the labor market. “UNHCR is working closely with the private sector to create opportunities and facilitate the hiring of refugees as employees,” said p amela Soría, Durable Solutions Associate, UNCHR.
DIVERSE TEAMS INCREASE REVENUE
Implementing a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy is a top priority for companies. Aside from positioning companies in the market, these strategies have to be implemented if every voice in the enterprise is to add value. However, despite the spotlight on the issue, diversity is not commonly understood beyond the issue of gender. Nationality, culture, gender and sexual orientation have to be valued in an intersectional manner and included in the organization’s strategies to leverage the benefits of a dive rse team.
Soría explained that the UNHCR aims to provide a route for employment for the refugee population, from their arrival to Mexico until when they receive the humanitarian visitor’s card, the document refugees need to be eligible for work. She also highlighted the advantages that refugees bring to businesses, “Refugees have many different profiles, from manual workers to university graduates.”
She furthermore highlighted that companies must loosen their procedures to become more inclusive. There are already success stories such as Soriana, which has hired over 250 refugees in the past six months.
“It is so natural to follow the status quo and interact with similar people that we do not realize how intolerant we are when someone different is included in work teams,” said Lizette Ibarra, Chief Empowerment Officer and Founder, Latina Chief.
There are two types of traits that make each human different. The first are inherent characteristics, which we cannot change. Second is the acquired diversity, which we are obtaining via life experience.
The combination of both forms all the characteristics that make us different.
“Diversity makes people look at the same object through different lenses. The most diverse organizations are the ones that generate the most innovation,” added Ibarra.
Racially diverse teams outperform nondiverse crews by 36 percent in terms of profitability. Meanwhile, teams where men and women are equal earn 41 percent more revenue. yet despite the multiple benefits that diversity engenders, discrimination is always present even in an unconscious way.
Everyone is susceptible to unconscious bias. Unfortunately, these biases tend to impact decisions. For example, in Germany, a foreigner has 19 percent fewer opportunities to get a call back for an interview due to the racial discrimination that permeates the system.
There are different types of discrimination such as those linked to gender, race and social status. In Mexico, the share of women in the workforce is 36 percent and, on average, women occupy less than 8 percent of the executive and leadership positions. Meanwhile, in the US there are more men named John and Joe as CEOS than the total women CEOs, Ibarra stated.
There are different reasons of why women are underrepresented within corporate management. Some are causes inherent to the environment, such as the preconception that STEM careers are only for men. In addition, women dedicate 16.6 hours a week to invisible work, which includes housework and care, compared to the 10.6 hours that a man dedicates to it. This factor has a significant impact on labor d esertion. A disproportionate appreciation of masculine behavioral stereotypes adds to these problems.
Racial discrimination is equally concerning. In the US, Black employees still face more obstacles to getting a job. This type of discrimination can even take place when someone is married to a person of a certain ethnicity. “ p articularly in the US, the Black Lives Matter movement created an awareness and urgency concerning diversity, equity and inclusion,” Francisco Ruiz Maza, Country Manager Mexico, Russell Reynold s to MBN.
Discrimination regarding social class is often acknowledged as the forgotten dimension of diversity. Being born in a less privileged position gives people 34 percent less probability to occupy a managing role, emphasized Ibarra.
To build a solid DIE strategy, leaders must be involved since they uniquely can create the essential conditions for an organization to transform. From their position, they can assign roles and measure results. Meanwhile, companies have to define why diversity matters and link it to their business objectives.
“Representation quotas and measurement of numbers work for certain stages, but cannot be the long-term metric. It is important to connect the DEI agenda with the business metrics, translating the diversity strategy and connecting it with the business strategy,” said Daniel Berino, V p of Human Resources LATAM , Clarios.
Furthermore, they need to question whom they want to represent and acknowledge that to understand different consumers,
companies need to promote internal diversity. They can also implement unconscious bias training and mentorship programs. It is also recommended to provide holistic health and financial wellness strategies that address the needs of minorities. Companies can also challenge current maternity leave policies and consider granting flexible work hours depending on specific needs.
