GCNP: What are, in your perspective, the biggest challenges of this pandemic for your organisation and for SMEs in general?

PPJ:The purpose of GEBALIS, and the service it provides, was not changed by the present crisis situation: we remain a municipal housing provider. What has changed is the situation of many of its tenants, weakened by the economic paralysis. The other change, from a functional point of view, are the new modalities of contact between the company's workers and the service providers with their clients, according to the determinations arising from the previous state of emergency and the present situation of calamity.

As a "local company for the promotion of local development that has as its object the promotion and management of social housing properties, as well as the management of other built heritage, under the terms and conditions to be defined by the Lisbon City Council", GEBALIS faced with increased responsibility what it has to do today in its own sphere of influence. This context of crisis reinforced the role of public housing providers and managers in the definition of the bases for the right and access to housing. This is how GEBALIS is raising the bar on its performance in the patrimonial, financial and social management of the Lisbon municipal housing.

It also commits itself to follow the evolution of new municipal rental realities in Lisbon, participating actively in the conception and implementation of new public policies that are an essential reinforcement to the already existing social and housing support. Thus, GEBALIS' mission will continue to be the management of the public housing stock and the promotion of local development. And we will continue to assume it, entirely, at its different levels.

Also, regarding labour and Human Resources management policies, both GEBALIS and the majority of the SMEs face today the urgency and the indispensability - on a large scale and in a coordinated way - of new and adjusted answers. The good practices of social responsibility and sustainability within the Organisations are essential parts within the challenges of the Global Economy and the challenges that it faces today, due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus.

As highlighted in the Preliminary Assessment Report "COVID-19 and World at Work: Impacts and Responses", there are three main pillars around which renewed measures must be adopted:

• Protecting workers in the workplace;
• Stimulating the economy and labour supply;
• Supporting employment and income.

All of this represents a cultural change that requires calling upon the whole of society to make a collective commitment with short, medium and long-term impact measures. GEBALIS, which was one of the first Municipal Companies in the country to achieve an Accredited Certification of the Work, Family and Personal Life Balance Management System - and that will continue to regard it as a critical factor for the improvement of the organization’s productivity - is and will continue to analyse, with special attention, the new social conditioning factors of work provision.

What is your organisation doing specifically to respond to the new market challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic?

PPJ: In functional terms, GEBALIS has made the working hours more flexible. All sectors of the company that could work remotely became teleworkers. All contacts with the tenants we serve are now performed according to the established safety rules, but always in accordance with the quality parameters by which the company is guided: resident orientation, innovation, social responsibility, leadership and profitability. The physical component of our activity - construction works, in particular - obeys the new safety criteria, in accordance with the applicable legislation in force.

Bearing in mind the future and the socio-economic consequences that this pandemic will bring to the population living in Lisbon’s municipal housing, GEBALIS adapted and reinforced its means of providing services, seeking to respond to the new market challenges: attend the social and economic needs of those who live and work in Lisbon at the moment, in terms of access or maintenance of their housing.

Being the public housing segment the market and activity context of GEBALIS, the company adapted the way it provides its services. Thus, the following determinations are in force to support the income of families and companies, for the relaunch of the economic activity after the end of the crisis:

• Suspension of rent payments on all municipal housing until 30 June 2020. This measure covers 24,000 families and 70,000 people. After that date the amount that has not been collected can be paid for 18 months - without interest or penalties. At any time, families may request a reassessment of the value of the rents, namely due to a decrease in the household's income, unemployment or a drop in income;
• Total exemption of the payment of rents for all commercial establishments in municipal spaces (Town Hall or municipal companies), which are closed. This measure is in force until 30 June 2020 and also covers all kiosks and shops installed in municipal districts that remain open. It is taken in articulation with the Lisbon Port Authority and covers commercial establishments operating in the Port of Lisbon area, without prejudice to the specific features of the contracts managed by this entity;
• Full exemption from rent payments for all social, cultural, sports and recreational institutions installed in municipal spaces until 30 June 2020.

We should also highlight the municipal effort being made to ensure the implementation of the Investment Plan for 2020 and subsequent years of the Lisbon City Council and Municipal Companies, estimated at 620 million euros, as a way to strengthen public service, support employment and preserve the City's productive capacity.

