HighService Corp

Patricio Izquierdo Araya - commercial engineer specialized in human resources, with over 12 years of experience in the mining services industry in Chile, is a specialist in compensation and labor relations. He currently leads the compensation, quality of life, and corporate labor relations area at Highservice Corp-Holding, a company with over 20 years in the market providing services to the mining industry, ranging from construction focused on mining installations to robotic solutions in the same industry in Chile and around the world.

In an exclusive interview with HR Magazine, he shared his valuable knowledge and insights on the impact of human resources within organizations.

Brief Overview of Your Journey and Your Roles and Responsibilities in the Organization

I started from the bottom, as a human resources manager in the field at a construction and maintenance project called ‘Faena,’ with a limited work experience as I had just finished my studies. After completing that project, I was offered a position in the corporate compensation team at Steel Ingeniería, a mining services company in Chile.

Over the months, my career had an exponential growth. When I joined the corporate compensation team, I started as a compensation assistant. By the end of the year, I was already performing analyst functions. The company then began to envision the compensation area, of which I was the only member. Two years later, I became a senior analyst, combining day-to-day compensation tasks with what would become the compensation area itself. In 2016, the area was formally established, and I dedicated myself entirely to designing organizational structure bands, levels, reviewing what we had locally, and starting to structure a more formal compensation scheme.

In 2017, I assumed the leadership of the area, incorporating the benefits area and creating the functionality needed at that time. In 2019, I joined my current company, Highservice Corp, a holding company focused on providing services to the mining industry, with a more avant-garde approach locally and internationally. Here, I lead the corporate compensation, quality of life, and labor relations area with a strategic focus, providing everything from basic compensation services to the complete structuring of compensation.

Relevance of Human Resources within the Organization

Through years of experience, I have seen how the field of human resources has evolved, adapting to global trends, the requirements of individuals, companies, and current legislation. The focus has shifted to people in processes, recognizing the importance of HR within organizations. It has evolved from being the department that only pays salaries to being a value generator for companies, just as much as the productive and operational areas.

" Captivating and retaining this niche and making the HR area increasingly dynamic and robust is a global and significant challenge."

Today, the impact of individuals who execute productive processes is emphasized, highlighting the value they bring to the company and their potential. Various HR areas have gained more prominence, completely justified, focusing on a win-win situation. For example, compensation is linked to the hygienic part of daily life, ensuring correct salary payments. However, to be effective and have a positive impact, compensation must be linked to organizational development, which goes beyond training and ensures that the resources people provide (knowledge, skills, commitment) are well-focused, enhanced, and retained.

Evolution in the Relationship between the State and Companies

The state's role is to ensure that established rules are followed, and these rules or laws primarily aim to ensure that the basic rights of individuals are respected. In Chile, from my perspective, there is robust labor legislation that has evolved to meet new requirements and challenges. There is strength in terms of protecting workers, covering everything from the labor code to the design of the labor system in Chile, including labor legislation, payment systems, taxes, health insurance, and all that encompasses what I call the hygienic part, the basics. In my opinion, no effective compensation or organizational development system can exist without clear rules that are respected.

Most Challenging Milestone Regarding Compensation in Your Experience

I wouldn't define it as difficult, but if I had to mention an important milestone, I believe that in Chile, something that is challenging to convey to internal clients and workers is the main parameter used to build salary bands. Salary bands are constructed based on earnings. However, in Chile, individual employment contracts are typically signed based on net pay, making it difficult for our internal clients to speak the same language—not in terms of net pay but in terms of earnings.

To explain, in Chile, both pension deductions and individual taxes are paid monthly by the employer to various institutions. Companies are responsible for deducting from the worker and paying to different institutions. Here lies the problem and confusion when facing internal clients. But the concept of compensations is gradually permeating.

Challenges You Foresee for Human Resources

From my perspective, there are several challenges, but I could summarize that, in addition to meeting the basic needs of people when engaging in paid activities and enhancing individual talents (which has already seen development in recent decades), the ongoing evolution of the new generation of professionals and technicians, belonging to the millennial generation, presents challenges. This includes new life perspectives, work methods, and previously unexplored or nonexistent skills. Captivating and retaining this niche and making the HR area increasingly dynamic and robust is a global and significant challenge.