Mexico – AMECH and the STPS create a certification to tackle illegal outsourcing

The Mexican Association of Human Capital Companies (AMECH) and the Mexican Secretariat of Labour and Social Security (STPS) made an alliance to tackle companies that simulate outsourcing. Both organizations are joining efforts to develop a certification or license of fair recruitment practices, a procedure that will even improve the quality of employment in Mexico.

The STPS has made the commitment of making the necessary arrangements to enable the certification of companies.

The current number of outsourcing companies in the country is not clearly known, though it is estimated that there are around 2 million workers in the entire sector. The certification shall provide information on which companies are compliant as regards workers’ rights and social security.

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Spokespersons from the Secretariat have stated that the goal is to fight the problem in a smart way, by using the certification and by giving recognition to firms that provide proper outsourcing services in order to optimize user companies’ processes and results and to discredit those companies that use outsourcing as a way to conduct illegal practices.

The STPS aims to align the behaviour of outsourcing companies and push fraudulent companies away from the market. In addition, it seeks to know the real intentions of a user company that hires a non-certified company.

Laura Obregón, president of AMECH, stated that some of the criteria that must be included in the certification are: the real contribution to the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), which means reporting the real salary paid to workers; contributions to Institute of National Funds for Workers Households (Infonavit); and information about the contracts established. The goal is improve the quality of the service regarding the entire labour relationship.

Mónica Flores Barragán, general director at ManpowerGroup, and Thierry Gonnet, director at Adecco, say the certification is another instrument to support the fight against companies that do not comply with workers’ rights and labor contributions.

Undoubtedly, this is a major step for a market as important as Mexico to move forward in the positive contribution that formal companies of the outsourcing industry make to the country’s social and economic progress.

These sort of alliances are concrete measures that make it possible to differentiate formal companies from rogue agencies, and that contribute to building a more modern and dynamic market.

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