A watershed came from the hand of the pandemic in the labor industry, transforming all processes. To reduce the risk of contagion, companies and services adopted a new way of working that brought with it great opportunities.
With the world resuming its rhythm, vacancies have been arising with new skills and objectives that propose challenges and advances for professionals. Mercado Libre, e-commerce leader in Latin America, shows the revolution that has been generated in the labor industry and highlights with its announcement an important historical investment in new hires and in a new dynamic around them.
Sebastián Fernández Silva, Chief People Officer of Mercado Libre, shared an impressive figure that shows the company’s drive to add a great regional team, announcing the generation of more than 14,000 new jobs in Latin America, the majority for Mexico, with 5 thousand 200 jobs. This contracting plan is part of the investment of 1,475 million dollars for Mexico in 2022.
Sebastián Fernández Silva, Chief People Officer of Mercado Libre.
This represents a 50% increase in the number of professionals in the company, starting from a current team of 32,000 people.
The positions in Mexico “are going to focus mainly on the area of operations, logistics and transportation. These positions will be available throughout the Mexican Republic, but more concentrated where we have large operations such as the metropolitan area of Mexico City, State of Mexico, Monterrey and Guadalajara”, commented David Geisen, General Director of Mercado Libre México.
Mexico, key to Mercado Libre
A large part of Mercado Libre’s investment in Mexico is aimed at expanding the logistics network and technological development, which, among other things, allows it to continue promoting financial inclusion, “that’s why I think we are really transforming what Mexican society is , but also that of Latin America through our solutions” added Fernández Silva.
Regarding what the company looks for when betting on Latin American talent, Mercado Libre’s Chief People Officer commented that they seek “that each person is willing to go the ‘extra mile’ for the work environment we build.”
He explained that for this, the role of the leader is fundamental because he is “the one who inspires us every day to give our best. I am convinced that your maximum is not asked for, if you have to ask for it all the time, that relationship may not be long-term; On the other hand, when you build, through Mercado Libre, an environment that inspires you to go that ‘extra mile’ without being asked, these are the relationships that we consider long-term, where we seek that you can unleash your full potential”.
In its new stage, Mercado Libre not only revolutionizes because of its great investment, but also because of its organizational culture, in which it empowers professionals and builds relationships of trust, freedom and autonomy, which have been essential elements in the DNA of the company. company from its inception.
Campus, the evolution of offices
Regarding the subject, Fernández Silva commented that “before the pandemic we had the possibility that people could work on average once a week from their homes. In March 2020, we migrated from one day to the next so that more than 90% of our team worked virtually, which required a process of accompanying leaders so that they can work under this new model.”
He added that “one of the challenges that working under this modality brings is how we make sure we continue to maintain culture and social connection, and for that we are going to be working on a reformulation of the concept of offices that applies to 18,000 people from the team of Free Market in Latin America”.
Fernández Silva explained that in Mercado Libre they are evolving from the concept of “office” to that of “campus”, considering this a place where collaborators will obtain differentiating experiences that make people go to spaces for learning and social interaction to be able to do after office and team meetings, as part of the company’s transformation.
Thus, the company has big plans, and plans to close 2022 with a team of more than 44,000 people (only in direct employment), in a very important commitment in the region, distributed among 8,000 positions to continue expanding its logistics network and that users can receive their product faster and at lower costs; 4 thousand for technology teams, to continue innovating and offering more solutions both for electronic commerce and through Mercado Pago, and the remaining 2 thousand for the different business areas, such as marketing and staff.
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