The Hidden Talent Gap in Mexico: Why SMEs Need a New Kind of HR

The mission is simple: enable every company — regardless of size — to build a high-performing team. Yet, for most small and midsized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico, that mission is stuck in neutral. Why? Because the talent function inside these organizations is under-resourced, undervalued, and out of strategic alignment.

In Mexico the shortage of qualified talent is not a future risk — it’s a present challenge. A recent survey found that nearly 70% of Mexican employers struggle to fill job vacancies because they can’t find the right skills. 

Meanwhile, turnover rates are rising. According to data from the 2019 Economic Census, companies with 51–250 employees reported a 24.9% annual turnover rate, and those with more than 250 employees, about 30.9%. 

Add to that the fact that in the broader Mexican HR-environment only 40% of non-HR employees say they’re satisfied with onboarding, and the lowest marks appear in professional development and recognition. 

What do these numbers tell us? They show that many SMEs simply don’t have access to the talent strategy, frameworks, and metrics that large corporations take for granted. Their HR teams are overwhelmed with transactions (payroll, attendance, compliance) and don’t have bandwidth to lead on “talent” as a business enabler.

Why This Matters

For business owners and leaders, it’s tempting to “deal with HR when time permits,” but that turns into a strategic liability. Here’s how:

• Without clarity on individual and team performance, it’s hard to connect people’s contributions to business goals.
• Without development plans, skill gaps linger — costing productivity, innovation and engagement.
• And when compensation decisions are based on “who raises their hand” instead of measurable impact, you erode fairness, trust and ultimately retention.

These are not minor frictions, they are structural weaknesses in growth-oriented companies. In my experience, once these weaknesses compound, you see higher turnover, less discretionary effort, weaker alignment to strategy and even missed business milestones.

At Lapzo, this is the gap we’ve been tackling head-on. Not by adding another software tool, but by rethinking how talent services are delivered in SMEs. We call it talent-as-a-service (TaaS), a fractional team of human and AI agents embedded in your talent life cycle, enabling SMEs to behave like much larger organizations.

What does an SME gain from this model?

Visibility and Clarity — real-time insight into individual and departmental performance: what’s working, what’s not, where the gaps are.

Development and Alignment — targeted development plans that close those gaps, aligned directly with business objectives and team performance.

Fair Compensation and Decision-Making — a transparent, data-driven process for performance-linked compensation and talent decisions (promotion, rewards, growth).

In other words, this service shifts an SME’s talent function from reactive (payroll, issues) to proactive (performance, growth, alignment). It gives smaller organizations the advantage that large corporates enjoy: objectivity, strategic clarity, and performance accountability.

Why Now and Why It Works

Three forces converge to make this the right time:

• The talent shortage and retention crisis in Mexico mean SMEs can no longer rely on “doing HR ad hoc.”
• Digital transformation and AI are lowering the cost and raising the potential of new delivery models for HR.
• And SMEs themselves are under pressure to scale, professionalize, and build high-performance teams if they want to compete.

Our experiments at Lapzo show that by combining human talent expertise with agent-driven processes (enabled by AI), you can dramatically improve alignment and reduce the "noise" of everyday HR. This isn’t about replacing HR, it’s about enabling a lean, strategic, talent partner inside every company.

A Founder’s Closing Call

If I were to distill one message to SME owners, it’s this: Your people strategy is your growth enabler, not an optional back-office task. Without clarity on performance, development, and fair rewards, you’re leaving growth to chance.

The future of talent in Mexico is not just digital, it’s intelligent, distributed, and redefined for companies of all sizes. 

Let’s make 2025 the year when Mexico’s SMEs stop reacting in HR and start delivering on talent as a source of competitive advantage.