Sometimes, to see the path forward clearly enough, we need an external, objective perspective, free from the fear, uncertainty, doubts, laziness, and prejudices that invade us when we think about change. Josep Roset provides that neutral perspective that helps establish priorities and growth strategies in companies, taking into account the context that, when one is inside a bubble, is ignored.
"Companies buy, sell, hire, supervise, plan, but, above all, there needs to be a governance control that considers what happens inside and what happens outside. And in this control can be the ownership, but there must also be external people, people with experience and common sense to whom to present situations to resolve. These are the mentors or consultants, who are entrusted with a strategy to improve procedures or processes within the company, especially to adapt to new times. Because in the day-to-day it is not easy to do so, as routine and the bottom line drag. But you have to stop, think, and plan. Get out of the bubble and acquire new knowledge," says Roset.
He comes in to do that, to accompany in this 'stopping and reflecting', and to provide an outside view, at the team tables of ordinary companies, and also in entities, foundations, or companies with enormous social weight.
Roset presides over the CIES foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1992 and committed to the labor inclusion of people with disabilities. From experience in social and economic research, CIES promotes programs, policies, and alliances that promote equity in employment, eliminate structural barriers, and raise awareness in the business sector about the value of diversity. And, in this world where, in fact, we are all diverse, after all, Josep is a standard-bearer for that inclusion.
He considers having a job so important that facilitating everyone to get one is practically a daily mission for him. He has seen how connections of ideas, people, needs, and solutions establish extraordinary bonds. Being able to bridge these connections greatly encourages him to continue believing that, as Pallars says, "cada tupí (a type of pot) tiene su tapadera" (every pot has its lid), everyone has to find their place, because it exists. Thanks to all the contacts and personal learning throughout his professional experience, Josep is like an employment agency, an individual and autonomous SOC (Servei d'Ocupació de Catalunya), who thinks about all possible locations and the contacts he has made over the years and connects people. He is a facilitator, a supplier of possibilities who helps untangle knots. From a very young age, he learned a lot about doing this at home.
Josep's grandparents had a flour mill and made bread in Covet, a municipality not too far from La Pobla de Segur, the town where he was born. His father, with a partner, set up a mechanical workshop. And, when Josep was 14, his father gave him a broom to keep the premises always clean. For this, he paid him one hundred pesetas an hour. In that workshop, Josep learned things that have accompanied him to this day, such as "putting myself in the client's shoes, knowing how I can help them and being able to make them a tailor-made suit." He is convinced of the possible changes for improvement that a person can make, with help. And, indirectly ---he says--- everyone wins. "Society would change a lot, and it would be for everyone's benefit if we practiced helping without expecting anything in return more, and listened to each other more."
These are not theoretical concepts. Josep is a sponge that soaks up constant attention and listening to others. Neither finances nor income statements have ever made him overlook the smallest human details, without losing humility, despite having achieved many business victories.
When he arrived in Barcelona, at 17 years old, one of the things that surprised him most was the smell of the sea. Every day he was aware of that smell that was so different from that of the fields and mountains of Pallars. The city brought him new smells and sensations, like the Mediterranean light, which ---he says--- "is very different from that of the mountain." And he remembers his progressive adaptation. "At first, in a way you feel like an immigrant, because you come from a distant village, and the people here, the natives of Barcelona, look at you as someone different. And here you look for your ghetto, because you feel a bit displaced and that this is not your environment. Evidently, like everything in life, adaptation is the key to success and you get used to the circumstances."
Another thing that surprised him about the town-city contrast was that "in the city, people my age had only related to people their age. Whereas I had been much more seasoned with people older than me, married, parents, grandparents... In the village I had always experienced the generational mix in activities like football or the escoltes. And all this had given me a maturity and a certain background that people of my generation here did not have. Or at least, those were my feelings," he says.
Now, however, he sees that there are young people from Pallars who, despite coming to Barcelona to study, as he did, are clear that they come to train and then return. "They have a certainty: that you can always return to Pallars. So you risk more, you can say, I'll go all out because, even if it doesn't go well, I can go back to my village. I also felt that way, I knew I could go back to work in my father's mechanic workshop."
He knows that young people, "today have it harder because Barcelona is no longer local, but global, you compete with people from all over the world. You have to go look for niches, and study or dedicate yourself to what you like and what comes naturally to you." That is, in a way, Josep's mantra: "You are good at what comes naturally to you." He is convinced that work saves lives: "giving someone work dignifies them, gives them security, recognition... it is the cornerstone of a person. A job empowers people, raises their self-esteem, gives them economic independence and makes them feel useful, each at their own level. I have retrained an accountant into a salesperson. If there is enthusiasm and passion, there is a motor, you just have to fit everyone well in their ideal place and task."
