Today we interview... Miriam Almazán and Daniel Blas, from AFIRIS (Zaragoza)

Today we interviewed Miriam Almazán and Daniel Blas, from the AFIRIS consulting firm in Zaragoza.

Miriam is the director of AFIRIS. An economist and tax advisor, she is a consultant approved by the Emprender Foundation in Aragon and a University expert in advising entrepreneurs, with extensive teaching and mentoring experience in entrepreneurship programs. For his part, Daniel is the head of the labor department at AFIRIS. Social graduate, advisor and labor consultant, he is also a consultant approved by the Emprender Foundation in Aragón and leads by example, being co-founder of Ohmywork!

During this health and economic crisis, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced in your dispatch?

Daniel Blas: ___As head of the work area The great challenge we have had has been to safeguard the balance between business survival and employment. 

We have felt like staff in a corporate emergency room where we have had to offer solutions in record time and with a legislative maelstrom as a curative tool.

Miriam Almazán: Our work It consists of providing agile solutions that provide security to our clientele. In a situation of maximum uncertainty and changing norms, this has been the challenge. We had to answer questions as relevant as whether a business could open the next day or not, with everything that entails. With the administration closed and without response, we have been the support of entrepreneurial people and businesswomen. The professionals who are dedicated to advising companies have experienced difficult times and although it does not affect the billing of the office, it does take an emotional toll.

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?

DB: ___En In our case, we have always been a company with a clear technological focus, not in vain have we had some internal technological projects in development, and that allowed us to function perfectly remotely. We were already using productivity and teleworking tools before the pandemic, so confinement did not represent a cultural change in our case.It took us more effort to understand that the administration was not prepared to take on the great challenge and we had to deal with some impediments from third parties that did not allow us to advance in this business safeguarding work.

MA: Due to our innovative profile, we already had digital tools, but digitalization is not only a matter of tools, but also of processes and people, and this has been a challenge for companies and for ourselves Administration.

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?

DB: The profile of companies we advise is very varied and therefore we have encountered organizations with a technological profile that have grown during the pandemic, while other companies in the service or cultural sector have suffered greatly to maintain their viability and whose effects today continue to last over time.  If the force majeure ERTES had not been approved, many companies would have had to declare bankruptcy, bankruptcy or suspension of payments and many workers would have been left unprotected and having to go to FOGASA.

Despite the legal uncertainty, certain legislative improvisation and lack of institutional protection, it can be said that the internal flexibility mechanisms have maintained the business fabric and the employment.

MA: I consider that ERTES have been a flexible mechanism to face a sudden closure, there are companies that would not have been able to financially sustain this period without income.

Has the aid that has been granted both at the national and local level to the different sectors reached time? And the aid from the Union European?

DB: The feeling is that the security and control mechanism in the face of possible fraud has taken precedence over the speed and immediacy of a line of liquidity and direct help to the affected companies. Furthermore, the delegation to the autonomous communities and the lack of agility for something that should be more immediate has left the impression that they arrive late and at the wrong time.Regarding European aid, the feeling is that a lot of money and funds are going to arrive but that the requirements, application mechanisms and complexity in the process can make many small and medium-sized companies give up.

And let's not forget that in our country the profile of micro-SMEs or SMEs is the most proliferated. However, it is an opportunity that we should not ___ waste.

MA: From many sectors European funds are expected as a rescue mechanism. I want to be confident that the planned strategies and economic support translate into the boost that Spain needs, modernizing both the business sector and the Public Administration and that the funds really reach the business community, but at the moment the calls are taking a long time to arrive, and the eligible projects need sufficient time to be planned and executed. It is not just that there is money available, but that it reaches companies and finances impact projects.

How do you assess the impact of the crisis generated by COVID in your province on companies and autonomous?

DB: In our province and autonomous community, by not being as dependent on the tourism sector as in other autonomous communities and having a greater industrial, logistical and agri-food network, it has been possible to maintain activity better than in other places. However, many self-employed people in the service or cultural sector have suffered greatly economically but also on an emotional level, in terms of health and uncertainty.

MA: As my colleague says, the toll of the crisis is not only economic, the generalized uncertainty and insecurity has taken its toll on the people who lead the businesses. 

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?

DB: Everything that promotes the creation of companies or entrepreneurial initiatives is welcome. I believe that we should not only focus on simplifying initial procedures in the constitution but also favor the growth of companies with legal certainty and internal market unity.

We are a country that needs larger and stronger companies that provide quality employment and are socially responsible with people and the environment.The challenge is to grow healthy as the pandemic has shown us.

___

MA:In my humble professional opinion, the text of the draft is very short. One of the star measures is that the corporate tax rate for companies considered new will be 15% in the first period that they obtain a positive basis and in the following 3 (currently it is in the first and the next). It must be taken into account that while the company does not make profits, it does not pay corporate tax. What's more, you can save the negative results generated to offset them against future profits (negative tax bases). A startup will make a profit when it becomes profitable, and that is precisely the challenge, being able to grow and evolve sustainably before the capital it has runs out. In my opinion, help is necessary at a time before the benefits appear in the income statement, help in the “valley of death”.

___H TMLTAG360___I consider that simplicity and agility in business creation procedures can improve, but it is more necessary to promote business consolidation and growth.

Taking into account the importance of direct contact with customers in your sector, do you consider the implementation of the teleworking? Maybe through a formula hybrid?

DB:___HTMLTAG409_ __ From my point of view as a labor advisor, I consider teleworking as a historic opportunity. But like any change (which has also occurred on many occasions) the great challenge is to balance and learn. 100% teleworking has its positive side of better self-organization, avoiding travel times or balancing personal and professional life but also its negative side such as the lack of personal and human contact. I am very much in favor of balances and teleworking is no exception: the best formula therefore is to establish hybrid mechanisms that satisfy the needs of people and companies.

MA:___HTM LTAG436___ Although teleworking already existed, the pandemic has opened the eyes of companies, workers, clientele... even the Public Administration. This opens up a world of possibilities (new forms of communication, changes of residence, etc.) and taking advantage of the opportunities is in our hands. I consider hybrid mechanisms to work well but there is still a long way to go. There is still no progress in business digitalization and a presentist culture still exists in many organizations.The implementation of teleworking also opens up new business challenges, we need digital disconnection and connection human.___H TMLTAG458______ ___

___HTMLTA G490___By Lastly, the pandemic has highlighted the prevention of occupational risks. Do you think companies perceive it that way too? What do you value most about the service received by Fraternidad-Muprespa as a consequence of a professional contingency and/or common?___HT MLTAG521___

_ __HTMLTAG543___DB: ___In my personal opinion we have experienced a world tragedy that has left and will leave consequences on many people. Companies cannot be oblivious to the state of health and emotional well-being of the people who make up their organizations since it has been proven that they are their most precious asset. Those that think only about automation and digital transformation will fail, while those that seek a balance will be strengthened.

What I value most about Fraternidad-Muprespa in this sense is a commitment to education in those values of preventive culture and well-being, not only from a point of view of improving productivity but also of making a more sustainable and healthy world.

_ __HTMLTAG585___MA: ___It is essential to generate a culture of prevention and workplace well-being and the work in this regard is appreciated what you do from Fraternidad-Muprespa, helping both companies and working people.