Work Culture

I’ve been here a little bit now, and I have no idea how many people we have dropped in on at work, unannounced. But it's a lot of people. We have in every single case been welcomed with smiles, hugs, offers of coffee, and a seat. We are always happily received and made welcome, and introduced to further people.

What's wrong with this picture? 
1. You don't call to say you're late. 
2. If you're having breakfast, you're already at work

I always get the impression the host would be happy to talk to us all day, and the talk is usually just chit chat, catching up, small talk. It’s rarely work related, and much more rarely is it productive. We are met at desks and in corridors and talk extensively. It’s a great way to pass the time, and it’s hugely different to the British work environment, where you wouldn’t even get past security, nor would your boss allow you to receive visitors on company time.

Some of this is down to the culture, which forbids you from not receiving a visitor warmly. But it's also that Brazilians do seem genuinely happy to receive visitors and work is not a priority. The down side is that nothing seems to get done as work is not a apriority. If I was a customer, or the company owner, I would not be happy.

Report on Brazil's unproductive economy, from The Economist

Office hours are almost always 8am – 12pm, and 2pm – 6pm. However this seems to be commonly interpreted as “we expect you to leave your home at some point after 8am”. On arrival, you do the rounds catching up with several colleagues before making a coffee or having some breakfast. Work can start at some point after all this has been achieved, and can be interrupted at any point and for any reason.

One day we arrived at the Federal Police Station at 8.30am. The one agent we needed to see, before 9am, had popped back home as he’d forgotten his mobile. He arrived just before 9am. No eyelids were registered as having been battered.

A friend who works as a civil servant tells me that his highest boss arrives at 9.30, lunches from noon until after 3 and goes home around 5. My friend's immediate bosses arrive after 8.30, so he is on a winner arriving at 8.30, only half an hour late and always before his superiors. He is led by example.

Almost everyone we visit has their personal phone on their desk, and no-one has their phone on silent, regardless of the work environment. I have been sat in various meetings, interviews or fairly professional situations when a horrendous ringtone has gone off. No-one says anything.

I would love to see an accurate assessment of the actual number working hours the average Brazilian is productive. It’s hard to see how any work gets done.

I understand that the causes are several, longstanding and complex. They are also beyond the scope of this entry, if not this blog. But it’s clear that there is a lot of room for improvement, and also an opportunity for those with vision and a hardworking ethic to actually progress in this environment.

Supermarkets

GBP£250 wheel of cheese
- more than a month's
 minimum wage

I like cooking, maybe more than I like eating, and a major adaptation I am making in Brazil is to the food options here. As a result, I’ve spent far too much time in supermarkets since I arrived, praying to find those elusive sun dried tomatoes, or hoping for some halloumi. Food here is generally expensive, and often of a poor quality in the supermarkets. Cereal is simply sugar, in different shapes. The markets, as elsewhere, offer some excellent value and quality.

'Cereal'

In supermarkets cheese is half the price if you buy it pre-sliced and pre-packaged, but you only get a few slices. ‘Mozarella’ is hard and salty. And there is no cheddar, halloumi, feta, Wensleydale, brie, camembert, stilton…..

Fruit is plentiful, but often of a poor quality - supermarkets are generally not the place to buy fruit. Vegetables are sadly lacking, which continues to disappoint me.

So many olives, so few sun dried tomatoes

The queues are not huge, but deceptive. They take forever. Everything is done in slow motion, and in between chatting. The checkout assistant, bagging agent, and the customer, have all the time in the world. I’ve mentioned before about the guy who drank 3 beers in the queue. It would happen more often if the majority of people weren’t evangelical. 

11 bags of shopping?

The plastic bags are designed to carry marshmallows or polystyrene (not both), so you only have a couple of items per bag, or it’s double bagging. 1.5 million plastic bags are distributed in Brazil per hour. 2.4 billion plastic bags are consumed each month in the state of Sao Paulo alone.

Bagging assistants will pack a few small items across 7-8 bags - the cost obviously doesn’t have the cost deducted from their measly wage.

At least they’re not restricted by rigid health and safety regulations though. Here buckets of water are thrown over the floor without warning, in a packed supermarket, while they clean the floor. 

One thing that does work is the priority queue, for the elderly or pregnant. It tends to be respected across supermarkets, banks, other shops, and parking spaces. 

It’s common to leave a machete amongst the veg to help customers cut to size the mandioca they require. And there is often one member of staff on rollerskates to co-ordinate the queue management.

Oh, and “French bread” is a crusty roll, not a baguette. Still very nice though.

Politics = employment in Palmas

The new state government, elected in October, was inaugurated on New Year’s Day. A tumultuous period always follows, where thousands of people lose their jobs due to their ‘connections’ with the previous government. These connections can range from direct involvement in the party politics, or volunteering in the campaign, to companies involved in the production of the campaign, despite not being affiliated to any party. It also trickles down to ridiculous levels, such as chauffeurs, police officers and teachers.

Around 16 000 people lose their jobs and the result is a free for all of calling in favours and calling on friends, relatives or vague acquaintances in favour with the new government to ask for their names to be mentioned. Everyone wants to work for the state, despite the regular upheaval.

Given Sonia’s proximity to various people, she is constantly being asked for help, from both sides – people looking for a job want her to put in a good word, and the ones filling the roles look for her recommendation. The result is constant phone calls and endless visits.

