Calçotada

Calçotada served

Today we went to enjoy calçotada which is a Catalan gastronomic feast. It is a rural feast to enjoy long shaped onions called calçots which are prepared in barbecue until they turn black. You peel of the burned layer, then dip it to the romescu sauce and enjoy. The menu is typically eaten by hand and it is messy. Therefore you are given an aprin and plastic glowes. We took calçotada menu for 31 euros which included calçots and alcahofas with romescu sauce, bread with tomatoes and garlic, barbecued meat, beans, potato, wine, a dessert and nuts. At the end we were given a special bottle of very sweet kind of wine called moscatel which you pour straight to your mouth from the bottle. With this menu everyone will get full.

The background of people working in outsourcing

Last month I wrote about the high turnover of personnel in BPO/SSC.  EU has given chance for many people to go work abroad. On the other hand EU has made it possible for corporations to centralize activities in service centers in one country and moving activities from many different countries under one roof in one country. This has created demand of people speaking different languages. I will shed some light to the backgrounds of people who work in language dependent outsourcing activities.

The workforce in BPO/SSC is female dominant. Even 70 % of the personnel are females. Outsourcing of language dependent activities have given a chance for language students to enter corporate jobs. Therefore you can find many locals with the background in studies of humanities. As the language skills is the most important criteria there are the native speakers with different kind of backgrounds who move from their home countries to work abroad with their native language. Some people do not have any degree after high school studies, some have changed from other field to corporate work and others have just started their career.

Finding people who speak big European languages like Spanish, French and German is easier than finding speakers of small European languages like Finnish, Swedish and Dutch. Hiring person from another EU country is easier for paperwork wise than hiring someone outside of Europe but as finding someone inside Europe can be challenging some companies are ready to hire also from outside of Europe. One friend of mine who works in HR of BPO/SSC said that "We would hire a monkey if it spoke the required language"

High turnover of personnel in BPO/Shared Service Centers

I have been working for three years in BPO/Shared Service Center environment. I have paid attention that the turnover of the personnel is fast. My desk has been in an open office space with around 50 other employees. My feeling was that almost every week there was a farewell gathering around someones desk who had decided to quit. High turnover is considered a challenge in BPO/Shared service centers (Ruppel et al. 2013). I started to wonder the reasons why people were leaving the company. I do not have any collected data about the turnover of personnel in BPO/Shared Service Centers but I found a research made by Juho-Erik Kolehmainen regarding the turnover in one HR Shared Service Center in Philipines which provides service for companies in USA.

The decisions to leave a company were classified to internal and external reasons in the research of Kolehmainen. I have observed the same reasons contributing to the high turnover of personnel in Poland as well in Spain. The top external reasons for leaving a company was career development (38 %), salary & benefits (28 %) and personal reasons (28 %) like starting studies or moving elsewhere. The top internal reasons for leaving a company were work environment (25 %), management (19 %), job tasks (19 %), career development (16 %) and salary & benefits (16 %).

The most of the service in Poland is provided to other European countries and therefore the work environment with night shifts caused by time difference between continents is not an issue like in Philippines where the service is provided mainly to the companies in USA. Though there is also service provided to outside of Europe in Poland. In Poland as in Philippines there is competition between the companies for the qualified work force. Many of my friends changed their job as another company could offer them better salary & benefits.

There are  many foreigners working in the BPO/Shared Service Centers to perform language dependent activities with their native language in Poland. I have seen many foreigners coming to work in Poland with the attitude to stay one year working abroad and then moving back to home country. Career development might not be as attractive to foreigners as you might lose your language bonus if you get a promotion. You might end up having the same salary despite the promotion. Also your team leader might be against your promotion or moving to another department as it can be difficult to find a replacement with your language skills.

I have observed also issues in the job tasks which leads people quitting. It might be that before the "go-live" you are barely having any work and some people quit before as they get too bored before the actual work even starts. The cultural differences affect a lot how activities are performed in different countries and that makes estimating the needed work time challenging. I have seen that within the same department some people have too much workload as some have work just for few hours each day Even though job tasks are simple some people struggle to perform the tasks and get laid off while others get bored and quit the job.

This was opening article to my observations in BPO/Shared Service Center environment. I am planning to write some more in the coming months.

• Kolehmainen Juho-Erik (2015) Employee turnover and reasons for the turnover. CGI Global HR Shared Services, the Philippines, Master thesis
• Ruppel, C., Sims, R. & Zeidler, P. (2013). Emotional labour and its outcomes: A study of a Philippine call centre. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 5, Issue 3, 246-261

Homeless sleeping

Shelter for night

You can see beggars in Barcelona like in Madrid. During the daytime the temperature might be around 15 degrees in Barcelona in the wintertime but during the night the temperature gets close to zero degrees and it is cold. In the summer time you can spot some homeless people sleeping on the benches of parks but in the wintertime they search warmer places. One common place where you can spot homeless spending night is by the ATM inside. Banks have placed ATMs in the lobby which are open 24/7 and available for anyone to enter. The bright lights are on so you will need a good mask to block the light to be able to sleep inside.

