Why hiring in Puerto Rico makes sense for your startup
What’s your idea of Puerto Rico? Beaches? Rum? Parties? Ok, you’re not wrong. But the Caribbean island with a population of a little over three million also has another secret: its workforce.
There are several reasons why hiring in Puerto Rico makes sense. Puerto Rican workers are bilingual and bicultural, many of them have higher education, and there are several tax incentives for companies that employ people from the Island. Let’s dig a little deeper in the benefits of hiring in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Ricans are bicultural and bilingual
Raised with an understanding of the Latino culture and trained in the American way, Puerto Rico boasts a talented pool of seasoned, bilingual professionals that can easily navigate both worlds without getting lost in translation. Think of our workers as your interpreters, to make smoother transactions and seamless network.
If you’re seeking to venture into Spanish, your team would also be able to work that with the same ease as English. U.S. relationship and all, Puerto Rico has maintained its roots with Latin America, which means that if you’re still learning how to navigate the other side of the continent, our professionals can help you with that. You do not have to seek outside talent, the transition is seamless. It’s a unique opportunity to explore new territory with personnel that are familiar with both sides.
Puerto Ricans are highly skilled
For decades, Puerto Ricans have excelled in several industries, including manufacturing and technology oriented jobs. This makes the local workers highly-skilled employees, ready to share their experience with startups and big companies alike. For example, one of Microsoft’s top operations is located in Humacao, a town in the East coast of the Island. Companies like InfoTech, Lufthansa, and Hewlett Packard also have operations in the West coast.
Puerto Rico is also full of Universities and professional colleges that graduate thousands of students a year. For example, the University of Puerto Rico, the state’s university, boasts eleven campuses scattered throughout the island. Each campus is known for a particular specialty, despite its diverse offerings. Mayagüez campus, known as Colegio or RUM (calm down, it’s an acronym), for example is known for its engineering program. Its graduates are recruited every year, by aerospace companies, including NASA.
But if you’re looking for seasoned workers, the diaspora could help. In recent years, Puerto Rican professionals that had left the island became more involved in the creation of jobs, entrepreneurship promotion as well as networking between companies and job seekers. Programs, such as ConPRmetidos, were born out of the seek to make connections that positively affect the economy on the Island.
Your company will benefit from strong, competitive candidates that are not on a Silicon Valley salary, or other saturated tech hubs. For example, the average software engineer salary in San Francisco is just over 110K. Meanwhile in Puerto Rico, the same engineer average salary is around 65K, according
Hiring in Puerto Rico has Tax Benefits
Mentioned here last, but it’s probably always on your mind: taxes. Taxes can be an overpowering presence in any entrepreneurs mind. But taxes do not have to be scary thoughts. Bringing your company, even your family, to Puerto Rico can be a relieve to your business’ pocket.
For example, with Act 120 you receive 50% reimbursement of minimum wage paid for 1 year for up to 15 employees. What’s the requirement? New businesses that has not begun its main business operations at the time a signing the Act 120 agreement, not even through affiliates. Also expanding businesses that has retained the total number of employees during the 6 months prior to filing its application and is considering to increase the number of full-time employees by 20% during the 6 months after signing the Act 20 agreement.
Remember, your company will be as strong as your weakest employee. Hiring in Puerto Rico means strength for your company; it means employees will be well versed in the idiosyncrasies of two cultures, seamlessly navigating the American and Latino business world in, at least, two languages.
