The labor reform proposed by the government reopened a central debate for the business world: how to sustain formal employment, productivity and competitiveness in a demanding economic context and with rules that seek to adapt to an increasingly dynamic labor reality. However, the impact of this type of discussions is not limited to the legal or financial level. It is also felt indoors, in the climate and in people’s perception.
In many organizations, the mere fact that a reform is on the agenda generates immediate effects: anxiety, doubts, emotional exhaustion, demotivation and conversations dominated by uncertain scenarios. For companies, this represents a silent but concrete risk: internal uncertainty deteriorates organizational energy, fragments teams and affects execution.
Faced with this scenario, human impact management is not an accessory issue of human resources. It is a business variable. In contexts of change, companies that manage to organize the internal message, lead with leadership and align expectations preserve their most valuable capital: trust. And trust, ultimately, is the basis of productivity and operational stability.
Modernization and flexibility: an opportunity. We must try not to reach an exclusively negative reading of the reform since it tends to reinforce fear and deepen tension. It is true that part of the debate aims to modernize frameworks that, in some aspects, were outdated with respect to the current functioning of the market: short economic cycles, frequent reorganizations, technological transformation and the need for greater agility to adapt.
In this sense, the possibility of having more flexible tools—well managed—can provide predictability to business decisions and improve the sustainability of formal employment, especially in sectors where rigidity increases the risk of informality or discourages new hiring. The critical point is not the flexibility itself, but the way in which it is used: with clear, consistent and sustainable criteria.
The challenge: protect the climate without losing focus. From a talent management perspective, the moment demands careful leadership. Poorly managed uncertainty produces effects that every company recognizes: unproductive conversations, decreased commitment, increased turnover, and weakened sense of belonging. It is not about dramatizing or minimizing, but about leading with realism.
What key aspects should organizations have to better go through these processes? a common denominator: They clearly communicate what they know and what they don’tthey prevent rumor from becoming “internal truth” and prepare their leaders to sustain difficult and mature conversationswithout ideologizing or promising what cannot be guaranteed. In times of change, the direct leader becomes the main reference of emotional stability for the team.
Labor reform can modify external frameworks. But what happens inside is still a business decision. Driving, clarity and consistency are the factors that allow us to go through uncertainty without losing focus.and convert a context of change into an instance of organizational strengthening.
* Cyntia Poggi is director of Human Talent Management LL&A.
by Cyntia Poggi
