Mexico, Teamwork - understand-culture

Trusted Colleagues

In April 2025, Publimetro reported a study by the job site Indeed on friendship at work in Mexico. Forty-seven percent of respondents said that such friendships “mejoran la colaboración laboral” (improve collaboration at work). Forty-six percent said that having a friend to talk to helps them handle the pressure of work.

Nelson Gómez, director of Indeed México, explained the link: “Cuando los empleados pueden confiar en colegas de confianza, se sienten más motivados para colaborar” (When employees can rely on trusted colleagues, they feel more motivated to collaborate). The article does not give the size of the sample.

The Jefa at Home

Jefe means boss, and jefa is the female form. In Mexican slang, jefa also means mother.

Uno TV names it among the common Mexican words for a mother: “Una de las palabras comunes entre los mexicanos para referirse a su madre es ‘jefa'” (One of the common words Mexicans use for their mother is jefa). In April 2025, a column in Crónica described the same use as part of Mexican slang.

Out on the Great Ranch

Allá en el Rancho Grande (Out on the Great Ranch) was directed by Fernando de Fuentes and released in 1936. Felipe inherits his father’s hacienda and names José Francisco, his friend since childhood, as caporal, the foreman of the ranch. The two grew up together on the hacienda, the son of the patrón and the godson of a peon.

The film started the comedia ranchera, the Mexican ranch musical. It also won Mexican cinema its first international prize, for Gabriel Figueroa’s photography at the Venice festival of 1938.

Humanistic Leadership

In 2012, Anabella Dávila and Marta M. Elvira published “Humanistic leadership: Lessons from Latin America” in the Journal of World Business. They describe “a fundamentally paternalistic style” of leadership that rests on reciprocal social bonds and on what workers expect. Seeing employees as key stakeholders, they add, implies a legitimate concern for workers beyond the employment relationship.

Politics at Work

In September 2024, Emprendedor reported a survey by the job site Indeed on politics at work in Mexico. Fifty-three percent of the Mexicans surveyed avoid raising political topics at work. Twenty-one percent linked such talk with arguments when opinions clash. Thirty-four percent linked it with harassment or other consequences at work.

The same survey found that 56 percent think political opinions should be expressed openly. The article does not give the size of the sample.

Finding Work Through Acquaintances

In 2018, the journal Ensayos de Economía published a study by Méndez Delgado, Sánchez Mena and Castro Lugo on how people in Mexico find work. It used data from INEGI’s national employment survey, ENOE, for late 2016 and early 2017.

“El 43.5% de los ocupados encontraron trabajo a través de algún familiar o conocido” (43.5 percent of the employed found work through a relative or acquaintance). The figure refers to the employed people in the study’s sample.

Concealment for Noble Motives

Article 400 of Mexico’s Federal Penal Code punishes encubrimiento, concealment, which includes hiding a person who has committed a crime. The article then names people to whom the penalty for hiding the offender does not apply.

Besides close relatives, the list includes “Los que estén ligados con el delincuente por amor, respeto, gratitud o estrecha amistad derivados de motivos nobles” (those bound to the offender by love, respect, gratitude or close friendship arising from noble motives).

We All Failed

In early October 2026, Mexico’s national football team lost 3-0 to the United States. Afterward, the defender Johan Vásquez would not single out any player.

“No voy a hablar de uno o dos, creo que a final de cuentas somos un equipo” (I am not going to talk about one or two, I think that in the end we are a team), he said, as reported by Excélsior. “Somos una familia, somos un equipo y aquí fallamos todos” (We are a family, we are a team, and here we all failed). (Video in Spanish.)

Mexican Workers First

Article 7 of Mexico’s Federal Labor Law begins: “En toda empresa o establecimiento, el patrón deberá emplear un noventa por ciento de trabajadores mexicanos, por lo menos” (In every company or establishment, the employer must employ at least ninety percent Mexican workers). Technicians and professionals must also be Mexican.

When no Mexican worker has a specialty, foreigners may be hired for a time, up to ten percent of that specialty. They and the employer must then train Mexican workers in it. Company doctors must be Mexican. The rule does not apply to directors, administrators and general managers.

Only Mexican Players

Club Deportivo Guadalajara, known as Chivas, keeps a “política estricta de jugar únicamente con futbolistas mexicanos” (strict policy of playing only with Mexican footballers), in the words of the sports newspaper Récord. Récord dates the tradition to around 1908 and says it was consolidated in 1943. Other accounts say that the club had foreign players in its early years and accepted only Mexicans from the 1940s. (Video in Spanish.)

In June 2021, the ESPN commentator David Faitelson called the policy discriminatory. His colleague Roberto Gómez Junco answered that it is an internal rule of the club and does not violate the Constitution.