Juan Roig, president and founder of Mercadona, is one of the most successful businessmen in Spain, and has recently occupied much of the media interest following a presentation in front of 1,500 businessmen gathered at the 40th AECOC Congress in Valencia. In a stadium that bears his name, to be exact.
Faced with the growing controversy over tax pressure in Spain, Roig sent a clear and forceful message about the importance of paying taxes. “It is something very good and very healthy, and it is something to be proud of,” he assured the businessmen. Furthermore, in his proclamation he invited businessmen to “come out of the closet” and lose the “shame” of saying that “we make money.”
Come out of the closet. During his presentation, titled ‘The pride of being an entrepreneur‘, Juan Roig urged businessmen to “come out of the closet” and feel proud of making money and paying taxes, something he described as “something very good and very healthy.”
Roig regretted that in Spain many businessmen prefer to hide instead of being visible references for society and not be ashamed of making money: “It is indispensable, good and satisfying. Although if it is the only purpose, it is not healthy,” the businessman said.
Responsibility with society. The Valencian businessman emphasized that “it is not a problem for a businessman to pay a lot of taxes,” but rather it should be “to be proud of.” According to Roig, the real challenge is not paying those taxes, the problem is “how it is managed,” he pointed out. “We have to pay them, we already pay them, they raise them… Then the others have to know how to manage them,” Roig claimed.
As published The ConfidentialRoig’s group paid around 716 million euros in taxes in Spain, of which about 506 million corresponded to Corporate Tax. Roig agreed in his arguments with Ignacio González, president of AECOC that organized the event, who in his initial intervention recalled that tax collection had increased an average of 6% in recent years.
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A commitment to workplace well-being. In his speech, the founder of Mercadona left nothing out and also reminded entrepreneurs of the importance of taking care of their staff as a key element for business success. In his speech, Roig insisted that “a worker is not only hands, but also heart and brain.”
“You can buy the hands, the heart and brain you need to feel well treated as a human being, and well treated is not doing what the worker wants, but what the worker needs,” the businessman assured his audience. Next, he stuck out his chest and assured that a Type A manager at Mercadona, one of the most common positions in the supermarket chain’s staff, earns 2,100 euros per month net.
According to data published by ABCthe salaries of the more than 120,000 employees of the Roig supermarket chain exceed the Minimum Interprofessional Wage by 27% and are above the sector average.
Dichotomy between discourse and labor practices. Juan Roig’s message has sparked a certain amount of controversy online and some users criticized him for the strict labor policies that, according to some former workers, Mercadona applies. Different court rulings have highlighted practices such as disciplinary dismissals that have been considered unjustified and excessive.
This contradiction between the public discourse in defense of fair wages and employee well-being, and complaints of controversial working conditions, has focused an open debate on the coherence between the business story and the daily reality of workers.
In WorldOfSoftware | Juan Roig was right: Mercadona’s ready-meal supplier is investing 150 million more because we have given ourselves
Image | Flikr (Junta Informa), Wikimedia Commons (Carlos)
