In the middle of the high season of events, we interviewed Verónica Restrepo, director of the Labor Department at Workout Events. She told us about her team’s role within the company.
Vero, also known as the most fashionable girl in our Madrid office, could have inherited the family business, but a small annoyance with her mother made her career take a 180-degree turn and she started studying Administration and Labor Relations. After working in the Human Resources department of two large companies, Vero began working at Workout Events, which at the time had fewer employees and fewer offices.
Who would have thought that, 14 years and many experiences later, Vero would still be as much in love with the company as she was on the first day, and that she would still have the same love for the company as she did on the first day? Workout Events would have grown to manage the staff at all kinds of events nationwide: from large-scale music festivals to neighborhood popular parties.
First of all, thank you very much for taking a few minutes on a very busy day. All Workout departments are busy these days, How are you doing at Laboral?
As we can. Now we are working a lot of festivals, we have to do shifts in the department, and it’s non-stop! Today, for example, we don’t know what time we are going to finish because they usually confirm in the afternoon how many people they need for the next day. We have a forecast of about 90 workers for a festival that we must accredit and check that all their documentation is in order before they start working.
Seems like a lot of work…
And that’s nothing. I remember the first Mad Cool… We practically lived and slept here. We thought it would be a small event and suddenly the client started asking for more and more staff and we ended up hiring workers until 3 in the morning.
What exactly do you do in the Labor Department?
Contracts, Social Security registrations, occupational risk prevention documentation, medical examinations, platform accreditation… Our Staff department is in charge of staff selection and in the Labor department we do all the administrative management of that staff.
Your department does not exist as such in other companies because its tasks are assigned to Human Resources…
Indeed, but at Workout we have all the departments very differentiated to be better organized. The labor department is essential for the operation of the company basically because we are dedicated to provide personnel for events and, if we do not register a worker correctly, he/she cannot attend the service.
The 2022 labor reform greatly affected the events sector. Could you explain how it has influenced the day-to-day running of Workout Events?
Basically, it used to be possible to make temporary contracts for work and services for event workers, so it was easier to make contracts for specific days. With the latest labor reform, this type of contracting no longer exists.
We have had to adapt to the type of temporary contracts that are now available and that is why the workforce has grown so much: we have had to make many permanent contracts.
Changing the subject, what qualities must a person have to work in the Workout Laboral team?
She must be very organized, have a clear understanding of the use of each platform, the registration and deregistration system and contract management… if she does not know how to use these tools, she cannot work in our department.
It is also important to be an agile person… now, for example, my colleagues Marina and Julia are accredited for flying. It’s amazing how fast those little fingers go over the keyboard!
Tell us an amusing anecdote that you have experienced working here.
My favorite anecdote goes back to the origins of Workout Events, when the daily work sessions were long and intense and in particular the day we managed our first big national campaign for a well-known DIY centers. The effort was so great that some of our colleagues ended up doing the goat to lower the level of stress we were under.
In the end, the promotion went perfectly, because camaraderie always helps everything to go well in Workout.
What is the phrase or word that most identifies you?
SUPER PERFECT. A long time ago I started to say that everything was super perfect and until now. In fact, during my maternity leave, they put a broom on my site with a mask and the word “perfect” on it to make it look like I was there saying it.
And finally, tell us, what do you like to do when you are not working?
Going out and spending time with my son. Enjoying Martin is what I like most in life.
Thank you very much again for introducing us to the Labor department and letting us learn more about you, Vero. We confirm that the events we are working on these days are coming out perfectly.
