How hard is it to find workers in Panama?

In Panama, the talent shortage is estimated to be around 68%, which means about that much 6 out of 10 employers are having difficulty finding the talent they need, according to a report by Michael Page.

Salary is one of the main difficulties in coverage available vacancies. However, María Gabriela Fábrega, Michael Page’s manager for Panama and Central America, reminds us that more factors must be taken into account.

“Panama is a country in constant growth and development and the lack of talent here can be attributed to several factors: education and training, emigration of talent and competition from companies to attract talent,” Fábrega said.

The executive acknowledged that the issue of salary compensation is a subject of constant debate as employees seek fair compensation commensurate with their responsibilities and performance. However, it is not enough Offer a competitive salary.

“The market is really undergoing a powerful transformation of these compensation schemes, as they are reinforced with benefits that go beyond mere compensation,” he added.

At the same time, he emphasized that although salary is crucial, it must be accompanied by those intangible aspects that create satisfaction and well-being in the working environment. These include elements such as recognition, professional development, work-life balance, work environment, flexible working hours, among others.

According to Fábrega, these strategies are already being implemented in Panama, especially in those areas where talent shortages and turnover are higher. These areas are logistics, technology, engineering and sales. The talent shortage in technology is around 41%, logistics and engineering 26%, and sales 38%.

Overall, the study found that the actions most valued by talent when looking for a new job are: openness about workload and flexibility (62%); ensure a tolerable individual workload (50.1%) and recognize effort i contribution of the whole team (45.5%).

The challenge for Panamanian companies is to encourage the closeness of associates at all levels of the organization.

“Situations should be seen as opportunities to focus on what really matters: people and creating more flexible policies, as well as setting the growth of talent for leadership roles as a goal,” said Juliana Otálvaro, senior executive director of Michaela Page Panama and Central America.

Otálvaro added that Michael Page’s studies show that, from an employee’s perspective, the factor that would have the greatest impact on a potential employer is transparent communicationclose leadership and greater autonomy and trust in the performance of tasks.