Incipient regulatory attempts seem to want to order a new normality from an obsolete paradigm. The risk is to lose the opportunities that this unprecedented global phenomenon has brought us.

By Martin Padulla for staffingamericalatina

In our region some countries are unable to discuss the future. The debates are focused on the urgencies of the present and fundamentally on the responsibilities of the past. A significant part of those who represent the will of the people yearn for charismatic leaders who had their heyday in the first half of the last century. In this first half of the century we are living, the political debate revolves around categories created or legacies that were conceived 100 years ago.

We attend 24 hours a day to analyze the pandemic and little is being planned strategically.
COVID 19 forces us to think about the future.

Those who live from politics are so confused and so far from society that they believe they ARE politics.
Big mistake.

If politics is the science that deals with the government and organization of human societies, especially of states, in any case we are facing malpractice. Those who become candidates for elected office or perform tasks in public bodies or companies do not have the necessary skills to perform their roles effectively. The results indicate this. And management implies orientation towards results.
If we add to this state of affairs the fact that the cost far exceeds the high labor cost borne by the private sector when hiring an employee who contributes to the GDP and is not an expense, the picture of unfeasibility becomes clear.

The right way out of this labyrinth is with more and better politics. Those who seek to preserve privileges at the expense of the suffering of the citizenship accuse anyone who proposes a disruption that includes more republicanism, more democracy, more freedom, more transparency, more austerity, substantially lowering spending and strongly promoting the private sector, which generates development and inclusion through investment, of being anti-political.

Latin America now needs to manage the present and plan for the future. The answers are not in the past.
The acceleration of trends brought about by the pandemic has brought to the forefront the urgent need to promote diverse forms of work. Quickly and empirically, all social actors understood that work is no longer a place to go but a task to do and that technology can help us reconcile personal and professional life as well as open up opportunities on a global scale.

In some countries in the region, politicians who never worked in the private sector have regulated telework as if it were teleworking. To the historical opportunity they had to reduce rigidity in labor markets with serious difficulties to create jobs, they responded by adapting more flexible forms of work to the obsolete legislation in force. These are my regulations for reality, if reality changes, worse for reality.

The delocalization of work and the knowledge economy offer an unexpected opportunity that is also accelerated by this unprecedented global phenomenon.

Whether this opportunity will reach as many people as possible will depend on the ability to understand that the diverse forms of lifelong learning should not be attempted to be included in outdated education systems. Will the regulations that come from our ever-distracted and outdated legislators be?

If we manage to stop looking permanently in the rear-view mirror and improve the quality of our democracies by moving away from the populisms that are so backward, we will have more opportunities to get through this complex present better and embrace the future with enthusiasm.

A future that will be diverse, more flexible and with more freedom to include us all.

Let us not let them take away our optimism.