Algorithm of Recruitment to the United Nations and its Agencies

I worked for 30 years at High Level Management in two of the largest banks in the world, where only those who were competent, who cultivated ethics, rigor, honesty and trust arrived. They could never reach special management positions, who did not demonstrate a high level of performance and who shared the values ​​mentioned above. All of this contrasts sharply with the recruitment formula of the United Nations and its Agencies, for their Director Management positions. Putting ahead of everything the infamous "quotas" - represented, semi-represented and unrepresented countries - often end up not hiring the best, but on the contrary, they hire people with mediocre performance levels, in the name of the aforementioned "quotas" . I realize that an Institution that aims to profit is very different from another whose mission is quite different. However, both must be governed by competent hiring algorithms. Only experienced and competent people can (and should) make a difference. A word for the HR Managers of these Institutions: do not be afraid to dare and hire the best, who in the overwhelming majority of situations, are in private activity and not in the corridors of these Institutions, waiting for a golden reform.

O meu comentário de hoje na RTP-1, sobre as Comissões Bancárias.

https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/economia/parlamento-debate-limitacao-de-comissoes-bancarias_v1208059

                                 SIC - 12.FEV.20 - O MEU COMENTÁRIO



O meu comentário no Programa da SIC - CONTAS POUPANÇA - 12.FEV.20 - sobre a obrigatoriedade dos Bancos enviarem o Extracto de Comissões na Conta á Ordem, todos os anos e a partir deste Janeiro passado. De acordo com o Jornal Oficial da União Europeia, de 11 de Janeiro de 2018 - L 6/36.

https://sicnoticias.pt/programas/contaspoupanca/2020-02-12-Sabe-quanto-e-que-paga-por-ano-ao-seu-banco-

Portugal Parliament approves surplus-aimed budget bill in first reading

Portugal’s parliament approved the minority Socialist government’s draft 2020 budget in its first reading on Friday, setting the course for the first fiscal surplus in 45 years of democracy.

The bill was passed by 108-86 votes with 36 abstentions.

Only the Socialist bench voted yes, but that was enough to deliver the government’s first major win after Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s reelection in October and his decision not to renew an alliance with the far left.

The bill will now go to committees for further discussions and possible changes before a final vote scheduled for Feb. 6.

The highlight of the budget is an envisaged surplus of 0.2% of gross domestic product, providing an extra push to alleviate Portugal’s public debt burden, which fell from 130% during the 2011-2014 crisis to 118.9% in 2019 but remains one of the highest in the euro zone.

Measures include a reduction in company tax for small and medium-sized companies, income tax reductions for families with children up to three years old, and an injection of 800 million euros into the health service.

Responding to critics who doubt the government’s projections, such as steady economic growth of 1.9% this year amid a slowdown in Europe, Centeno defended them as realistic.

“Budgetary policy is not a betting house,” he said.

After years of tightening the purse strings in favor of restoring fiscal credibility, the bill reinforces public investment by 600 million euros to 1.35 billion euros - but for Portugal’s left-wing parties, this is a drop in the water.

“We know you prioritize the surplus, but it is the other ministers who bear the brunt of the train that’s not running, the school that doesn’t exist,” said lawmaker Mariana Mortagua from the Left Bloc party that was allied with the Socialists in their previous term, along with the Communist Party.

Still, Portugal’s left-leaning parties including the Left Bloc facilitated approval of the bill by abstaining. Only right-leaning parties voted against

“Portugal will finally stop living at the cost of taxes paid by future generations,” Finance Minister Mario Centeno told lawmakers before the vote, adding that the budget with a surplus would bring more stability and investment.

A Vergonha das comissões bancárias em Portugal

Com as margens de intermediação financeira a caírem há mais de 3 anos, a Banca em Portugal tenta alimentar a sua conta de resultados de outra forma. E a forma escolhida foi uma despudorada e vergonhosa corrida às comissões.

Por tudo e por nada se inventa uma comissão, a que os clientes não podem fugir, pois esta prática generalizou-se a todo o sistema.

Não se observa uma iniciativa de inovação.

O negócio bancário tem de se reinventar de forma permanente e perseguir a fórmula do empresário Schumpeteriano – permanente inovação, para estando um passo á frente da concorrência, beneficiarem dos ganhos dessa mesma inovação.

Óbviamente, que o futuro da Banca passa pela via electrónica e ligada às novas tecnologias.

A agência bancária irá cada vez mais perdendo a sua importância, e deixará de ser o epicentro onde se concentra o negócio bancário.

No capítulo da desintermediação financeira há tanto por explorar, não entendo como quem dirige os bancos em Portugal, não tem esse “golpe de asa” para aproveitar ganhos que daí poderão advir.

É mais fácil “carregar” nas comissões sobre os seus clientes. Mas esta situação irá ter um fim. As comissões não poderão crescer de forma exponencial.

As novas tecnologias não só activam uma via mais rápida e cómoda para o cliente se relacionar como seu banco, como retiram tráfego das agências. Assim, e desta forma, os bancos poupam nas agências (que vão fechando centenas todos os anos) e nos recursos humanos – diminuindo também o custo destes activos.

Estou de acordo com algumas comissões – aquelas que resultem de forma clara, dum serviço prestado ao cliente e que para este compagine um acréscimo de valor. Agora, aplicar uma comissão pela gestão de qualquer crédito concedido, que é escrupulosamente pago na data acordada contratualmente, além de me parecer desadequada e imprópria, atinge o patamar do obsceno.

É meu entendimento, que o Governo português deveria produzir legislação que limitasse bruscamente esta investida das comissões bancárias, que na sua maioria mais não são do que a tentativa de compor os resultados líquidos, que a margem financeira não permite.

Minimum wage versus Median wage - in Portugal

 

Portugal is in the 12th position among the 22 countries of the European Union that use the minimum wage by legislative means.

Although its value has increased every year (by 2020 it will be 635 Euros), it remains at a downright low level.

It should be borne in mind that few Portuguese receive the minimum wage - it is estimated to be 765,000. These Portuguese are citizens who, for the most part, have very low qualifications and work in sectors that are mostly labor intensive, with little productivity and that contribute little to the generation of national wealth (GDP).

Now, with the annual rise in the minimum wage, companies and the government seem to have forgotten the average wage and this is where a potential imbalance in remuneration lies in Portugal.

Companies need to look more at their workers.

Productivity gains must be carefully divided among shareholders, customers, the production process (investment) and the increase in salaries of its employees.

What has been happening since the 2008/2009 financial crisis is that companies have not made a balanced distribution of their earnings to all those who help create wealth. And this is where the danger of imbalance lies: the minimum wage is getting closer and closer to the average wage.

If an increase in the minimum wage is correct, it seems to me that the average wage should also grow and accompany the wealth creation and productivity gains of those companies they work for.

If there is no movement in this direction, Portugal will increasingly have its poorest workers and increasingly deviated from the median wage of the countries that make up the European Union.

It need to tackle this problem (because it is becoming a problem) head on.

Companies have to look at their workers differently and by means of performance and other criteria that allow them to gauge what each one adds to the production process, remunerate them with dignity, increasing their salary, which deservedly ends up making a difference measure of the most elemental justice.

UMEMPLOYMENT RATES AT EU