The previous government neglected to pay December’s salary for all government employees, and have also done a superb job of emptying the state funds while helping out as many of their friends as possible. A rush of promotions occurred before they left government, frequently completely unjustifiable, guaranteeing these newly promoted employees high salaries in the new government. One employee was promoted from Sergeant to Lieutenant Colonel, a leap of 6 positions, in one single day. For a guy who is an MP and hasn’t worked for the police for 10 years.

This all left the new government on a sticky wicket and with no funds. They resolved to pay December’s salaries in 3 monthly instalments, but were overruled by a judge and have to pay in January.

However, the salaries for the new staff have been slashed. One man who left his job of $8000 RS to move to Palmas for a salary of $11 000RS had his salary cut to $6 500RS. Other people in longstanding positions are often earning significantly more than their higher management.

There remain a lot of people still waiting to see if a job will be found for them, and much of this depends on who ‘indicates’ them, and what ‘connection’ they had to the last government – as far as I can see, actual ability or any of the traditional criteria for employment are irrelevant.

I understand the urge to help out people you know – family, friends, ex-colleagues. But often these recommendations have no basis beyond the family connection, or having a mutual friend. And they come at the cost of someone who is well qualified and thoroughly deserving of a position.

On one visit to the Federal Police Station to sort out my documents, as soon as the agent learned of Sonia’s previous role he began shamelessly begging her to help his wife get a better job. He gave her his number, then in private flattered me in a macho, shoulder punching way before pleading me to ensure he is not forgotten. In a bar after a few beers I may have expected it, but this was at his desk, surrounded by colleagues, in a Federal Police Station.

Around Palmas - more excellent hospitality

Even though Palmas is far from the usual tourist routes, there is no shortage of places to visit around here. It’s easy to get out of the city if you have a car, and if not there are plenty of people happy to take you along with them. Within minutes of driving you quickly become surrounded by beautiful, lush forest all around you.

There are also several reserves and spectacular waterfalls which offer refreshingly cool water to escape from the heat - the only time I ever feel cold here!

We recently visited some family members in a nearby village. The drive there was stunning, long winding roads through rich forest and spectacular vistas. Once there we were received excellently, as always, and made to feel welcome. The affection people have for family here is very clear, even for distant family you don’t see as often as you’d like, and for their gringo husband’s you’ve never met.

Within the village we bounced around between various family members’ houses to catch up with everyone. They are traditionally very large families (one aunt had 18 children), so much so that I noticed some of them have difficulty recalling how many in total, and how many survived childhood (until recently, the infant mortality rate was very high in these areas).

There is always lots of food, lots of conversation, and no standing on ceremony. Usually you are invited, and you invite more people, who may or may not know the hosts. This is absolutely fine. There is always plenty of food and space is always made for one, two or three more guests, expected or otherwise.

Often there is a swimming pool or the lake to cool down in. We have visited friends for the day, or for a weekend, in the country, or on the lakeside. We have visited family and friends from all spectrums of society, but the hospitality is always reliably inexhaustible, and the barbeque always reliably excellent and plentiful. 

The only difficulty is finding time to fulfill all the invites we receive!

The Tiresome Chore of Seat Belts

The last time I was here, in 2010, I was given a lift by a friend. Not only did my friend, the driver, not wear a seat belt, but nor did his 3 young children. In case this doesn’t baffle you, at one point a police car came the other way. My friend instructed his eldest son (12 years old), in the front seat, to pull across his seat belt. The son knew from practice that it wasn’t necessary to insert the belt into the buckle, just hover it over the buckle as his dad does, to not attract attention from the police car.

The rejection of the seat belt goes beyond the immense effort involved in that exhausting 'click'. It seems to me to be a conscientious objection. The seat belt is against you. It’s a weapon of control over your freedom. It's for people who can't drive. Years ago I offended a taxi driver by putting on the seat belt as soon as I entered the taxi. His reaction was “do you think I’m a bad driver?”

Many times I’ve been told I don’t need a seat belt as the driver knows what he or she’s doing. These drivers ignore the fact that everyone thinks they are a good driver, especially the bad drivers, and the drunk drivers. And the drivers on the phone or texting. And they ignore the fact that so many other drivers are bad, drunk or texting.

It comes back to the recurrent theme: risk is an accepted part of life here, and when anything untoward happens, it’s “God’s Will”.

It does seem to have improved. since 2010 more people do seem to use seat belts, but too many don’t. Including a family member whose 3 kids (all under the age of 8) don’t wear seat belts, and one of them rides standing up between the front seats. And a pregnant friend who doesn’t use a seat belt. When asked, her response was “pois é”, a very casual, impartial way of saying “well, yeah”.

“Pois é” was also the stock response in a recent TV report, about the attitude towards seat belts. Various drivers were interviewed in the street who weren’t wearing seat belts. Their only reply was “well, yeah”, and no-one offered a defence or an explanation. 

It just is.

When I am driving I make a point of not moving until everyone is belted in. It upsets some people and hugely inconveniences them. I know England used to be like this. I remember when the law was changed to force all passengers to wear seat belts. I remember campaigns when I was a kid to change the habits. But it seems so long ago that I assume everyone should know the benefits of a simple click.