As the pandemic has changed the ways of accomplishing tasks and telecommuting has gained ground in all markets, flexibility in terms of where and when to work will be one of the factors most valued by employees in this new reality.
The threats caused by the spread of Covid-19, caused companies globally to look for new ways of working. Most teams chose to readjust their dynamics and focused on promoting remote work.
The labor market reports a structural change, as fewer and fewer people are being paid a fixed salary for their work, while at the same time the number of employees earning per project is increasing.
Although the trend has been reported globally for several years, the pandemic accelerated this process, as the economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 outbreak destroyed thousands of formal jobs.
Between December 2019 and the same month of 2020, the number of employees contributing to Social Security decreased 3%, a fall that is explained by the economic crisis generated by the outbreak of covid-19.
Official data show that Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango and Guatemala were the most affected departments, as the drop in the number of contributors in these regions amounted to 9%, 7% and 4.5%, respectively.
Due to the precariousness of the English language, in recent years’ companies in the Contact Center & BPO sector have decided to close thousands of jobs in the region and relocate their investments to other markets where they have no difficulty in recruiting qualified personnel.
Reports at a global level show that the command of English is one of the weaknesses at a Central American level.
After the Guatemalan Constitutional Court suspended the implementation of differentiated salaries in 2015, the Giammattei administration plans to discuss the application of regional minimum salaries during 2021 and the plan is for them to enter into force in 2022.
In 2015 the Guatemalan government established differentiated salaries for the municipalities of Masagua in Escuintla, Guastatoya and San Agustín Acasaguastlán in El Progreso and Estanzuelas in Zacapa.
Focusing the skills of employees according to new opportunities and approving laws that allow for more flexible labor agreements are some of the proposals being discussed in Guatemala for companies to face the new labor reality.
Following the economic crisis that caused the outbreak of covid-19, the recovery and generation of jobs is one of the issues that occupies much of the attention of the government in Guatemala.
Faced with the sudden change that the new normal generated in companies, employees are challenged to increase their skills to work remotely, adapt to more flexible contracts and refine their technological skills and cognitive qualities.
Telecommuting has become an everyday occurrence among companies in the region, which have had to adjust to the restrictions imposed by governments due to the outbreak of covid-19.
In the context of the economic crisis, it is estimated that companies in Central America have reduced the working hours of employees to an average of 32 hours per week.
As a result of the spread of covid-19 in the countries of the region and the imposition of strict home quarantines, demand for products and services has fallen considerably in most markets.
Restrictions on the movement of vehicles and people, and to some extent, the ban on office work, are forcing companies to reinvent their ways of operating and revolutionize their work culture.
Following the spread of covid-19, strict home quarantines were decreed in Central American countries. This scenario boosted the implementation of teleworking and forced companies to adapt to a new way of operating.
Eliminating "tax harassment", suspending threatening messages to the private sector, such as lifting bank secrecy, and stopping persecuting the formal employer is part of what Costa Rican entrepreneurs are proposing to generate more jobs in the next two years.
In Costa Rica, the business sector presented the Alvarado administration with a proposal of 113 actions to generate new jobs in the next two years.
Following the state of calamity in the country, the Ministry of Labor created an electronic procedure, through which companies can temporarily suspend the contracts of their workers.
Ministerial Agreement 140-2020, published on April 7 in the Official Journal, explains that the government measure is temporary and exclusively applicable as long as the circumstances and effects of the covid-19 pandemic, which has been declared worldwide, and its effects on employment contracts persist.
After 12% of companies in Guatemala reported in the first quarter of 2020 that they planned to increase their payrolls, by the second quarter this proportion had risen by only 1%.
Employers in Guatemala report positive hiring plans for the second quarter of 2020. 13% of employers have contemplated an increase in their payrolls, 2% expect a decrease and 83% will remain unchanged, reported Manpower.
Between 2018 and 2019, the unemployment rate in the country did not vary significantly, falling by just 0.3% from 2.8% to 2.5%.
Data from the 2019 National Income and Employment Survey (ENEI 1), prepared by the National Statistics Institute (INE), show that at the time of the survey the unemployed population was 179,000, down from 194,000 in the ENEI I of 2018.
For workers in non-agricultural, maquila and export activities, the minimum wage will increase by 3% this year in relation to what was paid in 2019.
Government agreement 320-2019, published in Diario de Centroamérica on December 30, 2019, specifies that the minimum monthly wage for agricultural activities will remain unchanged for the second consecutive year, and will continue at $388.12.
With the recent signing of the U.S.-Canadian-Mexican trade agreement, a precedent was set for future negotiations, as this agreement sets binding labor conditions, such as making exports subject to the payment of a minimum wage.
For example, one of the conditions of the Treaty between Mexico, United States and Canada (T-MEC), which was signed on December 10, 2019, is that vehicles exported from one state of Mexico to the other two countries "must come from plants that pay wages not less than $16 an hour.