“Flexibility is critical for employees but it also depends on the generation. Many baby boomers, for example, prefer to go to the office. For that reason, companies need to understand that there are different types of associates: some want to be in the office all the time, while others prefer more flexibility,” said Cristina Meson, V p Human Resources, Heineken Mexi co to MBN.
COLLABORATORS HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY TOWARDS AUTOMATION
A tight labor market and a shortage of specialized talent have forced companies to consider accelerating their automation ambitions to circumvent the risks of talent scarcity amid a pivotal transformation period. As companies look to shorten their automation roadmap, education campaigns, internal coordination and change management were considered the most indispensable risk management considerations, according to industry leaders.
“Organizations across all industries are struggling with retention problems and operational disruptions. Fortunately, automation can bridge talent gaps and power business operations,” said Erik Severinghaus, Executive Vice president of Business Development, Conexiom.
p rolonged talent gaps have created a sense of urgency among company executives who increasingly fear their organizations are falling behind as the
digital transformation consolidates. Irrespective of the industry, business entities, from startups to enterprises and corporations, all have been afflicted by the talent shortage. A 16-year high deficit has resulted in a reduced working capacity, operational disruptions, decreased competitiveness, minimized innovation capacity, decreased morale and high turnover. Even though this has mobilized industry leaders to defer enhanced recruitment and retention efforts to their CHROs to augment, Mexico’s labor market simply does not have the talent needed to satia te demand.
“Some years ago, between 50 and 54 percent of companies faced issues to attract talent, and the number went up to 75 percent, according to Man power Group.
“This means that academia, schooling and preparation have failed to cover the industry’s demand,” said Lissy Giacoman, CEO and Co-Founde r, Vinco.
consider offering upskilling and reskilling programs aligned with the skills that will be needed to direct and manage these technologies, thus transforming collaborators from bystanders to stakeholders during this process.
“Automation will not mean the substitution of the human factor but rather should be used to make processes more efficient and as support,” said Alejandra Allard, HR Director Mexico & Colombia, Bristol Mye rs Squibb.
Furthermore, given their proximity and interdependence on other departments for business processes, “It is imperative that collaborators inform and participate in an organization’s automation strategic development,” sai d Allard. Essentially, decision-makers should be relying on collaborators across departments to identify where current business practices and processes are most opportune for automation applications. Their collective perspective will grant executives the visibility needed to rethink workflows with the support of automation technologies prior to investing. To coordinate intelligence, large companies especially would benefit from starting the “planning of change-management frameworks for their employees,” said Eduardo Mouret- p olo, General Director, p RODEHO.
In response, company executives and CHROs have found it necessary to expedite their automation ambitions, “a decision that has naturally engendered fear and resistance among collaborators,” said Olivia Segura, Consulting p artner for Human Capital and Talent Management, K p MG. In other words, culture is currently the greatest barrier to the adoption of automation technologies for many organizations. However, “This can easily be abated through education campaigns in which they can imagine their continued participation alongside these technologies,” she said. Consequently, organizations should
This proximate transformation will place weighted pressure on CHROs to keep pace with adjacent departments, especially customer-facing arms that often receive the greatest allocation of funds to automate. While this is ultimately a CEO decision, companies should be careful to ignore their HR departments, which often still rely on manual processes given that they risk disenchanting their collaborators and potential candidates expecting their HR experience to be equally frictionless and easy, sa id Segura. Therefore, the automation of HR practices has the potential to be an important differentiator.
“Automation will not mean the substitution of the human factor but rather should be used to make processes more efficient and as support”
Alejandra Allard HR Director Mexico & Colombia, Bristol Myers Squibb
USMCA GENERATES UNIONIZATION CHALLENGES FOR MEXICAN COMPANIES
The USMCA introduced the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism that aims to solve dispute settlements regarding free association employees, independent unions and collective bargaining. This mechanism has already been activated for the fifth time for companies in Mexico. This raises an important question: Are Mexican companies struggling to adapt to the new labor obligations that the USMCA created?
