He lost 80 percent of his turnover. Normally he is a ‘race optimist’, but not now, entrepreneur Hutten admits. This time is difficult for him.
His family business, Hutten, with 2,200 employees, provides catering for companies, care institutions and events. As the Dutch have started working from home en masse and most events are canceled, Hutten has been hit hard, the entrepreneur shared on Linkedin this weekend.
And that blow could have been less serious if the government were to help companies in a different way.
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Regulations ‘totally insufficient’
“I’ve been through a lot in the 35 years I’ve led this company, but not this,” says Hutten on the phone. The entrepreneur estimates that about 30 percent of the staff, ie around 660 people, will have to leave. “Saying goodbye to my people hurts so much, it’s unheard of.” And it shouldn’t have been necessary, he says.
The government regulations are ‘totally insufficient’ for a large family business such as Hutten. One of those schemes was in principle aimed at job retention. In the case of Hutten, the government reimburses 65 percent of the labor costs.
Saying goodbye to staff
But now only 20 percent of the company’s turnover is left, too little to pay for the rest of the wages and fixed costs. Hutten cannot help but say goodbye to some of its staff. “And the implementing agencies work with the old rules: for example, the people you fire must reflect your staff.”
The result: he has to be forced to say goodbye to workers that he would love to keep and that he may not get back when the crisis is over. “It is as if the legislator says to a football club: sell your best players. So it will take years before you can play premier league again.”
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‘Incentive to work with temporary workers’
He would rather have made agreements with some people about short-term unemployment to recruit those people quickly after the crisis. This policy also sends the wrong signal, says Hutten.
“You’re going to think, I can’t risk hiring people.” It is an incentive to work with temporary agency workers in particular, according to the entrepreneur.
The scheme intended for companies that have too little money in cash due to the crisis is also inadequate, according to Hutten. Large companies such as Hutten can get a loan so that they can continue to pay their bills. “But the interest is high, 5.3 percent, and the term is 4 years. During that time, you should not pay off penalty-free. No wonder there is little interest in it.”
Not to work, but on an airplane
And then there is the choice to let people work from home as much as possible. This is disastrous for a company such as Hutten, because employees no longer eat at work.
According to the entrepreneur, companies are now perfectly able to facilitate a working environment where a distance of one and a half meters is kept. Moreover, it is hypocritical that the government thinks it is okay that people all get on an airplane, he says.
All in all, people don’t really think along with entrepreneurs, says Hutten. His company is financially healthy enough to survive this crisis, but the entrepreneur sees a company that has been built on for 90 years gradually crumble.
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“Little stupid arrangement”
Hutten’s workforce consists of 10 percent people with a distance to the labor market. And the company works sustainably, which has required considerable investments in recent years. Hutten: “When do I see a government that thinks: shouldn’t we lose these kinds of companies?”
Minister Koolmees of Social Affairs previously admitted that everything is not custom-made: “I designed a very simple, slightly stupid scheme,” he told RTL Z about the wage costs scheme. An arrangement had been set up in a very short time, and it was impossible to make all kinds of exceptions, the minister said.
Around the table with heavily hit companies
Sounds logical, but according to Hutten that is nonsense. If it were up to him, a distinction would be made in a subsequent comparable crisis between large companies that were not, slightly or very seriously affected by the exceptional circumstances.
The general arrangement may apply to the second group, while the government may discuss the third group. Per company can be looked at: is the company in principle financially healthy, is the company of value and what has helped the company.
Hutten hopes to create a ‘Covid-20 table’ with the cabinet, unions and employers, to already think about how entrepreneurs would best be helped in the next pandemic. The name refers to the disease that causes the current virus: Covid-19.
Hutten: “After all, they say: with that globalization there could just be a Covid-20. And how are we going to do that later?” Then a good aid plan is extra urgent, because there is a limit to what strong companies can have. “This corona crisis costs me a lot of rude money and yet I will get through this crisis. But a second? We will not survive.”
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