Hi there,
Today I want to talk a little about the employment situation in Spain and my personal experience.
In 2012 I went to Spain to do a master’s degree on the recommendation of an ex-boyfriend because, according to him, Spain had a great quality of life and there were many possibilities for professional growth. So, I arrived in that country quite deceived.
I ended up doing a master’s degree at ESIC, which was supposed to be the best business school, the best in marketing and to have the best job market. Then I found that none of this was true.
In the master’s degree I was obliged to do 6 months of internship and since you were at ESIC, the normal thing was that you stayed working (that’s what they said). The truth is companies in Spain that are looking for people to do internships, are not looking for someone to stay, they are looking for someone who works for free and takes away their workload for some time. The law does not oblige the companies to pay social security, so you neither get a salary nor contribute. And well, if you don’t do it, you don’t finish the master’s degree; so, in addition to having paid more than 10 thousand euros for the master’s degree, you must work 6 months for free.
Things started badly.
After living in this country for a few months, I realized the situation was not even remotely as I was told. The country functioned fatally in all aspects. There was no work and what little there was, looked a lot like slavery.
Going to job interviews meant finding myself in the most absurd situations. In some, the employer spent hours telling me how wonderful the company and the work environment were, but without mentioning the salary. In others, they told me that I had to do a year of internship for free and after that, we would see if they would hire me or not.
When the normal thing is that they ask when you can go to an interview and it is the company that adapts to you, in Spain they call you from today to today, like you have nothing else to do in your life but go to that interview
Then there are also the companies that give you an appointment at an hour and when you get there, it turns out that there are 100 more people, and they go by as a group to do the interview. Here it is already very evident that this job does not suit you. They are the typical ones in which they put “director of something” in the job offer and it turns out the job really is for “junior sales agent”.
Another thing, never expect them to put the salary in the job offer and, you look bad if you dare to ask how much they are going to pay you. While the logical thing is that they give you a salary, so the company avoids wasting time, in Spain even when you tell them what you earn, so they don’t waste your time, they still try to convince you to go to the interview.
Beyond the fact that they want to make the rest of the world believe that the country in coming out of the crisis, those who still live there know that things are getting worse every day and will continue to get worse. In addition, legally things are getting worse too, people continue to have fewer and fewer rights.
In the summer of 2015, after having some junk jobs, I went to an interview and left very happy; It was the first time, in almost 3 years, that I went to a “normal” interview. Everything they told me in the interview was great: the salary, the hours, the conditions, etc. In addition, I would receive my salary during the training. What could go wrong?
This company was called Sellbytel and then was absorbed by Webhelp.
When it was time to sign the contract, I saw that nothing that we had been promised was true. It turns out that there was a very low base salary, and the rest was a bonus that was supposedly super easy to obtain, and you always received it (not true). The contract turned out to be a specific work and service contract, those that are super fashionable in Spain, and only for 30 hours; In addition, you promised to do all the overtime that the company asked you to do.
I would work for the Italian market, and it was open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Even so, the company forced me to commit to work from Monday to Monday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
After having joined a union (CGT) and having consulted with a lawyer, I realized that my contract and all the contracts made by this company are in violation of the law. It also turns out that more than 90% of specific service contracts that are made in Spain, are in fraud of law. How can it be possible?
Things got progressively worse. Schedules that do not suit you and there is no way to change them, having to do overtime and end up receiving an even lower salary, not being able to do anything since the company denies you any permission even though you must recover the hours later, etc.
Forget about holidays. Either you take the days off as the company offers them to you from one day to the next, and without the possibility of going anywhere, or you run out of vacations. After all your requests during the year have been denied, you get to December with your 23 days intact, and the company begins to threaten you to take them away. In the end, you must take them in a hurry when the company wants.
Add to this the constant pressure to meet the metrics because it’s not just the fact of not getting bonuses, but the constant threat from the bosses to fire you if you stay at the end of the metrics.
Stressful, uh? Add to this the workplace harassment and mistreatment by your boss and supervisors.
I suffered workplace harassment during all the time I was in that company. Talking with co-workers, it turned out that many suffered it to a greater or lesser extent, that many people must go to the doctor recurrently with anxiety attacks and depression and that no one reported it because they all lived in terror of being fired.
Many colleagues chose to lower their heads and try to be friendly with the boss to see if that way they could be safe. In Sellbytel, when the time to make cuts comes if it’s your turn, it’s your turn.
I understood that in Spain it is impossible to grow professionally. The normal thing for me and for many people is to try to grow within the company. No one wants to do the same forever, right? Well, in Spain is impossible to climb positions. Generally, if you get into a company and miraculously manage to be there your whole life, you’ll be doing the same thing until you retire.
In Spain, the greatest aspiration that many people have is the “permanent position” and they do not consider growing professionally at any time. There are a few who are lucky and find good companies where the rights of the worker are respected, but the majority suffer daily from what I have told you.
I have learned that the first thing to do is know the laws and seek advice from lawyers to be one step ahead, always. I have also learned that you must report everything and put up with nothing. It is a difficult path since defending your rights means going against the grain when most people prefer to keep their heads down.