Experts point out that many companies are simply unaware of what they need to do, whereas others have already made significant steps to improve their policies.
Evolution of the Federal Labor Law, from NAFTA to USMCA
In Mexico, the Federal Labor Law (LFT) was first signed in 1970. In 2019, the LFT was reformed with the modification of more than 550 articles, as Congress aimed to create a major transition from the almost 50-yearold legislation and open union competition.
“ p rivate companies know that the 2019 Labor Reform pressures them to keep investing in training union representatives about the reform’s changes,” said p edro David Martínez, Labor Relations and HR Manager, CEMEX. This reform was greatly influenced by the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as it complies with its main demands.
In 2020, the renegotiation of NAFTA created the USMCA and since then, Mexico has seen trade grow. Nevertheless, issues between Mexico and two of the most important economies around the world the US and Canada, have become both prominent and commonplace.
Companies Confront the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism
p edro Martínez said that only about 0.33 percent of the companies in Mexico can be tied to the mechanism, as the great majority of companies in the country do not have dedicated unions. He highlighted that many of these businesses fail to comply with the requirements. “Regarding company intervention, vague bargaining agreements, dismissals of union activity and lacking company support for the incumbent union trigger the activation mechanism.”
Companies must prioritize alliances, knowledge and communication. When the objectives of unions, companies and workers stand aligned, the mechanism will likely remain redundant. Martínez emphasized that continuous communication between
workers, the company and its union, as well as full compliance in the payment of benefits, are critical. Following these tenets would solve at least 80 percent of the potential problems between the parties.
Businesses that do see the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism getting activated have 45 days to formulate a solution with the local government and later with the labor committee of the USMCA. However, if one of these steps fails to meet compliance, or if no agreement is reached, significant penalties, fees and tariffs will be levied on the company and the country.
Companies that already had active unions will have it easier, according to Martínez.
Nevertheless, companies must ask themselves what they need to do to address these processes and achieve freedom of association. “The answer sounds simple but the wider picture is complicated and the solution takes time,” he said.
Many Mexican companies are still unfamiliar with the USMCA’s new labor obligations. However, some are already transforming their culture and business model as they seek to comply with these commitments. “There is an important group of companies that have made efforts to transform their labor processes and respect freedom of association and collective bargaining, despite the adverse results from unions that have been in place for years,” said Martínez.
COMPANIES TRANSFORM TO ATTRACT, RETAIN TALENT
The growth potential and competitiveness of companies have become depressed in a labor-led market, prompting organizations to reevaluate and innovate their current recruitment strategies to attract and retain the top candidates available. In a year marked by red-hot demand, alliances with universities, offering good work-life balance and developing workers have proven to be the most indispensable recruitment mechanisms, according to industry leaders.
The war for talent is plaguing industry in Mexico and beyond, transforming what has traditionally been considered a human resource occupation into a
business-critical function. On a global scale, three out of every four companies report difficulties hiring the talent they need, a sixteen-year high, according to the Manpower Talent Shortage Survey 2022. From IT to marketing, and from logistics to manufacturing, 65 percent of Mexican employers are having difficulties finding the talent with the skills that their organizations need.
In the face of multiple and ongoing business transformations, a depressed supply of qualified talent threatens to undermine if not inhibit the growth of companies at a pivotal, market-defining moment.
Specifically, “The urge to find digital talent is powerful,” said Carlos Lau, CEO, Kurios.
“What we are experiencing is not new, but consumption habits, needs and expectations have changed and this has forced us to transform the way we do business, as the labor market began to have different needs,” said Mireya Rangel, HR Director Mexico and Central America, Indra.
Aware of the growing problem, companies have mobilized to update and fortify recruitment strategies ahead of an anticipated market slowdown. “The world changed and keeps changing and if companies do not adapt, they will be left without talent,” added Rangel.
