¡Descarga The Spanish Jobs Crisis: Unemployment and Cultural Norms - Prof. Vallejo y más Apuntes en PDF de Relaciones Laborales y Recursos Humanos solo en Docsity! UNIT 1: PRACTICE 1.1 The Real Spanish Jobs Crisis ISABEL EVA BOHRER (Wall Street Journal, 12-11-2012) http:// online.wsj.com/article/ SB10001424127887323894704578113043896796754.html If a quarter of Spaniards are unemployed, then why do so many job applicants sign up for interviews but fail to show up? Hunger. Austerity. Unemployment. Secession. Three people killed at a Halloween party stampede. Not a day goes by without bad news about Spain. With family ties to Spain, I have always considered the Iberian peninsula my second home. After graduating from college in New York in 2009, I moved to Madrid. According to data released by the National Institute of Statistics last month, one in every four Spanish workers is currently unemployed. I myself have a job—for now. As the corporate development director of a tech start-up based in Madrid, I review resumes, interview candidates and make job offers, primarily for entry-level positions and paid internships. But day in and day out, I am puzzled. Perplexed at the number of applicants who send in a resume and then don't respond to calls. Dumbfounded by those who sign up for an interview and subsequently don't show up. Bewildered by others who interview for a position and, upon being accepted, opt instead to enroll in a master's program. Granted, our start-up isn't offering six-figure salaries. But our internships pay more per month than the per-semester stipends that Condé Nast offers its interns in the U.S. If unemployment in Spain is 25%, why is it that so many of its citizens are not jumping at the prospect of work? The incongruence between the statistics and the actual situation extends beyond the cubicle. The majority of chachas, or housemaids, continue to be South American. It appears that Spanish women consider themselves too good for such domestic jobs. At anti-austerity protests, activists communicate with iPhones and smoke Marlboros. In a country that is supposedly in a critical situation, how is it that its inhabitants can still afford such luxuries? Close Associated Press Spain's 'lost' generation isn't really lost. They just prefer tweeting to working. The caveat, of course, is that not all can. Many Spaniards have lost their jobs, their homes and more. Yet those who truly suffer don't usually appear in the anti-austerity demonstrations. Nor are they likely to receive much of Spain's bailout money, if the politicians accept it. Indeed, there is doubt that the money will ever reach the general public at all. Many Spaniards suspect it will flow from the EU directly to the banks. The same goes for the funds collected from Spain's tax amnesty, which is set to expire at the end of this month. Few Spaniards believe that the hidden savings of the rich will ever be seen by those who are actually poor. If they haven't already lost confidence in the government, many Spanish citizens are in the process of doing so. Why bother looking for work that comes with social-security benefits when no one knows if government pension funds will be solvent by the time they retire? Such attitudes skew the statistics. It is possible to work as a paid intern while being registered as unemployed. Others enroll as jobless to claim benefits while earning money in the underground economy. "With or without sales tax?" is still a regular question asked not only by plumbers and electricians, but also by higher-skilled businesspeople. "El que defrauda es el rey" is Spain's unofficial motto: Those who defraud and evade taxes are king—lauded and admired by others. In April, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy banned cash payments in amounts over €2,500 to try and cut down on the cheating. Yet the latest estimates suggest that Spain's underground economy is still worth 20-25% of GDP. That's double the European black-market average. No use upping VAT to 21%, as the government did in September: Only a fraction of the population actually pays sales tax. Some Spaniards who have worked abroad prefer to stay there. "There is an abysmal difference between work ethics abroad and in Spain," a 30-year-old friend tells me as he leaves for Singapore. He alludes to the "lost" generation that isn't really lost; they just prefer to tweet and chat, not work. Such behavior keeps you young and hip, a recent article in El Confidencial reports. My intention is not to criticize, but to highlight the nuances. More than an economic crisis, Spain is suffering a crisis of ideas. Is Spanish society prepared to find a solution? Ms. Bohrer is a freelance writer and the corporate development director for a tech start-up based in Madrid. What do you think about the social problem described by bohrer? In your opinion… is our attitude so deficient? PRACTICE 1.2: APPROACHING TO SPANISH CULTURE AT WORK AND ORGANIZATIONS What about Spanish organizational culture in European and world context? Summarize our main characteristics. HOFSTEDE INDEX IN SPAIN AND SEVERAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES COUNTRIES PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO* SPAIN 57 HIGH 51 LOW 42 MID 86 VERY HIGH 48 LOW BÉLGIUM 65 75 54 94 82 FRANCE 68 71 43 86 63 CHECK REP. 57 58 57 74 70 DENMARK 18 74 16 23 35 FINLAND 33 63 26 59 38 GERMANY 36 67 66 65 83 UK 35 89 66 35 51 ITALY 50 76 70 75 61 GREECE 60 35 57 112 45 RUSSIA 93 39 36 95 81
