Less bureaucracy could help right now

As a master hairdresser, Hans-Jörg Friese, President of the Rheinhessen Chamber of Crafts, is one of the business owners severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Even during a pandemic, he experienced how important bureaucracy is to government agencies.

This article is part of the special topic Bureaucratic madness in the craft industry

Hans-Jörg Friese has been President of the Chamber of Crafts Rheinhessen. The 53-year-old successfully passed the master craftsman examination in hairdressing in 1991 and leads in his hometown Alzey two Hairdressing businessesAfter the lockdown, it became apparent that the authorities responsible for a hairdressing business were not cooperating.

DHB: Mr. Friese, what do you associate with May 4, 2020?
Friesians: That day, the first businesses were allowed to reopen—and for me, as the owner of several hair salons, it was one of the happiest days. My nine employees and I would have loved to hug each other in the evening if we'd been allowed. We were at least as happy as our freshly styled customers. We were able to go back to work—and we have a vitally important job!

DHB: Nevertheless, you are still left with the damage…
Friesians: ...which amounts to almost €50.000 for my businesses. My colleagues are in the same situation. We had planned for a three-month closure, but now it's "only" been six weeks, and we can only try to make up for the loss.

DHB: But that will hardly succeed.
Friesians: It's just the nature of things; you can only cut your hair once. At least the emergency aid has worked well, and for my state of Rhineland-Palatinate, I can only say that they handled it very cleverly. Sure, the form changed nine times during that time, and I even submitted a correction myself later. But the money came quickly, even though the Investment and Structural Bank of Rhineland-Palatinate (ISB), which is responsible for it, had to manually review 61.000 applications individually.

DHB: Nevertheless, you still lack final legal certainty as to how you can handle the emergency aid.
Friesians: Right! I can only advise everyone to continue to be frugal and, if possible, not to touch the funds. First, they will have to pay taxes on the emergency aid at some point – and we're talking about an average tax rate of 30 percent. Second, it's not even clear whether a business was actually entitled to emergency aid, so there remains some uncertainty.

Minimum distances between customers and masks have characterized everyday hairdressing since the easing of restrictions on May 4. Photo: © Friese

DHB: You now have a facility that is state-of-the-art in terms of hygiene.
Friesians: We have that, but at the same time, it's also a lesson in bureaucracy. Four bodies are responsible for hair salons: the Public Order Office, the Health Department, the Employer's Liability Insurance Association, and the Structural and Licensing Directorate. I informed myself early on and meticulously adhered to the Employer's Liability Insurance Association's guidelines.

DHB: And that was wrong?
Friesians: Yes, because there was no concerted, coordinated action by all four departments. This became apparent during an inspection by the health department. The head of the responsible health department came by with an assistant and also posted a law enforcement officer in full gear, complete with pepper spray, who refused to let anyone in.

DHB: And the inspection of your rooms?
Friesians: The head of the health department yelled loudly in front of all employees and customers and made it very clear that he didn't care about the BG's guidelines—I had to follow his rules. My hairdresser's workstations are four meters apart, but he wanted to see marking lines on the floor with a distance of 1,50 meters. He criticized the lack of data sheets for disinfectants, the lack of barriers around unused chairs, and other things. It was clear: Although we had complied with all hygiene regulations, he was only concerned with bureaucracy and threatened to close the shop.

DHB: But they were allowed to continue.
Friesians: Yes, because we were able to implement the instructions within a few minutes. He praised me for this during the follow-up inspection the next day. But he also gave me some "homework": I was to inform all colleagues about his instructions. On top of that, on the third day, his assistant came by for a haircut. This was also a test, because he demanded that the employee trim his eyebrows, which was forbidden at the time.

DHB: Follow-up checks, a test appointment, and a task that should have been the responsibility of the office – that doesn't sound like official assistance in critical times.
Friesians: It took us a lot of time to find the addresses of our more than 600 colleagues and email them. His threat that strict checks and action would be carried out starting next week didn't come to fruition – not a single hair salon received an inspection visit. The main thing was that the bureaucracy worked.

Hans-Jörg Friese, President of the Rheinhessen Chamber of Crafts Photo: © Rheinhessen Chamber of Crafts

DHB: This is not the first time that the craft industry's efforts to reduce bureaucracy have been a battle against windmills.
Friesians: Yes, because even independent of the coronavirus pandemic, we're seeing more and more bureaucracy, not less. The pandemic has pushed many issues aside, but just take the mandatory receipt system, which has been in place since the beginning of the year. Nobody wants a receipt anymore; the requirement remains. Take electronic cash register systems or the numerous documentation requirements that disproportionately burden smaller businesses in particular. Data protection, complicated tendering procedures, and extensive funding forms are just a few other key issues.

DHB: Only last year, Economics Minister Peter Altmeier promised a law to reduce bureaucracy, which is expected to save companies one billion euros.
Friesians: That would be nice. We're talking about billions in costs that bureaucracy imposes on businesses. One can only hope that the list of demands for reducing bureaucracy in the skilled trades won't be lost in the coronavirus crisis. In March, we, the skilled trades, presented over 50 ideas for reducing bureaucracy – and less formality could also help businesses right now.

The interview was conducted by Stefan Buhren.