Leveraging this information toward an organization’s unique skills needs will allow companies to target, attract and retain talent that coincides with the organization’s cultural fit.
“The setting of a recruitment strategy is about connecting the results of the recruitment analysis with the best practices available on the job market. Using the boundaries from the HR Strategy, the team can set the real stateof-the-art recruitment strategy, which can contribute to the organization,” according to HRM Handbook.
After the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, candidates became more selective. “The pandemic forced us to continue evolving and reframing the strategies to present the company to candidates. Companies need to think on how to make themselves more attractive and visible,” said Nivia Trejo, HR Director, Chubb. After all, workers now decide whether they want to be part of a company or not. “We have increasingly selective candidates and it is important that companies take care that the mission and vision are admirable and make sense to the candidates,” said Ibeth Ríos, p eople Operations Lea d, p ulpi.
Frontrunners in this adaptation have found success in allowing themselves to be labor-led, letting contributor and talentgenerated data inform the development of internal recruitment initiatives. From this data, organizations have gained helpful insight into prominent, generally held values and behaviors including work-life balance, reskilling and upskilling, value alignment, compensation and flexibility, among other key factors needed to retai n talent.
Candidates are now the designers of their workday and it is imperative for them to feel free and safe to express their interdisciplinary knowledge, emphasized Ríos. Moreover, recruitment processes now have to be shorter and more efficient through technology. Meanwhile, other skills must be prioritized. “Frameworks that prioritize skills rather than personal attributes will be key for recruitment success,” said Andrea Alguera, Talent Acquisition Manager LATAM, Bridgestone. “We must work from a framework of diversity, equity and inclusion,” she added.
Additionally, companies are partnering with universities to support the development of new skills among young talent. “The new generations do not come out of their studies with the technical
knowledge that we need. Agreements must be made with the schools to adapt the study plans to modern needs,” said Rangel.Although the battle to attract new talent is strong, the existing labor
force. “Even though strategies to attract new talent are important, we also have to pay attention to the talent already part of the company to keep training them,” ad ded Trejo.
HR TECHNOLOGY GAP IS HURTING R ECRUITMENT
The proliferation of human resources (HR) software and technologies demands that chief human resources officers (CHROs) augment their technological literacy in order to successfully navigate this rapidly growing market and develop a robust recruitment strategy, according to industry leaders.
“There is a ton of new tech flooding into the market. p roviders are rapidly bringing new tech to market and accelerating their product roadmaps,” said George LaRocque, Founder and Analyst, WorkTech.
The looming threat of stunted innovation and growth as well as a loss of market competitiveness has placed implicit pressure on CHROs to augment their recruitment pipelines. Consequently, they have been at the receiving end of additional funds so that they can lead the digitization of their departments, many of which still rely on manual and inefficient processes. This overnight shift has forced HR directors to enter and navigate a market they do not really understand.
“This is a blind spot that has hindered the efforts of organizations to adopt artificial intelligence, robotization and automation
technologies,” said Arturo Aguilar, HR Management Direc tor, AMCG.
“ p rior to the COVID-19 pandemic, HR departments had a 12-year technology literacy gap, a reflection of resource allocation priorities on behalf of organizations. Two, almost three years after 2020, most have only been able to close four additional years of their technology gaps. In other words, most HR directors are not aware of the marketleading software technologies or how to pick them,” said Aguilar. As a result, the minimization of the work performed by HR directors is effectively hurting companies’ current recruitment and digitalization effor ts, both.
With the competitiveness of their organizations on the line, CHROs are being tasked with closing an average technological literacy gap of from five to eight years. Bridging this breach is a leading priority for CHROs who must evaluate more than 1,200 digital recruitment tools “while considering their organization’s size, needs and longterm business strategy,” said Abraham Ortega, HRB p LATAM, inDrive. The latter is fundamentally important to ensure that HR
directors do not end up buying recruitment tools that clash with the organization’s processes or objectives, he added. Ultimately, supporting CHRO’s technology education processes is fundamental to curbing unnecessary company costs and expediting an organization’s digital transformation.
