Human capital is the most important asset of any company. No matter what economic sector the trader, businessman, entrepreneur, industrialist, and/or owner operates in, there will be no economic success for that company if it does not recognize and accept as an absolute rule the first sentence. The employee goes above the customers. Sometimes above the entrepreneur himself.
Successful companies invest in their human resources continuously as part of their planning and projection. Importantly, they not only invest in professional development, training, learning new skills and continuing education, but they also invest in the well-being and health of both the employee and his or her family. Moreover, in a competitive labor environment, businesses fight for that human capital by offering better pay, adding fringe benefits and other compensation components to retain and attract needed talent. For successful companies, this dynamic is an ongoing part of their budget and business decisions.
We must aspire to have a flexible and fluid labor market that allows companies to compete without restriction and fight to retain that human capital with minimal state intervention, writes Ramón Pérez Blanco (Shutterstock).
The above is in constant opposition to certain public discourses. Some people on our island are convinced that without the intervention of the "defending" state, businesses in Puerto Rico would still operate like the absentee employer of the sugar cane era. We have taken the labor regulatory framework to such a level that Puerto Rico has the most onerous labor provisions of any jurisdiction in the United States, taking away competitiveness and flexibility from the private sector.
In local companies, we have become accustomed to and manage as best we can our excessive labor scheme, but unfortunately the discourse of "employer vs. employee" does not cease. There are always multiple legislative projects in the pipeline to make it more complicated and costly. Incorrectly convinced that by making something more difficult they will get an increase in what we should all want, more higher paying jobs and more of the type of employer that recognizes and validates what I describe above.
We must aspire to have a flexible and fluid labor market. One that allows companies to compete without restriction and fight to retain that human capital with minimal state intervention. In a highly competitive market, employees who find themselves in a company that does not meet their expectations, for whatever reason, will have options to choose from. It is time to change the discourse and desist from continuing to over-regulate our labor market.
This article was originally published in Spanish in El Nuevo Dia.
