7/11/2016

White Paper

“Why hiring from abroad, to recruit locally”

Comfort zone is the new black. It maybe sounds like fiction, but is not a prediction.

Nowadays, prosperity has proved to be the main challenge towards development. You can

see it everywhere. In your working environment, back at home, in politics, in business

making. The very first to capture this, was Guardian’s cartoonist Steve Bell.

The USA presidential elections are already done and everyone is wondering how Donald

Trump became the next president. Well, it is silly to ask that, when the European Union

itself, uses the same weapon and still works the same way round. Therefore, the question

is not how. Is why.

Lesley Kim Grossblatt, just recently published a short note in LinkedIn Pulse, about why

hiring the 'right people', demands more than just looking at their resume:

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Taking the topic a step further, “Huffington Post” released a detailed research, on why brain drain has hit

Greece. At the same time “Imerisia” - the biggest Greek financial newspaper, published a contradictive

article, claiming a big lack of employees & human resources in 10 main Greek labour sectors.

Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/greece-brain-drain_us_5638f6abe4b027f9b96a46af

Imerisia: http://www.imerisia.gr/article.asp?catid=34291&subid=2&pubid=114230028 (in Greek)

The truth lies somewhere in the middle, or as Kleovoulos once said, in 4th Century BC:

Both perspectives are correct but taken from a different point of view. “Huffington Post” showcases

employees’ thoughts and decisions. In a country like Hellas, immigration is a sensitive topic, but not only

in receiving refugees. The well-hidden outward immigration is something that no one wants to admit,

mainly because it is followed with the negative notions of failure, incapability, discordance and being

weird enough to not fit in.

The fact that local communities expect you to compromise and fit in, is not a new concept. In Ancient

Hellas, those that were too different, could be expelled from the city/state, through a public vote on

oysters: Ostracism.

This kind of social exclusion never actually vanished from modern societies. It just got disguised. There is

no better example, than the 2016 Norwegian social attitude. Priority number one is to avoid any

abnormally. Life should continue in a straight line and avoid any kind of sudden question or non-

structured event. Does this sound extraordinary? Well, just think of Turkey.

--

Turkey tries to avoid any turbulence between its two main allies, by pretending that there no problems.

In order to keep in track with its Arabian financial agreements, the country should not help Syrian

refugees. However, in order to keep on track with its EU political wanna-have contract, the country

should help Syrian refugees. Therefore, Turkey leave refugees to enter and cross Turkey, while officially

claims that nothing is happening. The result is to force Syrians cross the boarders illegally to reach the

Hellenic Aegean coasts, whilst some of them drawn on the way.

What Turkey actually did, described in one word: Compromised.

--

This kind of approach, known as ostrich, is not a political invention. Avoiding reality to ensure a no-

surprising daily life is a cultural Norma. In Norway, youth society is built on the notion of social-

awkwardness. In few words, this is the expectation of your peers. To fit in every new context you enter.

This expectation is an unwritten Norma, in which you should find your way, by picking your battles and

placing yourself in a second priority.

Norwegian lifestyle is constructed on social activities. Shaped in boxes, where in order to meet new

potential friends, you should enroll in group activities, in which you need to follow those social guidelines.

For example, if you lead a private lesson of 3 students, to whom you are teaching them Greek, you are not

expected to be in further contact with them after these lessons come to an end. And this is not taking

place only between the teacher and the student (employee – customer relation) but also between the

students themselves. In each of those groups, you are expected to follow the guidelines in order, to

preserve the straight routine line and stay away from social awkwardness. And this is how societies

degrade.

--

The relation of abnormal happenings and societies is the same, as of a human and his heart: The

heartbeats. And therefore; we need something to derail us from our routine, to feel alive. Our body

revitalizes each time we sneeze, our mind revitalizes each time we solve a difficult problem, and our

feelings revitalize, when we experience love, death or loneliness. Exactly because everything that may kill

us, makes us, feel alive and in extend, we appreciate more the gift of life.

The format of social commonality requires not 3 but 13, 23 or even 33 ID editions. We should be able to

adjust to any of our daily activities quest. This drives us to set our priorities in doubt and doubt drives us

to the social placebo effect/delusion: “I cannot do it”, “I do not want it. “I do not care”. Those three answers

are given way too easy. They are used in order for us to avoid any potential difference heading our way,

both in theory (discussions) and in praxis (invitations). The last state is to get socially insensitive.

Invitations will be kindly declined and conversations will be politely avoided or disdained. It is common to

hear a conversation finishing with: “I hope that this conversation helped you or I/we just spent our time

in vain”. Those declarations are used both as self-validation of the correct approach and to ensure the

non-provocation of the listener.