My moment in fame and reactions

Screenshot from Facebook page of Iltasanomat.fi on 11.12.2016

Iltasanomat.fi published an article about me moving from Finland to Spain on Friday 9th of December. In the article I brought up adversities/difficulties like broken pipe in my flat, summer heat and the price differences in groceries. The reporter naturally added some dramatic tone to make the article stir up reactions. The article received good amount of attention, 360 reactions, 96 comments and 44 shares in 2 days. Naturally I was interested in to see the reactions of people and read the comments. It was interesting to see that many got angry to me because I mentioned negative things about Spain. Some were feeling sorry for me and saying that I should have brought my mom to support me.

The most liked comment (105 likes) by Olli Elovaara was saying that my article was propaganda because the depopulation of Finland is so high that it is necessary to convince Finnish people to stay every other day by saying that it is not so great abroad. Then there were people who could relate to me as they had had also faced difficulties in Spain or in Finland. Despite of possible difficulties there were still people saying that it is worth going to Spain as Finland is depressing. I already published an article of more extreme difficulties what a family can face in Spain because I felt that the positive point of view staying abroad was emphasized too much in the media. I wanted bring some realism to the picture and I can say that speaking Spanish has helped me a lot dealing with the issues.

Then few corrections to the article. My rent is 580 EUR/month and not 680 EUR/month like mentioned in the article. The article also misleads that I have to pay annually agency fee of 816 EUR but in reality it is paid just once when you sign the rental contract.

Working in Barcelona is a different kind of experience than living in a Finnish community in Costa del sol.

Top Posts 2016

Fountain in Parc Ciutadela

This year I returned to Spain and Iltasanomat.fi wrote an article about me. Below I have listed the top articles from this year.

1. This article stirred up nice conversation in Finnish expat group.
2. Grocery basket in Finland is not as expensive as people might think compared to Spain.
3. Housing law protects tenants in Spain which gives opportunity to live for free
4. Not everyone sees tourism positive in Barcelona
5. Read what you can experience in Macao

Top posts from previous years 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010

Spanish third division match

l'estadi Narcis Sala

Today I went to see 17th round match of Spanish third division. The match was Sant Andreu against Vilassar de Mar. The entrance was for free but still the crowd was small. The capacity of the stadium Narcis Sala is 18 000 but there was only around 2 000 spectators. The match itself was not very entertaining as there was only one goal and very few chances to score. Both of the teams were focused on playing with short passes on the ground. Even though the third division football players are not professional the level was good and not far away from the level of Finnish league. Some third division players are getting offers outside of Spain to live by playing football. For example some players get recruited to united states of america or Australia and get paid 1 500 - 2 000 EUR/month.

My previous football match report is from Georgia.

Meikäläiset muuttivat Espanjaan - Kaikki ei olekaan täydellistä ulkomailla

This time I made an exception and wrote in Finnish. Please click 'Read more' to read the full story.

Neighbor who sells drugs

In one expat group of Barcelona one woman asked help what to do with the issue of neighbor selling drugs. In this case the neighbour is selling heavier drugs like cocaine. Drug selling neighbor naturally means shady visitors in your building which can cause trouble. The woman was thinking to report the neighbor to the police but the experienced expats in the group advised her not to report to the police as it can make her a target of criminals. It was clearly advised to just try to ignore the issue because you do not want end up in black list of criminals. According to a Spanish news article assasination in Spain costs from 500 to 5000 euros. It seems that getting someone killed in Spain is pretty cheap. Some expats were also saying that such drug dealers have likely connections to the police officers who are corrupted.

Parks of Barcelona

There are many parks in Barcelona and the three most famous ones are Parc de la ciutadella, Montjuic and Parc Güel. These parks are beautiful and crowded with tourists. Beside the most popular parks there are also other beautiful parks which are more calm compared to the three parks mentioned before. Below I am going to introduce five parks which you can consider visiting when in Barcelona.

Parc Guinardo

There are basically four parks on top of a mountain in Barcelona from each of them you can see a city landscape. The parks on the top of a mountain are Montjuic with a castle, Tibidabo with a attraction park, Parc Güel with art of Gaudi and Parc Guinardo. Parc Guinardo is in the middle of the city and you see a city landscape from every direction. Guinardo was also used for defensive purposes in the past.

Parc del laberint d'Horta

Parc del laberint d'Horta has a labyrinth like you could guess from the name. There are also other nicely taken care areas in the park and the labyrinth is not the only nice thing what you can see in this park. Good place for taking a relaxing walk.

Parc de les aigües

Parc de les aigües is outside of Barcelona in Cornella. The park is on an old water pumping place where the drinking water is being pumped. You can also visit a museum to learn more about the water pumping. The park is small so not good for having a walk.

Parc natural de la Serra de Collserola

Behind the Tibidabo mountain is Parc natural de la Serra de Collserola. The most of the tourists stay in the attraction park and see the impressive church but behind the church is a big natural park with good and long paths for walking. You can find good views of nature and the old ruins of Casino de la Arrabassada.

Parc del Clot

Near Torre Agbar (the building what looks like a dildo) you can find Parc del Clot. The park is surrounded with old ruins which give nice atmosphere to the park. In the middle of the park you can find area to play football and basketball.

I have also visited many other parks and in the future I will write also about the other parks.