The labour market in Spain reaches 2026 with an apparent paradox. The unemployment rate remains around 10.8% in the first quarter of the year according to the
Encuesta de Población Activa del Instituto Nacional de Estadística, following a period of sustained improvement in 2025, when it fell below 10% for the first time since 2008 in certain recent quarters.
In parallel, employment has reached record levels, with more than 22.4 million people in work after the creation of over 600,000 jobs in the last annual period. This reflects a dynamic labour market in terms of volume, but still under pressure in quality, stability and skills alignment.
However, something we already know and that remains unchanged is that Spain continues to rank among the countries with the highest unemployment rate in the European Union. This highlights a structural imbalance that coexists with another less visible but equally relevant challenge for organisations: the growing difficulty in making the right hiring decisions and retaining talent aligned with real business needs.
At this exact point, the conversation is no longer only about how many people are hired, but about something far more strategic for people teams: how to know whether a hire has truly been the right one once performance comes into play.
How it used to be done and how it should be done now
For years, hiring quality has been measured almost instantly. CV, interview and a probation period. The problem is that this model only validates an initial hypothesis and not the real behaviour of the talent once inside the organisation.
The
Employee Journey Plan introduces a structural shift, as we move from evaluating people at a single point in time to assessing their evolution over time.
For this reason, we have outlined five key moments that allow organisations to measure the employee journey in a structured way:
1. Onboarding as the first real fit test
Onboarding is not an administrative phase as many believe; it is the first validation of the hiring process. Here we are not only measuring whether the person “fits” the organisation, but their speed of adaptation.
Key signals at this stage include:
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Time to achieve basic autonomy in the role.
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Level of clarity regarding responsibilities and expectations.
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First interactions with the team and managers.
A hire that looks right in interview can reveal early misalignment that the CV never showed.
2. First 6 to 12 months as validation of the talent hypothesis
This is where performance starts to become consistently observable. We are no longer focusing solely on adaptation, but on the individual’s contribution to the organisation.
At this stage, the analysis focuses on:
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Evolution of critical skills for the role.
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Clarity of performance against initial expectations.
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Learning capacity and response to feedback.
At this point, many organisations discover that the issue was not the hire itself, but the lack of structured follow-up afterwards.
3. Regular reviews as a continuous adjustment system
Performance reviews stop being an annual formality and become a continuous talent insight system.
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Gaps between expected potential and actual performance.
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Development needs before they turn into performance issues.
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Opportunities for internal mobility or talent reallocation.
The focus shifts from “rating” to “adjusting”.
4. Work environment and eNPS as an indicator of organisational impact
Individual performance cannot be separated from environmental impact. A person may meet objectives and still not fully integrate into the organisational culture.
This is why measuring
climate and
eNPS provides much greater clarity:
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Level of contribution to team culture.
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Relationship between performance and internal perception.
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Risk of cultural misalignment in the medium term.
This point is key, as many poor hires fail not due to capability, but due to system impact.
5. Develop before replacing
When these control points are connected, organisations gain room to act accordingly and start identifying patterns. This enables far more efficient decision-making:
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Strengthen development when potential exists.
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Redirect roles when there is partial fit.
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Correct decisions before costs become structural.
In this way, talent shifts from being static to becoming a continuous validation process.