Interview with Marcos Martínez, president of the College of Social Graduates of Asturias
Today we interviewed Marcos Óscar Martínez Álvarez, president of the Official College of Social Graduates of Asturias since 2017. Gsocial graduate and diploma in Labor Relations at the University of Oviedo. He has been director of the "José Emilio Martínez Fariza" School of Professional Practice, member of the Quality Commission of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Oviedo and secretary of the Labor Association 2000 and the Association of Young Social Graduates of Asturias. With a 15-year career in the Bigoles Abogados firm, he is currently a founding partner of the law firm of social graduates “Laboralistas del Principado”. Author of the book “Sociolabor Audit in Public Administration”, he has given conferences and courses on labor relations and human resources, and is a reference for the media for opinion on matters related to the labor market and the pension system.
___What demands does the group you represent make, both before the administration and before society in general?
We are the professionals who are between Public Administration, companies and workers. Therefore, we are the ones who channel all the benefits or labor relations of human resources and the labor advice efforts that exist in that triangle. Therefore, the main demand is that you have to analyze very well before regulating, you have to have an objective vision of how the norm is going to be applied, and that objective vision cannot be had if you do not first ask the professionals who are on the street. It is very good to reach agreements, it is very good to legislate quickly, as was necessary in this pandemic, but the most important thing is to generate regulations to avoid conflict and adapt as best as possible to a society, knowing how it is applied and the best way to do it. The only way to know that is to ask the professionals.
What aspects would you highlight in the relationship that social graduate schools maintain with the Administration?And specifically with the Mutual Collaborators with Social Security?
I would highlight the collaboration. The more we have better collaboration between the Administration and the professionals, the more fluid, easier and agile it will be to carry out the procedures with the Administration and the mutual insurance companies. With mutual insurance companies there always has to be a very close collaboration because, although they are part of the Administration, in some way they are professionals like us. With the Administration the only objection now is on the part of the telematic media. Many things can be solved, but there are many others that telematic management does not solve, and that collaboration that we had with the Administration is being diluted because we have no way of contacting to solve something that cannot be solved quickly telematically, although I also think that it is a relationship that is not going to disappear.
We serve our clients, who need quick and agile responses.
How do current social graduates perceive the future of the profession? Are there more or fewer students who are interested in this profession than in recent times?
I perceive it as spectacular. With the pandemic, all companies and the Administration have realized the value of students in the degree of labor relations and human resources, which are the prelude to the social network profession. The value has grown because job offers have increased, professionals who are experts in labor relations are in demand. The future looks important for different reasons.
It is going to be very important to work or manage mainly people, and we, as our degree, labor relations and human resources, clearly say, are specialists in people in the workplace.
Another point that is going to be very important is the workplace, due to the labor reforms that are being carried out and will continue to be developed, which will mean a need for professionals with our profile, that of the social network specializing in labor relations and human resources.
During this health and economic crisis, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced in your office? Have you felt the viability of the sector is compromised?
I believe that we have not seen the viability of the sector compromised. Yes, there have been many challenges, such as hours worked, uncertainty, ERTES procedures or unemployment benefits without knowing if it is okay, since its practical application was not examined. However, I think the biggest challenge is not what we have been through, but what is coming.
The biggest challenge in the coming years: we will have to take on much of the work of the Administration through our offices, with the uncertainty of not knowing if we will carry out the management correctly.
That said, I believe that the sector is going to grow, although there are many colleagues who have become tired in the pandemic, leaving their work to new generations, we have to significantly transform our offices into a more consultative place, since a lot of demand from our clients was consulting and advice regarding decision making, such as, for example, what type of ERTE to apply, all this with the aim of having greater viability.
You have been a fundamental part due to the large number of benefits that you have had to manage.How did you digitally face this increase in the volume of work, which was also not in person?
We faced it as best we could. We were not prepared to deal with such a large amount of telematic processing, like the Administration, what led us to spend until the wee hours of the morning trying to carry out telematic processing was the collapse in carrying out the procedures that occurred at given times, along with the obligation to do it within certain deadlines, in order for workers to collect their unemployment benefits, being that main objective of the companies.
