Introduction
Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea located close to Jamaica, the Bahamas and Miami (USA). It has long been under an embargo from the US and after the Soviet Union (Cuba’s biggest benefactor) collapsed, an economic crisis began. Cuba had been led by the Communist Party and the Castro Family (Fidel Castro, then his brother Raul Castro) for six decades in total. In 2018 Miguel Díaz-Canel has been chosen as the new President and the country slowly began to open up their socialist economy to pro-market actions. In 2019 the first prime minister was appointed since 43 years and Cuba approved a new constitution which is placing more importance on individual’s property, or foreign investments (CNN, 2020). Also, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) can now operate privately which is a great step away from past state-driven employment. Since those pro-market reforms took place, the non-state sector employment is constantly increasing, with 31.6% of workforce being employed in the private sector in 2018 (IACHR, 2020). However, Cuba is still under pressure from the remaining US embargo and economic advancements proceed only slowly.
Recruitment Practices
Laws and Regulations: The rules and regulations regarding employment such as working hours, holidays, unions etc. are set in the “Código del Trabajo” (Work Code). One important observation for possible employers, is the difference in minimum wage [current in 2020] lays at 400 pesos (US$16) in the public and 225 pesos (US$9) in the private sector (IACHR, 2020). If a foreign company is hiring local personnel, the employment regulations are stated in the “Ley de la Inversión Extranjera” (Foreign Investment Law).
Recruitment Process: In Cuba, recruitment is based on the principal “the more people apply, the greater the chance to find the right one”. Therefore, the recruitment mission is to attract as many candidates as possible. To do so, the following steps are considered essential in the recruitment process:
- Write the Job Description
- Job responsibilities and tasks
- Minimum academic knowledge and work requirements
- The information that is required by the applicant (mostly a CV and letter of intent)
- How the applicant can apply
- Advertise in Different Channels:
- Posters or announcements outside the business to attract people who are spontaneously seeing it
- Recommendations through existing employees to reduce recruitment costs and efficiently hire people who might already know the company
- Ads online or on social media to reach more people (e.g. cu.acciontrabajo.com)
- Contact former applicants whose details the company kept in their records
- Contact businesses in the same market to cooperatively work together
- Recruitment Through State Employment Agency (if necessary)
- If a foreign company wants to hire locals, they need to go follow the regulations of the Foreign Investment Law and hire employees through state employment agencies (Entidad Empleadora). The foreign corporation will pay the state agency in convertible currency which will then be transferred to the local peso and paid out to the employee.
Selection Practices
As a company, one is generally looking at people who are able to solve problems, can apply concepts, and are good team members. Of course the specific requirements vary in each company. When selecting a candidate, the following steps will help to succeed:
- Preliminary Analysis of Candidates
- Scanning the first inflowing candidates for minimum requirements
- Age, sex, or marital status that is required for the job
- Experience or educational requirements
- Work history, gaps and their reasons for it
- Scanning the first inflowing candidates for minimum requirements
- Additional Selection Techniques
- One should combine the following additional selection techniques which best suits for the role and the company.
- The sequence of the selection tools highly depend on the position one is looking for, meaning that the more costly or time-consuming a technique, the later it should be conducted.
- Personal interviews to get more information about a candidate. This tool is very popular in Cuba. It usually only entails two people: the interviewer and the interviewee and is mainly used to answer the questions whether a candidate can do the job and how he/she compares to other applicants.
- Cognitive test to determine the knowledge on a subject
- Projective test to find out more about abilities and motivations
- Simulation techniques like group debates or group dynamics to establish a sense of day to day business and see reactions of candidates on certain situations
- Reference verification is mostly used at the end to verify data such as the positions in previous companies, the reasons for leaving the jobs, or the duration in the previous position
- Selection of Candidate
- Only after careful consideration if the candidate is the right person one should offer the job.
Miscellaneous Information
- Unions: Cuba is seen to still violate the freedom of association and collective bargaining. In theory, Cuba is allowing independent unions, however, in practice only the Worker’s Central Union of Cuba is permitted – a confederation of state-controlled unions. (IACHR, 2020)
- Currency: Currently [in 2020], Cuba has two different currencies, the Convertible Peso (CUC) and the Cuban Peso (CUP). However, recent pro-market reforms include monetary reforms to eliminate the CUC and only use the devalued CUP in future. This could lead to high inflation in the country but will also increase the economic efficiency in Cuba. (Frank, 2020). Companies need to ensure that they are acting within those boundaries as well.
- Internet Infrastructure: Cuba’s access to internet is still very limited as a wired nation. Until 2018 people needed to buy internet access cards from Etecsa (state-run telecommunication company) to then use wifi hotspots at official public locations such as parks or hotels. However, recently Cuba established 3G networks which allowed users to access the internet via their mobile phones. Additionally, with the recent trend to further connectivity, Cuba is opening up the infrastructure to private households and businesses and permitting them to use their own routers from Etecsa (Semple and Berekley Cohen, 2019).
- LBGTQ+: As the Labour Code (Codigo de trabajo) only identifies discrimination against sex instead of gender identity, and vacancies are not including gender identity neither, trans people do still face limitations in the job market (IACHR, 2020).
Bibliography
BBC News (2018) Cuba country profile. [online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19583447
CNN (2020) Cuba Fast Facts. [online] Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/14/world/americas/cuba-fast-facts/index.html
Garcia, G. (2020) ‘El proceso de selección de personal’. [‘The process of personnel selection’] Cuba Emprende. [online] Available at: https://proyectocubaemprende.org/blog/111 [Spanish]
Human Rights Watch (2020) Cuba – Events of 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/cuba
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) (2020) ‘Situation of Human Rights in Cuba’. Country Report Cuba. [pdf] Available at: oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Cuba2020-en.pdf
Frank, M. (2020) ‘Cuba Urges Calm as Overhaul of Monetary System Looms’. Posted in The Cuban Economy (2020) Reuters. [online] Available at: https://thecubaneconomy.com/
Parlamento Cubano (2020a) ‘Código del Trabajo’. [‘Work Code’] Asembleo Nacional del Poder Popular. [online] Available at: http://www.parlamentocubano.gob.cu/index.php/documento/codigo-del-trabajo/
Parlamento Cubano (2020b) ‘Ley de la Inversión Extranjera’. [‘Foreign Investment Law’] Asembleo Nacional del Poder Popular. [online] Available at: http://www.parlamentocubano.gob.cu/index.php/documento/ley-de-la-inversion-extranjera/
Semple, K. and Berkeley Cohen, H. (2019) ‘Cuba Expands Internet Access to Private Homes and Businesses’. New York Times. [online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/world/americas/cuba-internet-technology.html