Tomás Megías Miguel (DAFNE Asesores): "We become indispensable"

Tomás Megías Miguel is the person responsible for DAFNE Asesores de Almansa. DAFNE Asesores was founded in 1996 to provide comprehensive consulting services for companies in the tax, labor, accounting and property management fields. The team is made up of an auditor economist, a labor lawyer and a property administrator.

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?

At first the state of alarm is declared and we do not know what is going to happen, which generates uncertainty since we do not know how we will be able to work, how to serve our clients, and the constant doubt of whether we will all be there the next day or if someone will have fallen ill. This moment was the one we had to overcome initially. Then there were the problems of adapting to teleworking, processing the large legislative influx, the constant modifications of interpretative criteria and attending to the daily vicissitudes of our clients that multiplied by a hundred, the great difficulty in the service and attention of many public administrations; no in-person, telephone, or email attention... a problem that has not yet been solved.

The adaptation has been very hard, but we do not feel the viability of the sector is compromised since we have become indispensable.

Healthcare workers are as indispensable for hospitals as we are for the Administration, for the Tax Agency, Social Security, SEPE...

You have been a fundamental part in the beginning of the pandemic 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? Do you consider the implementation of teleworking viable? Perhaps through a hybrid formula?

At first we were lost, but we analyzed it and saw that the office was equipped with the necessary computer systems. We had to make some changes and acquire some elements for teleworking and, once at this point, assignments were made to the people, what each person had to take care of, in addition to doing their usual work, despite the fact that at many times the entire team was dedicated to a single task as deadlines were ending. We learned to use videoconferences and WhatsApp calls and adapted to a very different work model. In addition, work groups were created that rotated, so that some did not coincide in the office.

The teleworking has come to stay, it cannot be done exclusively but at this time it has become an essential facet of the office.

I imagine that in a big city it is different, but in my town we have already recovered visits to clients and their visits to the office. In other aspects, such as relations with the administration and training, the relationship through electronic means compatible with teleworking has gained great strength.

What were and are the main economic effects of the pandemic on your clients? What would have happened to your companies if the ERTES had not been approved due to force majeure?Would they have survived?

Undoubtedly the approval of the ERTES along with other economic measures was the great success of the Government, with this I do not mean that it was the perfect solution, but if it did not exist, great conflict would have been generated since many companies stopped being able to manufacture and, therefore, be paid, from one day to the next, in some cases, without being able to face the most basic payments, which would have led to a situation of extreme stress also for the workers of the themselves.

The impact of the crisis in the province has been very strong, without a doubt, less than in coastal and tourist areas, but I believe that with the measures that are being taken we will be a province where activity will grow rapidly.

As far as our office is concerned, there have been no closures of companies and self-employed workers as a result of the crisis generated by the covid and new self-employed workers are beginning to be registered.

I sense that the recovery is going to be quick. The business fabric has been maintained, affected, but it has been maintained, and by not depending on the most affected sectors, I believe that the recovery will be faster than in provinces where they depend more on sectors such as leisure and tourism. Even a sector as affected by the pandemic as tourism has not suffered in our area and will be strengthened in the immediate future.

Has the aid that has been granted both at the national and local level to the different sectors arrived on time? Do you think they are enough?

The aid has generally arrived on time. However, aid to a sector that was forced to close, such as the hospitality industry, which should have arrived much earlier, is not the same as aid to a sector such as home furnishings, which reemerged quickly and strongly. I believe that the aid has been aimed, more than at benefiting specific sectors, at ensuring that there are no excessively harmed sectors and consequently the industrial fabric in them is destroyed. Regarding the EU aid that will come, I suppose that the criteria will be just as coherent, but we'll see.

Any effort by the Administration to consolidate SMEs and the self-employed is good and necessary.

Perhaps aid should be increased and simplified and allocated to incipient sectors, with a high potential to generate economic fabric and wealth in our region. Regarding this aid, a control mechanism should be established to verify that it is really necessary for the companies to which it is granted, so that a fairer distribution can be made.

The Business Creation and Growth Law contemplates the simplification of the procedures to establish a company. How do you think it will affect the business productive fabric? local?

This Law, together with the Startup Law, can be great instruments for the creation of companies. If entrepreneurs have a solid analysis of the activity to be developed and the market to which it is directed, that is, they have a solid and realistic business plan, it can be an impetus to increase the productive fabric in the town.

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? What do you value most about the service received by

Companies have increased the value of doing a good job in preventing occupational risks.I think it has gone from being an obligation “in case the inspection comes” to a real awareness of the need for safety at work. The training work on occupational health and safety carried out by the Mutua has contributed very positively to this.

What we value most about Fraternidad-Muprespa is the attention and immediacy in dealing with the professionals who facilitate our consulting work.

Regarding the service, it is fast and a very conscientious follow-up of any contingency is carried out, which I believe guarantees excellent customer service.