Soledad Marquina and Carlos Houghton (Morlán-Huesca Consulting) "New technologies play in our favor"

Soledad MarquinaHe is deputy responsible for the labor department. Graduated in Labor Relations, Labor Sciences and Human Resources, she has extensive professional experience of more than 20 years. For its part,Carlos WarrandHoughton  is managing partner and head of the labor and legal department. Lawyer and urban planner, he began in 2009 in the world of labor advice.

In this interview they tell us what their day-to-day life in consulting is like.

Tell us when and why you chose a liberal profession. You have been in continuous practice for 30 years. What do you remember from the beginnings of your business adventure? What is the biggest challenge an advisor can face?

Loneliness: The truth is that my case is a bit particular since I found my vocation through professional experience. I started working in ConsultingMorlan21 years ago and from the first years I knew that I had found the profession I wanted to dedicate myself to.

I remember those years with affection, of learning and integration in a sector that I did not know.

Although I have to say that I have always worked with great professionals who, with their enthusiasm, made it so that today, after so many years, I still like what I do every day.

The biggest challenge has undoubtedly been very recent, the pandemic. These two years have been very hard for the entire legal sector, but specifically, the labor advisor sector has seen its normal activity affected very considerably.

Carlos: It was during the month of October 2009 when, due to life's consequences, I decided to take a 180-degree turn in my professional career, going from the most technical urban planning to a discipline as versatile as it is complex as labor law advice. The beginnings are always difficult, challenging, but when you are surrounded by good professionals everything becomes easier. 

The biggest and most important challenge that an advisor can face is connecting with the client from the first moment.

Connecting means that the advice work flows more easily, since a complicity is created between the parties that makes the task easier despite the complexity that must be faced at each moment.

You have recently expanded your field of work by entering the real estate field. How did Plenia real estate come about?

Loneliness: The creation of Plenia is part of the constant innovative spirit of Asesoría Morlán, as well as the need to adapt to the needs of our clients to provide them with comprehensive services. 

We have a large portfolio of clients with needs in this regard, our estate planning and succession department detected that many of our clients needed to put properties up for sale and that was one of the reasons for the birth of Plenia.

Carlos: Plenia Inmobiliarios was born at a time when we understood the need to grow, to increase our line of business by offering new solutions to our clients. Starting a business is not easy, but when you have a multidisciplinary team that is an expert in each of the skills that are important in the real estate world, it makes this process easier, being able to offer the client a “turnkey” product that makes making a decision as important as transferring or acquiring a property much more comfortable and secure.

You serve both national and international clients, what is the treatment like when they are not in Huesca? Does it make work difficult at all?

Loneliness: In this sense, new technologies play a lot in our favor.

At Asesoría Morlán we are very aware that Information and Communication Technologies are very important in the environment in which we operate.  Thus, all our clients have access to a web portal in which, through a username and password, they can access all the information and documentation of their company.For its part, we also make an employee portal available to our clients, so that their workers can access to consult all related work documentation.

In addition, we have staff with knowledge of languages, great experts in international matters, not in vain we have an immigration department whose purpose is the processing of application files for residence and work permit authorizations of any kind, as well as files for obtaining Spanish nationality.

Carlos: We effectively provide service to clients from various geographical locations, which is not at odds with close advice. At Asesoría Morlán we have always opted for the best and most innovative technological solutions in order to make it easier for clients to contact their advisor regardless of their location.

With the health crisis, all this technological commitment has been supported and the change, whether we like it more or less, has come to stay.

What is the service that your clients demand the most?

Loneliness: Morlán Consulting offers comprehensive services and consists of departments with a long history and very consolidated, although, in this sense, we must differentiate the type of client we work with. When our client is a company, our tax-commercial and labor departments become more important. As for private clients, they tend to go more to our Estate Planning, Plenia Real Estate, Insurance or Ganagro departments, which is our department dedicated to the agricultural-livestock sector.  

Carlos: The service that the client demands the most is precisely that, the service, the good service and to provide a quality service you have to bet without cracks on the continuous and correct training of each and every one of the human resources that you have as well as bet on and have the best technological solutions. Training is a safe bet.

We are faced with a recent labor reform, what has this radical change in the types of employment contracts meant for your group? Do you think it is appropriate and was necessary? Do you think that the drop in unemployment is a consequence of the labor reform?

Loneliness:The labor reform, without a doubt, in our sector has considerably reduced the hiring options on which we advise our clients. In my opinion, this regulatory body does not meet the current needs of companies as it does not observe their productive activity when having to make a contract.

All well-carried out reforms are essential if they adapt to the labor market in which they operate at any given time, although the latest labor reform published last December seems to aim more at a statistical increase in permanent contracts than at promoting quality labor relations.