“A helpful starting point for CHROs is to contemplate how the recruitment process has evolved over the past three years,” said Jair Olguin, Sales Rain Maker, Hitch. This asks HR directors to dissect their observations of the recruitment landscape, which has largely migrated to social and networking platforms like LinkedIn, Glassdoor and Indeed. Most, if not all, HR directors understand the diffusion and outreach potential that these platforms offer, but they lack an understanding
of how to coordinate their recruitment pipeline, Olguin added. This is therefore an actional opportunity that CHROs are missing out on as many are unaware that it is possible.
Taking it further, collaborators are increasingly seeking information about the organizations they are interested in, pointing towards another actionable opportunity: generating industry articles that your target candidate might be interested in, said Aguilar. Their addition to an organization’s recruitment strategy provides added value to both the company and potential candidates because it informs the reader about the company’s values, expertise and direction, he explained. In practice, this approach allows companies to incidentally screen candidates before they even apply, sa id Ortega.
SUCCESSION PLANNING, CRITICAL FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY
Succession planning plays an essential role in the development of companies. While they aim to retain talent, these plans enable workers to develop in other areas of the company or even progress to a more senior position. Such continuity is critical for management positions, and HR department must work toward ensuring stability in the smoothest way possible.
“One of the main tasks of any leader, in any corporation, at any level, is to think about who will be succeeding them,” said Antonio p urón, Senior Advisor, Collective Academy. This minimizes the risks of a new person arriving at key positions. However, it is a difficult task to complete, as it is challenging to make senior management aware that their succession plan must start fro m day one.
A good succession plan is the result of good talent management, said Eduardo Amaya, CHRO-Vice p resident of Human Talent, Centro Médico ABC. He added that this speaks of the company culture’s maturity, the real driver for businesses in the short, medium and long term. “When there is a robust succession plan in the organization, this means there is good talent management,” he hi ghlighted.
Recent years have been marked by significant organizational turnover, mainly rooted in the gargantuan evolutionary challenge ignited by the COVID-19 pandemic. This forced CEOs to juggle the multilateral transformation of their
roles, their company’s business model, digitalization, organizational design and other responsibilities as demanded by a shifting market. The traditional approach to succession planning based on which person instead of what skills were needed to deliver on the company’s strategy ultimately debilitated the resiliency of companies during this transformative period.
Therefore, an organization would be better served by shifting its succession planning from acting leadership profiles toward the skills and competencies needed to engender a forward-looking strategy. Establishing this vision will help board members discern and anticipate discrepancies, thereby providing unbiased clarity on the skills needed to realize the organizational vision. In practice, this entails board members setting a concrete roadmap divided by organizational priorities, anticipating challenges and letting this assessment process establish who the next leade r will be.
However, this is a process that will require constant adjustments, as it depends heavily on skills and mentality. Eduardo Anaya described it as an “artisanal process, as it really depends on the ability to minimize the risks while at the same time ensuring a smooth transition.” Continuous improvement is therefore
key, and digitization plays a key role in providing more clarity and control over both internal and extern al talent.
Juan Ignacio p érez, Managing p artner, Heidrick & Struggles, argued that companies must dedicate part of their dayto-day to creating an impactful succession plan. “One of the big issues is that general management must devote a major part of its agenda to succession,” he added.
In addition, it is key to understand both the talent an organization possesses and what it lacks, as companies frequently prefer seeking successors in the market when they can be found internally. Companies must synthesize the information available and bring realistic solutions: “During the succession process, you need to identify four or five potential candidates to fill the position,” sa id Amaya.
“To develop an adequate succession plan, companies must first understand the market, define its rules and roles and identify the available positions, while at the same time analyze the skills employees have developed to then establish the transition periods based on the necessary metrics,” said Fabiola Quiroz, Country HR Manager, Bosch. She also emphasized the importance of documenting and communicating the entire process to make it as clear and transparent as possible.
