Work and Salary Expectations

[Guillo]

What if they're not keeping up with inflation because of lack of performance? Will Argentines be happy with jobs when the salary is solely tied to performance? Gratitude is not what I'm after. I'm wondering if I'll have employees with professional attitudes who will hard to make as much as they can.

You will need a helluva smile to convince someone that they must work hard and grow your business, for a difuse promise about the future, specially when most of the local companies are close to inflation raises every year, you want them to accept working for cheap because of the global downturn, and businessmen here are known for cheating to employees more than for honoring their promises.
Now, if your business has enough growth potential to generate enough growth in employees income, then I don't see why not. But it will most likely attract the ones more willing to take the risk, which might not be the kind of profile you are interested for a worker.

 

[jb5]

I'm not talking about diffuse promises. I'm talking about tangible, well defined performance measures. I'm also not asking that they hope for growth. I'm saying if they want to put in the time and effort to produce more, and better than average, work, they can increase their salaries by a lot in the present.

This is not a strange proposition in much of the world, so what I'm really asking is if the prevailing attitude is pay me to show up as many here suggest, or if in the Argentine culture I'll find many anxious to make money by putting in a bigger effort.

 

[Guillo]

I think you are missing a big factor: businessmen here are not used to working like that, it's not usual to see workers doing that either so you will need to find a way to engage their trust.
Still, having something measurable in place would definitively help.

 

[jaredwb]

I'm not talking about diffuse promises. I'm talking about tangible, well defined performance measures. I'm also not asking that they hope for growth. I'm saying if they want to put in the time and effort to produce more, and better than average, work, they can increase their salaries by a lot in the present.

This is not a strange proposition in much of the world, so what I'm really asking is if the prevailing attitude is pay me to show up as many here suggest, or if in the Argentine culture I'll find many anxious to make money by putting in a bigger effort.

JB5, the attitude is Argentina, if you haven't noticed from Guillo's post is "we are entitled to more and more for less and less". Pay for performance, a clear and defined way of paying employees in EVERY country in the World (except Argentina) doesn't work.

If you want someone who wants to make extra money by putting in the extra effort...hire an expat!

 

[John.St]

... the fact that you feel part of the country.

You better dig this: At least half of the expats I know personally, love this country and we want to stay here for the rest of our lives.

But we hate to see the mismanagement and indifferent attitudes, which make Argentina poor instead of being among the ten richest countries per. capita in the world.

 

[Guillo]

JB5, Jardwb, you are missing a big factor in the dynamics between employer and employee. You are assuming trust between employer, which is hardly the case, and you know why? Because employees got burned many times by trusting them.
I'm sure the opposite is just as true. So you face a lack of trust in both directions and nobody that can mediate in this.

Also...

>"we are entitled to more and more for less and less"
You keep poping up with those "pearls of winsdom", while totally ignoring the realities of local economy conditions as if they didn't exist because they are not good for your business, as if you could just magically change them.

I'll explain it to you...companies working in an economy with high inflation MUST WORK DIFFERENTLY. If not salaries, then taxes, rent, even paper costs will end up eating your margins until its not sustainable as a business. Replacing raises and inflation adjustments for productivity bonus might help you cling a bit more, but by itself wont support your business as the country indexes itself with a 25-30% annual inflation and you have costs following that line, and if after productivity bonus your employees are not close to those increases, you'll lose them to someone that has a proper business set up and can handle inflation paying decent salaries.

 

[jb5]

Guillo, again, there are precious few companies that have "a proper business setup" to handle inflation. So the end result of your thinking would have to be unemployment and poverty for most. Don't they teach economics in Argentina?

 

[Guillo]

Guillo, again, there are precious few companies that have "a proper business setup" to handle inflation. So the end result of your thinking would have to be unemployment and poverty for most. Don't they teach economics in Argentina?

You'd be surprised of how many companies that can withstand inflation there are. The country didn't stop to a standstill, did it? Most places gave raises to cover for inflation (many over 20%), most have been already doing so for some time already.

And again, its doesn't matter what I think of it. I haven't invented inflation myself because I was bored. Neither did the workers for pretending to maintain their status quo.

You keep thinking that you can focus on making money with total disregard of the environment where you are doing it, and it just doesn't work like that, and its not related to how the workers might think, its just the reality of a society with high inflation!

 

[jb5]

Can you give us a source for the fact that most companies gave 20% raises recently? From my research this simply is not true. And economic facts support that it would be impossible for that to be true.

What I just keep thinking has nothing to do with my making money in spite of inflation, I keep thinking that it's devastatingly sad that Argentines are unrealistic enough to further tank their economy and country. That more than anyplace I've seen this is a woefully naive approach that will make a country I love an unrealistic place to do global business and spend much time as the economic desperation will further crime.

The reality of a society with ongoing inflation isn't businesses keeping up with it, it's economic doom.

 

[Guillo]

I can quote the different unions. Blue collar workers are all unionized. White collar workers also are on some kind of jobs (i.e: banks). Those non unionized in unionized companies usually got something close to what the union got. They dont get it all years, but the last one they did because they were lagging behind the unionised on the same company, flattening the salary pyramid (boss making less than his subordinates).
I wonder where do you get you info from, because so far you have been totally off.

>The reality of a society with ongoing inflation isn't businesses keeping up with it, it's economic doom.

I hate inflation as much as the rest. But I'm not going to take in on my shoulders to fix it, sorry. I bet you have much more disposable income than I do, why don't you try it?