The second panel of the event Equity of Scope Debate was attended by Jessica Barefoot, Bonda People Manager and was moderated by the Economy and Finance journalist Ambit and Director of the Buenos Aires Herald, Stephanie Pozzo.
When speaking, Descalzo said that working on inclusion is “within the DNA” of the company, and that “all policies” in Human Resources or recruitment “are open.” “When we go to hire a person, we evaluate that their competencies and technical skills have to do with the profile we are looking for, and not so much with age and gender, or any type of issue,” he said.
“The company is turning 14 this year, and it is something that happened naturally that equity is part of the DNA. 70% of the headcount we have is female, and that also evolved naturally”added Descalzo, who also pointed out that in leadership positions, this amounts to 75%.
Descalzo pointed out that at Bonda “teamwork” is encouraged in the search for better results at a creative and business level. Regarding the use of more inclusive language inside the company, the People Manager said that she perceives people as “freer” and “more comfortable”, even down to the way they dress.
The changes that the pandemic brought at the work level
“There are a lot of issues where one perhaps does not have those rules of formality, which the pandemic also helped us a little with”he added in this regard.
Descalzo said that his beginnings were in companies with a predominance of men in hierarchical positions, who came from a more traditional culture, but that this does not happen in Bonda. However, he maintained that there are still companies that still “find it difficult” to advance on equity issues. Regarding the latter, he pointed out that it is something that is “very biased” and that causes the “loss of a lot of talent.”
“We have a lot of young people who push you to do different things, which is essential,” he added. “I think that one of the things that they (young people) came to teach us is to work from a place of well-being,” said Descalzo, referring to emotional, physical and financial balance in jobs.
“Today, that is key, because before it was 100% work and hours were not important, and now it is about balance above all,” the People Manager reflected on the subject. “I think that we and generations before ours have a lot to learn from that balance,” she added.
“These are questions that are already added to the talent process, to the interview process. If you are going to tell them that they have to come (to work in person) every day, I don’t know if they will continue to listen to you in the same way. This is what the pandemic left them with in terms of hybrid modality,” he said.
Improving value propositions
On the other hand, Descalzo said that “technology and the times we live in” demand that companies improve their value propositions in order to compete for market talent with other companies. “Not only attracting talent, but also retaining it,” he added.
Descalzo also added that the company’s value proposition must be “moving” all the time to meet the new demands of the labor market.
In this sense, he believes that, in general, companies should listen more to the people who make up their workforce, since “each population that forms part of a company is different.”
“In Bonda we are 100 people within what is Argentina, Mexico and Colombiathen it is perhaps easier for us to do one-on-one, what we call the follow-up interview or one-to-one talk,” he continued.
Regarding labor legislation, Descalzo maintained that “for a long time” Bonda has sought to differentiate itself from the Employment Contract Law to be able to offer better benefits to its employees, since it “was never modernized.”
“One ends up differentiating from the companies. Without a doubt, the State has a very important role in the sense of modernizing,” he added.
“I think it’s extremely important to make a mutual choice and to create commitments with those who are part of the company, because if you have a commitment you don’t have to control an hour or a day, you can be there from anywhere,” he concluded.
