Interview with Víctor Jiménez
The latest decrees approved have introduced significant changes in various areas, revalued pensions and established other urgent measures in social, labour and employment matters. In the area of employment, what are the main new features to be taken into account by companies?
The latest measures approved by the current government are very focused on the social aspect, with special emphasis on the labour field. For example, among others, a salary increase of more than 22% has been approved for the SMI, the protection and contribution of domestic employees to the General Regime is increasing, the right to digital disconnection of workers has been undertaken, the figure of the false self-employed is being directly pursued and, recently, the temporary equalization of paternity leave with maternity leave or the creation of equality plans in companies has been approved.
On the other hand, and with regard to the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers, what should this group take into account?
RDL 28/2018 established substantial modifications to this regime. The most representative ones are the new obligation to contribute for unemployment and professional contingencies and that now this group pays a fixed rate of 30% on the chosen contribution base. Another important modification is that, in the case of initial registration, only 60 euros will be paid during the first twelve months of activity, if the minimum contribution base is chosen. Bonuses have also been established for self-employed workers who return to work after maternity. In addition, if the self-employed worker is on medical leave and more than 60 days have elapsed, the contributions must be paid to the mutual fund or the public body responsible. And these are just some of the battery of measures that have recently been approved for these professionals.
In the coming months, what will be the market trends in the labor field?
It will depend on the political colour of the new government. As I said before, the current government has focused on social measures, as we have seen in the approval of the latest decree-laws: measures for the equalization of salaries between men and women, equality in leaves, conciliation of work and family life, protection for people with lower salaries and in difficulties, equality between sexes, etc. There has also been talk of modifying the 2012 labour reform but, I insist, we will have to see what political formation the government has.
What value does the Labour Management department offer its clients?
In the world of employment consultancy there is a very strong competitiveness that often only translates into very low prices without taking into account the service that is really being left out. However, in our case, we not only try to offer a basic management service, which is usually linked to the preparation of the salary statement, but our clients receive complete labour advice, always with the aim of obtaining the greatest cost efficiency and avoiding any legal contingency, taking advantage of our knowledge of labour regulations. If we add to this a personalized treatment, by means of a reference technician and the application of new technologies, we already have the formula to be able to attract and to fidelize our clients.
Finally, it should be added that Victor has extensive knowledge in the development and administration of comprehensive labor management, both for SMEs, cooperatives and associations, as well as for large business groups and Spanish subsidiaries of multinational firms.