With a partner, and much enthusiasm and excitement, in 2000 he founded Grupo Metropolis, a firm dedicated to outsourcing personnel services for companies that facilitated employment in the security, cleaning, and logistics sectors. They paid close attention to all those whom our society most excludes from the labor market. They hired people over fifty years old, something no one did, nor do now. They looked for people over fifty years old who lived close to work, and they gave them very reasonable salaries, because that was what they considered true labor inclusion. They made uniforms with patronage for women in sectors such as, for example, security, where, at that time, they were not yet made. And a French multinational highly valued Grupo Metropolis' commitment to inclusion, and they bought the company.
They had been prescribers of humanity, a task that Josep has never stopped exercising. With great social awareness, he knows that fresh air enters companies much more. He has known wonderful stories behind inclusion. "The future -he says- passes whether or not through social and environmental policies." I believe that the success of our company was having known how to respect the history behind each person. We knew how to help, listen, and manage. And personalize. In such a dehumanized and global world where the objective is profitability, we turned the tables by building a different company with different people, which is where wealth is found."
"A well-done and well-accompanied labor insertion not only does not worsen productivity, but improves dividends"Josep is part of a team of senior advisors. Once a month, they visit companies. "We have an agenda, as if it were a training session, and we are with the management team or with the shareholders. These are companies, larger or smaller, which we help to position and grow. Doing it from the outside allows us to provide a perspective, a photograph from above, from where you have a greater perspective of solutions. Because you also have all the information on the table, and you can talk to everyone." And the wisdom of experience and the age of external seniors help "not to lose the context of where companies are."
These working groups stimulate companies to make the chip change, and understand that, "if they put in their mind to be supportive of people, both employees and customers, the return this has is incredible. Most companies fear that the labor insertion of people who until now have had a harder time being hired will jeopardize productivity. We have to help them believe in that inclusion. They would be surprised, because a well-done and accompanied insertion improves dividends. There are many examples that prove it. I remember a case where hiring six people with Down syndrome improved the productivity of that company by 30%." Having seen such cases leads him to constantly confirm that "the entrepreneur has to make money, but at the same time has to think about creating wealth for their environment, suppliers, employees, people in their immediate radius, social entities, customers, they have to provide value and wealth to their environment. Otherwise, the work loses meaning. A company has to be pampered and the company, pamper the environment."
Dejà vu
"For me, many situations I see or that are explained to me are a dejà vu, I already know which button to press and what the next phase will be," he explains. He knows that daily life overwhelms everyone and doesn't allow them to realize, perhaps, that a procedure or strategy are not the most appropriate. It's easy ---he says--- "to get stuck in ways of working." With his expertise and business background, he provides ideas that are easy to think about and possible to implement, because he has already seen them put into practice.He recalls that when he had the company, "in groups of about fifty entrepreneurs, every Monday afternoon people from different sectors, industrial or services, would meet, and with a mediator, any of us would raise a problem and everyone could propose solutions." He knows that the exchange of knowledge and experiences is enriching. He also proclaims an exercise that no entrepreneur should stop practicing, "the labor elevator. It is very important to go through all floors of a company, visit all departments. Go up the stairs and see the people in the factory, see how it works, how they are, and that way you know the why of things. And when you reach the penthouse, apart from the humility of having known how to put yourself next to everyone, listening, you know better what can happen."
Josep is vice president and advisor of the Federation of Special Work Centers of Catalonia (Fecetec) and he also holds the vice presidency of the Sert Foundation, where he is dedicated to finding entities that work with children with disabilities to help them in any project where they need support. And he also advises at the Nexe Foundation. "They do spectacular work with children from 0 to 3 years old with multiple disabilities," he explains. His magic is that he intervenes in all of this altruistically, because his paid occupation is strategic consulting in ordinary companies. He is also a member of the board of directors of MC Mutua Laboral and still honors his Pallars as ambassador of the Pyrenees Excellence Days.
This man is like a sponge that soaks up small and large learnings every day, and listens to people's needs. He expresses with great satisfaction: "every time someone has told me they were looking for a job, I have found them one." He doesn't say it's easy, but he knows there are paths and attitudes that facilitate it.