São Paulo – The labor market has changed and will keep changing due to the pandemic. Workers who can speak more than one language, are willing to provide services to companies from other countries, master different digital tools and have high organizational skills will be increasingly demanded in a corporate environment that won’t always have all members of a team together. Companies can benefit from cutting costs, but the new reality will require adjustments and a new legislation.
Coordinator of the Human Resource Management course at Senac EAD, Aline Pereira da Silva says that companies benefited from the pandemic in cutting lease costs and expenses, but, on the other hand, the close contact between employees was lost.
“I believe that several organizations will maintain the remote work and end up holding occasional meetings, but going to the company on a regular basis will no longer be mandatory. In the case of employees who work for foreign companies, these face-to-face meetings were almost non-existent due to travel and hosting costs,” she says.
According to Brazilian Human Resources Association (ABRH) chairman Paulo Sardinha, it’s still uncertain if everyone that can work remotely will do it, as despite working remotely is a possibility, the legislation can be an obstacle. “If an employee works under a CLT [Consolidation of Labor Laws] hiring regimen, working remotely becomes more difficult,” he says.
However, Sardinha believes that a hybrid model is certain, with people working in the office some days and remotely in others. “The future is hybrid, but the question is how in-person and how virtual it’s going to be. It’ll depend on the activity, the company’s value, and the worker’s maturity level. We’ll have to think outside the coercion of the crisis,” he says.
Silva believes that, for some activities, the region where you live is not that relevant anymore. This is the case of technology, distance education, and commerce, with the latter becoming more and more digital. But industry, for example, will still have work positions in the factories.
The fact is that companies and workers will come out of the pandemic differently. Sardinha says that the management will have to change and the quality of communication of managers will have to improve, but this isn’t the only thing that will change. Subordinate workers will have to hone their skills of self-management skills, prioritization of demands, time management, and decision making. Workers will be more exposed to other languages and will have to master more digital tools such as meeting apps.
Silva believes that online communication “has come to stay” and will require more employee training. “A worker who wants to stay up-to-date with the labor market must have English as their second language. This is not to say that every meeting will have to be in another language, but we can’t deny that these other languages are more and more present in our daily life.” But if the worker is seeking a job in a foreign company, speaking English is even more relevant.
Brazil, United Arab Emirates, and Europe
Senior brand partnership of a major UAE luxury brand, Naiara Lopez lives and works between Dubai and Europe and carries out many of her work activities remotely. She sees that the new situation opens opportunities for the workers of a particularly sector: marketing and communication.
“Remote working was already an option for some communication and marketing workers, but now companies of different fields and sizes are now adopting the work model. And for us who work in the field, a new world of possibilities opens up as talents from Latin America can be hired by firms based in the UAE and other countries,” she says. And Lopez feels the effects of the change in her daily life: “When you can manage your time and understand your priorities, you can end up delivering better by working remotely,” she says.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
