Today we interview... José Andrés González Bernardo, from LABYFIS Consulting (Oviedo)

José Andrés González Bernardo is partner-administrator and head of the legal/labor department of LABYFIS, an Oviedo consultancy that provides labor and tax management, as well as judicial and legal advice and consulting, with a portfolio that includes multinationals and companies throughout the national territory. In addition, José Andrés has been providing training for more than 36 years to different entities, such as the Asturian Federation of Businessmen (FADE), the Theological Institute of Religious Life (ITVR) and the Pontifical University of Salamanca, among others. Every year it publishes the compilation “Labor and Social Security News”. 

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?

During the health crisis, the biggest challenge was managing the unforeseen uncertainty where all clients at the same time ask you for a series of extraordinary jobs, especially with the issue of ERTES.

We had to react quickly to provide a service that we could never imagine, to provide the extraordinary service that all clients ask for at the same time.

The challenge arose when all the clients requested the same service at the same time with the same urgency for a problem that suddenly presented themselves and that made them restless and nervous. If I have a cafeteria and 500 customers come to me and at the same time ask me for the same drink, it is impossible to serve them all. Even so, all offices in general have been structured and have met the objective of providing service.

We have not seen the viability of the sector compromised. Despite the activity being suspended, the companies' legal, operational and management commitments, such as payroll and insurance, were maintained. In addition, exceptionally, there was an increase in work and, consequently, in billing. With which, momentarily the sector was not in danger, but was strengthened.

You have been a fundamental part 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?

We were authorized to carry out our activity in person, as it is an essential activity. However, due to the COVID issue, we organized ourselves into in-person and remote work groups, working semi-in-person: some groups worked in person at certain times of the month, and other groups worked remotely. They were exchanging. So if we suffered from any contagion or any situation that could affect us, there were always people who were not in contact to guarantee the provision of the service.

I think that teleworking and hybrid work has accelerated a lot, even in essential sectors.

And the novelty is in-person teleworking. When you enter the clients' factories, the operators are teleworking in person through an app, they are doing the work not on the machine or at the workplace, but from different places and controlling it remotely.

What were and are the main economic effects of the pandemic on your clients? What would have happened if the ERTES had not been approved due to force majeure? How do you assess the impact of the crisis generated by COVID in your province?

I understand that in part they would not have survived, they are surviving over time thanks to the help of the different entities, city councils, regional and national communities. This has allowed them to withstand this drop in income and has maintained them, for now. And the impact depends on the activities. Activities that were already trending upward before the crisis, such as the industrial sector, metal, for example, continue to rise even afterward; and in those that were already affected, such as commerce and hospitality, this impact has intensified, harming their viability.

Certain sectors such as hospitality or commerce are becoming a non-face-to-face activity through platforms, it is "platformization", to the detriment of face-to-face activities.

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?

I think it will benefit by being easier to create a business vehicle through telematic, computerized means or with certain aids; but the vehicle is generated because the participants or builders of that activity or autonomous company or society are convinced that this project will be viable; not because they make the business vehicle process easy for me. There is no doubt that it helps, but I understand that it is not the main argument for making the decision.

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 Fraternidad-Muprespa as a result of a professional and/or common contingency?

The majority of mutual societies worked remotely, but when it came to the client, their mutual business owners and their collaborators, they have never been so close. In this crisis the human part of the work has come out, the mutual insurance companies were very close to the clients and the consultancies.

I think that the mutual insurance companies, like the law firms, have done an enormous amount of work, they never thought about what could come. Mutual insurance companies have had to reorganize.

We have worked at night, outside normal work hours and the mutual insurance company called you resolving files, advising, calls on Saturdays. It caught us all so suddenly that the human part of involvement of all sectors, of all groups, has come out. Clients have asked us all for everything and they have risen to the occasion, resolving it in the shortest possible time, dedicating all the effort in the world. Fraternidad-Muprespa has carried out the work based on the human capital that understood the problem and reacted appropriately to the situation.