Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2013; Spain’s unemployment figures, the survey results, the hiring grants and the 10,000-job target reflect that time, and the programme, its portal and hashtag belonged to a campaign that has probably ended.
With unemployment battering the country, with almost 6 million people out of work, and given how hard it is for SMEs to hire, BBVA has created an initiative both to reduce unemployment and to help small and medium-sized businesses take on unemployed people. The project is called Yo soy Empleo (“I am Employment”) and aims to create 10,000 jobs over the coming months.
According to a survey carried out by Millward Brown, 39% of SMEs and self-employed workers would be willing to hire, as they believe their financial situation has improved compared with last year. 69% of SMEs and self-employed workers also say that if they received financial incentives for hiring, they would be encouraged to take some people on.
This is where BBVA’s initiative, Yo soy Empleo, comes in. It consists of support and a cash injection for SMEs and self-employed workers who hire unemployed people. The grants would be 3,000 euros for each permanent job created and 1,500 euros for other types of contract lasting at least one year.
The programme also offers training for SMEs at leading business schools in Spain: ESADE, Instituto de Empresa, Deusto Business School and Instituto Internacional San Telmo, as well as a full job-placement service.
According to Actibva, “Yo soy Empleo” is not an advertising or marketing campaign but a gesture of solidarity with Spain’s economic situation, in a period of crisis and recession in which more than 3 million jobs have been destroyed since 2008.
The initial goal is to create 10,000 jobs, although they hope more companies will join the initiative, since unemployment is everyone’s problem. Unlike some others launched by large Spanish companies, BBVA‘s initiative is not aimed at a specific group: “it is a universal proposal so that all unemployed people can benefit, regardless of their age”, says the bank’s head of corporate responsibility.
The bank has reached an agreement with Infoempleo to set up a job-placement service that matches the needs of unemployed people with those of self-employed workers and SMEs. Yosoyempleo.es will make it easier to find and select staff for businesses that don’t usually turn to this kind of professional service.
Without a doubt, initiatives like this are exactly what Spain needs right now.
Portal: Yosoyempleo.com | Twitter hashtag: #empecemospor10000 (“let’s start with 10,000”)
Featured image: Zarateman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