As for the possible drop in unemployment that this could cause, it does not come from any other cause than that derived from forcing companies to carry out indefinite contracts even when it comes to seasonal or seasonal activities. What must be taken into account and analyzed is what the future of these contracts may be, since it is more than likely that when the season ends they will expire. Of course, they will not do it through a cause of termination of contract but through dismissal.

Carlos: The labor reform has been, in cycling slang, one more mountain pass in a difficult stage that began two and a half years ago due to the pandemic and with it various and continuous regulatory changes that continue to date. From my point of view, the productive system of a country cannot be changed through a labor reform, although I believe that the excessive temporality in Spain should be addressed and limited.

The limitation of temporary hiring, the prominence given to the fixed-discontinuous indefinite contract and the increase in sanctions for possible fraud have made the change in hiring in Spain inevitable.  Time will give or take away reasons but frankly I do not believe that the working conditions of the workers have really improved as the statistics have, rather the compensation to be received upon termination of the contract has been improved, but that is another debate.  

There are currently sectors with a lot of job offers and few job seekers, such as hospitality and construction. Do you think this will become a problem in the medium term? In your opinion, how could it be corrected?

Loneliness: The hospitality sector is a sector that has always had a lack of personnel, especially in certain locations such as mountain tourist areas. Many of our clients must make job offers more attractive by offering certain working conditions such as accommodation, bonuses, etc. in order to attract workers who can provide services in their companies. Finding a solution to such a controversial sector is not trivial and this is due to the characteristics of the activity, schedules, holidays, etc. In any case, specialized training centers, working conditions and collective bargaining play a very important role in this sector.

As for the construction sector, I believe that the cause is simply that there is a lack of professionals in the sector. Years ago, a young person learned a trade working in a construction company, although, as the years go by, new generations are trained more in other subjects and, when they finish their studies, they look for jobs related to these. Perhaps in this case the approach of training actions focused on the professionalization of this sector is an aspect to take into account.

Carlos: I think we are witnessing a social change that has been brewing since 2008 with the real estate crisis. The new generations have been encountering many obstacles along the way, both in their professional and personal development, and I understand that as a result they have entered into a kind of disconnection, a professional demotivation that is becoming evident now.

True employment promotion policies are necessary in which the public and private sectors participate in a coordinated and collaborative manner, and more practical and strengthened professional training.

How is your deal with mutual insurance companies? and with Fraternidad-Muprespa?

Loneliness:We have always had close contact with all the mutual insurance companies, in the end we share clients and even concerns. The pandemic has made it clear that we are in times of professional collaboration.

In the case of Fraternidad-Muprespa, the treatment has always been very friendly and professional in any of the matters that we have discussed with them.

Carlos:As just another operator, mutual insurance companies are part of our daily lives. It is a necessary relationship for both parties that has been enhanced by the health crisis and that we must strengthen even more if possible to face a future that is more telematic than ever and where communication and verification of information becomes essential.

The Advisor's Corner is a tool integrated into the Mutua's Digital Office. Can you tell us about the advantages that this tool brings to your advice? What do you think of the Discussion Forum as a tool to share a specific topic with other advisors?

Loneliness:Collaboration between professionals has become essential, having to leave behind certain types of competitiveness.  The advantages are clear, the exchange of criteria and opinions with other professionals is vital in this sector.

Without a doubt, this forum is part of that professional collaboration that will allow us all to share impressions and help each other in our daily lives.

Carlos:A derivative of the health crisis has been the implementation and strengthening of the means of consultation and debate. These have become a source of knowledge at a time when the lack of clarifying criteria has been evident.

In these complex times, professionals often need to share our ideas and opinions and listen to those of others in order to reach common ground that we can apply to our daily lives.

These means of collaboration have led to the dilution of competition between the parties and the promotion of selfless collaboration. On the other hand, having companies with databases or means of consultation is essential to carry out and promote our daily work.

Finally, what would you ask the Mutual Fund so that you can improve the service you provide to your clients?

Loneliness: Without a doubt, mutual insurance companies have also proven to rise to the occasion in this pandemic, and they have always been great collaborators with our sector, so more than asking them, I would like to thank them for all the facilities and tools they have given us during this pandemic in their spirit of easing the work of advisors.

Carlos:Like advisors, managers, lawyers or social graduates, among others, as has been proven in the management of the Covid-19 crisis, they are fundamental pieces in the daily business management of this country that must be valued.

At a time when the virtual is imposed, I cannot resist asking mutual insurance companies to continue maintaining that closeness and collaboration with advisors that is so close and necessary for both.