--

An unchallenged life, is been sought from every one of us. However, the richer we are and the easier we

have what we want, the bigger the rate of ease it is. Labels are then easier created. Our profession

replaces our name. Our business card replaces our personality. Numbers replace notions.

A very good experiment is how persons react, when something is given to them for free. A tie for instance.

The easier someone can afford buying this tie, the lesser interested is to meet the “value” of such an offer.

The same happens with everyday actions, like cooking. They are taken for granted. The easiest it is to

have our daily goods, the most common it is to throw away cooked food, for any kind of reason.

--

Looking back to employability, the most comfortable our life is, the lesser we will pursue something

better. Even if what we do, is not what we want to do. The fear of the unexpected, the undiscovered and

the unknown, is compelled with the “I do not care” reaction. Just because we cannot motivate ourselves to

look further. To take our first step out of our comfort zone and embrace the unexpected.

The green area is our comfort zone. Is where we live 24/7 and nothing feels strange, unknown or

dangerous. Yet, we do remain short. The red area is our delusional zone. Is where our views get

unrealistic – proved unrealistic.

I cannot turn into a bodybuilder in one week. That is so self-meant by logic that no one will try that.

However, I can turn into a bodybuilder within exactly one year. And this is where development takes

place, as we challenge ourselves in something new. This is the difference between Norway & Hellas.

Greek reality is such uncomforting and stagnant that people should get in the discomfort zone, if they

want to survive and evolve. This is exactly; what the EU faces.

--

In order the European Union to survive, it should change and evolve. Or it will just die out. If the EU do

not change into a federal union (which is the alternative solution right now), it will split into a North and

South alliance, ending whatever Europeans tried to create in 1956. After 60 years, we are at the doorstep

of a rise and fallen empire, losing whatever united us after two world-wars.

Surprisingly to many, the beginning is not #Brexit, but what actually caused Brexit. The European Union

does not serve the reasons it was created for, anymore. And European leaders still keep the same

attitude, as Turkey does! The obvious perspective is, who will feel lesser hurt and huffy: “We or the UK?”

Anyone of us should feel free to make a decision and to own them back, as well. One can’t blame Turkey

for following the strategy they follow themselves and yet, still wondering; how did happened Donald

Trump to be the new president.

--

For all the aforementioned reasons, hiring from abroad is the next best thing, mostly when one steers

from employers’ point of view, to the employees’ point of view. This old employer approach is not working

anymore. Just like is detailed proven by two different, published researches, upon the Greek labour sector

reality.

Greek employers deny seeing the problem. They do not want to realize that the very low salaries/income,

the ‘bossy’ attitude, the disrespect against their own contracts and the toxic working environment, creates

this lack of resources. Yet, if you still add ‘1 + 2’, you will get 3 and still complain like in a soap opera

drama. You need to change your approach to find the solution and get at least a 12!

--

By focusing only in the Norwegian market, we exclude all these capable personnel that is willing to

relocate and take in charge their own relocation expenses. Just for the sake of their future.

This is exactly what Germany did with the Syrian refugee crisis. Germany welcomed the more skilled out

of very well educated and raised Syrian citizens. In this way, German employers found a solution in the

same problem that Greek employers aren’t able of solving. And I must admit that it is this exact attitude

that makes Hellene employees flee abroad, rather than facing the reality of a struggle to change the

Hellenic’s market “unwritten laws”.

--

We should be more afraid of the local unwillingness to develop, than the high cultural intelligent

immigrants. It needs a lot of competence and a plurality of soft skills to decide to embrace mobility as a

lifestyle. This should not be ignored anymore.

Long term achievements, instead of short term needs satisfaction, should be taken under consideration.

For example, the requirement of knowledge of the Norwegian language, wherever this is not necessary,

limits down our spectrum from 100+ million employees to the lesser of 3 million Norwegian workers.

Especially when in most occasions, foreigners do want to learn Norwegian.

This change will serve a brighter and healthier new generation. The plateau that young Norwegians live

in, can only be disrupted by entering a different mindset in the labour market. This new approach will

eventually drive the Norwegian youth out of its wealthy, comfortable and passive lifestyle.

This brief white paper is an open call. Not only for a more profitable approach that will save time and

increase our income. Not only for branding our companies in a more effective way. Not only for leading

the competition of market globalization. But also, because it will have an impact around us. Because in

whatever we tolerate, our children will be next.

Christos Zervas

HUMAN CAPITAL AS