|
The saying by Costa Ricans that musico pagado no toca buen sonido (a musician paid in advance plays no good tune) is often true. Sometimes it's difficult to get paid. A topographer cousin of mine occasionally sends out a 6' 6" hard-faced, strong-voiced acquaintance of his to collect bills which have been pending payment for many months. This practice has given him good results.
Not all workers are motivated or enthusiastic about their work
It's advisable to see how you can properly motivate them for better results. You'll gain from it. If you've had some business experience back home, you'll quickly discover for yourself what the differences are between doing business in your home area and doing it in Costa Rica or, for that matter, in practically all of Latin America. Many owners never motivate their employees. The successful ones do.
Aproperly motivated employee will likely work his heart out. Generally it pays to give an extra bonus or a special reward to an exceptional employee if profits are good. Once I made the down payment on a small house that one of my employees wanted to buy for himself and his family. Afterwards, he always thanked me for it by exerting extra effort on the production line.
More on doing business
Costa Rica has much to offer in the way of top quality production, good tax incentives and lower costs than the United States and European countries. Labour is easily trainable as a result of the good educational system existing and the country's 96% literacy rate. Although education has always been of a humanistic nature, over the past ten years technology has been given extra emphasis to meet demand of the many international companies being established in the country. Today all grammar and high schools offer English as an obligatory subject considering that economic globalization will require much bilingual personnel. All this makes for the availability of a very versatile and productive workforce attractive to international investors.
Costa Rica offers many advantages. An important one is that income tax is computed solely on a territorial basis; that is, entirely on income produced locally. All foreign income produced out of the country is tax-free, although the transaction may have been started from Costa Rica. But this could change in the future. Another advantage is that there are no capital gains taxes. Also there's strict banking secrecy as mandated by the Constitution. Managing a corporation is
| 