Personally, like the rest of the group, we are not particularly satisfied with the volume of business that the Administration forced us to manage, with uncertainty and volume without even asking ourselves how certain things were applied, how it could be done better or how telematic bureaucracy could be saved. What comes to us in this wave of telematic procedures is the new bureaucracy, which entails a greater workload and time for my office, and if the clients are the same, it costs more work time, which translates into me working more or hiring more people with the same salary. Several consultancies have had to hire inexperienced staff, transform a colleague to make this telematic adaptation, or work extra hours.
Has the aid that has been granted both nationally and locally to the different sectors arrived on time? Have some sectors benefited more than others? And the next aid from the European Union?
Again it depends a lot on the point of view. Personally, some aid has been paid late, which means that businesses that closed but had to continue making payments, therefore for them the aid arrived late. At the European Union level, in principle, some aid is arriving, but what is expected is that more aid will arrive at all levels in the coming years, aid for economic recovery. Right now, it focuses on what we are going to do with the money from the European Union that arrives in Spain to carry out this economic recovery.
The sectors in which the most aid has been concentrated are in the commerce, tourism, and hospitality sectors, which are the most affected, the ones that had to stop. Also, in Asturias, there are circumstances in which there are subsidies for tourism, hospitality and the cultural sector, among others.
The problem is that there is money that is running out, and you have to choose how to process aid to your companies.
It may be that we process quickly by giving the aid and that there are companies from the same office that have aid and others that do not, due to the fact of having submitted first, and not due to compliance with requirements. This is an added problem both for the client, because they do not receive help, and for us, since we are the ones who have to tell the client, that for us they are all the same, that their help does not arrive because it was presented earlier or later.
The new Business Creation and Growth Law contemplates the simplification of the procedures to establish a company How do you think it will affect the local business productive fabric?
We have to analyze a little the context in which we operate. The issue for companies or entrepreneurs is often not the fact of registering, that too, because if I can create the company in three days rather than in fifteen, the better.
When creating companies, the less bureaucracy and daily processing obstacles there are, the better.The problem goes further, the crux of the matter is the survival of the company.
The entrepreneurial culture itself somehow drives and creates a new venture, especially in the first years, perhaps a little less now because people have seen that it is difficult to start a business like before. I think the law is good, simplifying the procedures is ideal and will help us. The fact that you can create a company with a financial burden of less than 3,000 euros can provide an incentive to do so. However, I think the main thing is to find a way to encourage entrepreneurial culture, because to set up your business, you have to know how to sell it. It doesn't matter if the business is set up quickly or with little money, in the end, the important thing is to know how to sell it and move to do it. There is a part of the law that talks about how to boost business growth. The culture of company is often not to associate. Many companies join forces to grow and internationalize. In Spain, in Asturias, this association is slower than in other countries. That's why I think this law is good, but it's just another patch.
Taking into account the importance of direct contact with customers in your sector, do you consider the implementation of teleworking viable? Perhaps through a hybrid formula?
I consider it viable because in the past we followed a hybrid model, teleworking and in-person. It is the way to continue having face-to-face contact, because it is not the same as talking to someone through a screen, they are not the same sensations.
I think that telematic work is here to stay, it is a good solution in many cases, it can help better complement work life with family and leisure.
Right now, I am alone in the office and two colleagues teleworking, I take clients who come to the office in person and they are at home doing tasks that require a higher level of concentration, since in person it is easy to get distracted by client arrivals and calls. Therefore, I believe that teleworking is a good tool, as long as you know how to manage it well.
The pandemic has put value on the prevention of occupational risks, do you think companies perceive it that way too? How do you value the work of training and dissemination of prevention in the different sectors of activity in which your companies operate?
The pandemic has triggered prevention due to the ease of transmission of a virus, therefore, prevention has been valued, above all, with respect to hygiene. I think it is something that will last a while and, if COVID disappears, surely in a few years we will have forgotten this and the value of prevention will return to more normal terms, some will comply, and others will not.
What I value most about the service received is the proximity.
Being able to call the mutual insurance company and have someone behind you is something that was very difficult with the Administration. Mutual insurance companies in general and