GCNP: What do you think should be done, namely by SMEs, so that the economy recovers from this crisis and a more resilient society is built?

PPJ: In her COVID-19 Guidance Note "Protecting housing from financialization and building back a better future. Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing", Leilani Farha, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, refers the need of ensuring a support system for the transition phase between a state of emergency and a situation of public calamity. Leilani Farha leaves us with the following challenge: "States must ensure that all emergency measures adopted to contain the virus and prevent individuals and families from losing their homes, lay the foundations for the right to housing when the pandemic ends. This is an opportunity to ensure that future housing systems are sustainable and resilient in the face of the next global crisis."

In view of the particularly fragile situation into which the paralysis of many economic sectors has thrown a significant proportion of the people and families we serve, GEBALIS has suspended the obligation of timely payment of rents on allocated housing. This is an exceptional and remarkable reinforcement of the practice of this municipal company, which already had a mechanism for monitoring and constantly adapting the situation of each household and each person to their rent payment obligations for the housing made available to them.

It is in this context of total uncertainty and unpredictability regarding the future, that an integrated and concerted strengthening of the national business sector becomes imperative, regardless of its area or activity. We will have to rethink old maxims about the role of SMEs, not only in phases of economic growth and expansion, but also in contraction phases. Either we think of SMEs as organisations that belong to the industrial panorama or are just making their growth process to large companies, thus being in a phase of full capabilities and resources to be competitive in the global market, we can see that in this context of global crisis, while the economies around the world seek solutions to recover, SMEs face a set of challenges and opportunities, being the group of companies that should be more optimistic about a potential economic recovery and its decisive role in this scenario.

GCNP: Do you think the world will stay the same after this pandemic?

PPJ: In our case, and although the aim of our activity remains the same - managing the renting of municipal housing and its built patrimony - the way we operate is already being changed. It is a matter of fact that the activity of many of the GEBALIS employees is maintained, with good levels of efficiency, without the need for their presence in the company's headquarters and that the activity of many of its offices and decentralised services occurs in a different way than the one practiced until now. It is clear that the consequences of this pandemic will be felt in a very sensitive way - depending on the object and type of activity of each company and each entity, whether public or private. In fact, these last few weeks have changed everything, for everyone - from public bodies to private entities, from large companies to start-ups: what hasn't been changed yet, will have to be.

The reconfiguration of work is one of those inevitabilities: the parameters with which, until now, we have discussed the challenges of managing the world of work and the conciliation of all its aspects and dimensions will have to be different. The first observation - besides the obvious consequences in terms of Health - is that the new coronavirus pandemic has considerable social, economic and labour impacts, which tend to increase pre-existing social discrepancies.

Social isolation measures, which have been implemented to minimise infection rates, also have important consequences on women's daily lives. Balancing work and family life has always been an area of inequality between men and women. In social isolation, these differences are accentuated.

Many women are forced to be productive by teleworking, looking after their children, supporting home schooling activities and managing housework. This overlapping of work activities with domestic and family activities, which still occurs today, translates into a greater deficit of free time, physical and mental overload and limits their autonomy and economic opportunities.

Aware of the needs and benefits of work-family balance, governments and public and private entities have developed a reflection process on these issues and have sought to introduce good practices in their management models. GEBALIS is a pioneer in this matter - being Certified for its Professional, Family and Personal Life Balance Management System, based on the Portuguese Standard (NP)4552:2016 - and is attentive to the necessary adaptations.

However, despite all this work, there is still a long way to go when it comes to the learning process of managers, leaders and workers regarding the Professional, Family and Personal Life Balance and its pressing importance in this new phase of the labour reality that is starting these days - important in a perspective of creating added value for all parties involved; of increasing the competitiveness of organisations; of better quality of life for employees and of exercising full citizenship in general.

• Are we facing a possible change in the way we regard teleworking?
• Will the labour market have the capacity to absorb workers and jobs in this fourth industrial revolution?
• In an accelerated technological revolution, will there be time for people to re-qualify?
• What must change in training?
• Can the flexibilization of working hours be a solution to fight unemployment generated by automation?