Hector Ornelas, Vice president of HR, Bayer concurred that the company must show a transparent process because it fuels ambition to grow within the company. What is more, it helps companies to understand how to prepare their talent for future challenges. “Companies need to anticipate future scenarios to see how the needs and skills for the industry will change,” he emphasized.
The urgency of the day-to-day tasks take precedence over what is truly important in the big picture. Nevertheless, companies should focus on their key positions, as few businesses can cover the costs of a succession plan on a
massive scale. Quiroz said that the resistance of leaders to succession planning is a further key obstacle.
The cost of developing a succession plan is little when compared to the damage that not having one can do to a company. The HR area must remind senior management of the importance of such planning. Furthermore, “Dismissing workers inside the company by betting on outside talent shows the lack of maturity in the talent development process, as this should be the exception to the rule,” said Amaya. “Companies should also focus on diversity and inclusion,” concluded pérez.
REGULATION MUST KEEP UP WITH BOOMING DIGITAL ECONOMY
Mexico faced its last major labor regulatory framework shift in 2019 with the Labor Reform, which has changed several practices from major adjustments in outsourcing and subcontracting to a new labor justice system. While these changes were considered necessary, the pandemic accelerated the need for the digitization of labor in Mexico. The law must keep up by adapting regulation and creating new favorable policies.
“The current outlook for the labor-focused regulatory framework in Mexico is positive. Authorities are already implementing technological tools and the industry must
learn to use them optimally. The public and private sectors must continue to adapt to the reform. The country spent 40 years without adapting its regulation. Today, we are trying to catch up, but this proves challenging,” said Alfredo Kupfer, president of the Labor Committee American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico.
While technology was already disrupting the labor market, the pandemic truly incited the revolution toward a more digitized world, said Kupfer. The legal framework should be adapted continuously to tackle new, challenging circumstances for both employers and authorities, he added.
“Technology leads us toward greater efficiency. The e-signature, although already regulated, is still not used widely within the labor market. Companies must take these opportunities and modernize labor relations. Remote work has also been regulated in Mexico, with a specific chapter dedicated to it,” sa id Kupfer.
The pandemic led to major and permanent changes in policies and practices for several companies. Remote working gained popularity due to the pandemic’s restrictions and lockdowns. Nevertheless, it also represents a challenge for regulators. There are different regulatory issues that policymakers should take into account, according to the EU Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. p roblems include working hours, the right to disconnect, the right to request working from a distance, the relationship between the home office and gender equality, the work-life balance and psychosocial risks, among others. “Regulators have a major responsibility to design the policy that generates best practices in remote work, including the incorporation of data protection, which is crucial for companies and to safeguard the privacy and safety of workers. There must be a balance between worker privacy and company supervision,” sa id Kupfer.
Furthermore, Mexico’s gig economy, a labor market characterized by the prevalence of
short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs, has boomed in recent years. Online platforms such as food delivery or mobility applications were the main drivers of this development. Mexico already has 14 million people working under this modality, according to Forbes. This figure represents roughly 33 percent of the workforce. “Despite the great benefits the gig economy has brought to our region, there is still much work to do, especially after COVID-19. Informal work levels had already reached the 56 percent mark before the pandemic and it is estimated to have increased to around 62 percent due to the effects that lockdowns had on formal jobs,” Melina Cruz Villafaña, CEO, Homely, wrote for MBN.
Some countries have already regulated these digital platforms, forcing them to provide social insurance and benefits to workers. “Some companies have decided to close their businesses and move to other jurisdictions,” said Kupfer, but other companies did enable access to benefits via their platforms.
Regulations play a key role in maintaining a fair market while protecting the rights of workers. As digitalization increases in Mexico, the regulatory challenges will continue to grow, concluded Kupfer. “This evolution is not going to slow down, and in this digital economy we must stay ahead with regulation.”
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