Today we interview... Mari Guillaumet, from THOT GROUP (Lleida)

Mari Guillaumet, social graduate from the University of Lleida, is the head of human resources at THOT GROUP since 1994. Her responsibilities include ensuring compliance with labor legislation and controlling the management of payroll and administrative procedures related to the area. labor of the companies. Its clients are mainly small and medium-sized companies, mostly in the province of Lleida, and for years they have been using technology to communicate with them.

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?

The main challenge was to take charge of a chaotic and unforeseen situation, with almost daily regulatory changes and to be able to provide necessarily quick solutions to our clients. It was complicated not being able to contact anyone with management questions, like when you had to present a regulation file and you couldn't contact either the SEPE or Social Security.

We had to adopt the role of doctors of the companies.

However, I do not believe that the viability of the sector has been compromised, since, as a result of this situation, I believe that we were recognized as the essential service that we are.

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?

In our case we have long opted for telematic work to be able to reconcile work life with family life and in this case, it did not pose any problem for us, and we were able to manage everything in our homes from minute 0.

As for teleworking, I think it should be done in a hybrid way. The mentality and way of doing things of the worker who is at home counts a lot. It is difficult to establish it in a generalized way. For some people, being at home means working less, so if the effectiveness control formula cannot be found, work should be redistributed so that work continues to happen. I think it can be implemented as long as the worker is aware that the work also has to be done.

What were and are the main economic effects of the pandemic on your clients?

There are some sectors that would not have survived without ERTE, such as restaurants, tourism and small businesses. In addition to salary costs, they had costs such as electricity or rent, which is why ERTE were so necessary. The construction and agriculture sector only also had the need to ERTE at the time when all of Spain was confined, but upon returning to activity, they already dispensed with it, unlike small businesses or restaurants due to the restrictive measures.

In addition, I consider aid to the self-employed to be vitally important for business continuity, because likewise, without it, many businesses would have closed.

Has the aid that has been granted both at the national and local level to the different sectors arrived on time? And the next aid from the European Union? How do you assess the impact of the crisis generated by COVID in your province on companies and the self-employed?

There has been some aid in Catalonia whose criteria for accessing it was on a first-come, first-served basis; it was not given to those who needed it most. Expanding the control of those who might need it a little more would have been more correct.

We are waiting to see if this aid from the European Union is really going to arrive. In any case, I think it is also necessary to control the people who appear, since some appear to meet the requirements, but they would not really need that help.

I think that the sectors that have been the worst have been restaurants and commerce, because the online market has increased significantly, and this change in behavior has not benefited those businesses that cannot adapt to that situation. I consider the rest of the sectors to be working well, companies in construction, facilities or agriculture work quite well, if they have problems it is due to lack of raw materials or labor, not demand.

I think it will be a pretty good recovery, these last few months we have had many hirings and movements of companies. Yes, there are people who have lost their jobs, but they have known how to look for alternatives.

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 business productive fabric? local?

It would be necessary to see in what terms the procedures would be simplified, because the additional costs, such as going to the registry or the notary, are what, in the end, determine the person's decision to be self-employed or establish a limited company. Even if the social capital is simplified, if the additional costs are left intact in the end, people will choose to be self-employed. Furthermore, people who want to establish themselves as a company as a limited company, in the end do not consider it as important how many days it takes to establish their company. What I find interesting is the financing, that financing can be sought through other means than banking, I think it is an advance that will have to be tested if it works.

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

I believe that the vast majority of companies do not perceive the importance of occupational risk prevention. They perceive it as one more tax that they have to pay, that the vast majority have it and pay it, but they do not get the benefit. They do not pay attention to it nor are they aware of the benefit that risk prevention can have correctly. They realize when they have to assume the costs of having to process a withdrawal of any type. Mainly construction companies know that they have to have training for worker and health surveillance because they work with subcontracted companies that are going to ask for it.

Regarding our relationship with

It is a relationship of such trust for so many years that they are one more, even though it is an external service, we feel that it is ours, not only with management, but with all the workers.In the chaotic time, we have maintained a lot of contact and mutual support, with continuous availability.