CEOE Castilla y León, CEOE Foundation and “La Caixa” Foundation join forces to promote labour inclusion of vulnerable people in Castilla y León

The President of CEOE Castilla y León, Santiago Aparicio; the President of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez; and the Deputy Director of the Social Inclusion Area of the “La Caixa” Foundation, Francesc Ventura, have ratified a collaboration agreement to promote the labour inclusion of vulnerable people in Castilla y León thanks to the Incorpora Programme of the “La Caixa” Foundation”.

The president of CEOE Castilla y León, Santiago Aparicio; the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez; and the deputy director of the Social Inclusion Area of the “La Caixa” Foundation, Francesc Ventura, will join forces to promote the labour inclusion of vulnerable people within the framework of the Incorpora Programme in Castilla y León.

Specifically, CEOE Castilla y León, within the framework of the ‘Plan Sumamos. Salud + Economia (We Combine Health + Economy Plan)’, will publicise the content of the “La Caixa” Foundation’s Incorpora Programme among the business organisations of all the provinces of Castilla y León, both for those companies whose economic activity has come to a standstill as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for those companies interested in filling job vacancies within the framework of the Incorpora Programme.

In addition, the “La Caixa” Foundation, CEOE Castilla y León and the CEOE Foundation will collaborate in holding awareness-raising sessions on the value of social and labour inclusion as a tool to ensure corporate responsibility as part of the ‘Sumamos Plan’.

The deputy director of the Social Inclusion Area of the “La Caixa” Foundation, Francesc Ventura, stated that “job creation is one of the cornerstones for recovery, and it is crucial that these job opportunities also reach vulnerable populations in Castilla y León. Alliances such as the one we are announcing today in Valladolid with CEOE Castilla y León and the CEOE Foundation and other socially responsible companies will enable us to tackle the current situation and focus on the people who have the greatest difficulties to find a job”.

Meanwhile, the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez, stressed that the Incorpora Programme is “an alliance for the people”, “a solidarity project” aimed at people in the most vulnerable situations by enabling them to work, which achieves “more humane, more motivated and more competitive companies”. Fátima Báñez highlighted the role of Spanish companies: “They are responsible for eight out of every 10 jobs in our country and contribute 50% of social wealth every year in Spain”. “They are part of the present and the future”, she added, while stating that, in addition to creating wealth and employment, “they also have a commitment that is reinforced with this alliance, so that no one is left behind and we take advantage of all talent, which is the strategic asset to compete in a global world with many challenges”.

Finally, the president of CEOE Castilla y León, Santiago Aparicio, highlighted the example of social responsibility shown by Castilian and Leonese companies during the pandemic, “a time during which we have demonstrated that there are no parallel realities between the business world and society”, and he pledged that CEOE Castilla y León will act as a link between committed companies and people who are at risk of exclusion.

ThePlan Sumamos. Salud + Economía’ (in English, Combine Health+Economy Plan)

The ‘Plan Sumamos. Salud + Economía’ of the CEOE Foundation was born in November 2020 in response to the need for businesses to collaborate in the work being carried out by the Administration in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thus, companies offered their support from the outset by making their resources available to society to increase testing activity – donating resources, supplies and premises – and screening – through the COVID Radar application – as well as through communication initiatives, assistance to vulnerable populations – which included joining the ‘Incorpora Programme’ – and, finally, in the vaccination process.

Within the lines of action to help vulnerable people, the ‘Sumamos Plan’ includes not just the ‘Incorpora Programme’, but also the ‘Sustainable Digitalisation’ initiative. It allows participating companies to donate electronic devices which, once reconditioned, are reused by people at risk of exclusion, thus helping to minimise the digital gap.

So far, more than a hundred large companies and more than 25,000 SMEs have joined the Sumamos Plan, and more than one million people have benefited.

“La Caixa” Foundation’s Incorpora programme

Since 2006, the “La Caixa” Foundation’s Incorpora programme has been promoting throughout Spain the hiring of people with greater difficulties in finding employment, such as people with disabilities, the long-term unemployed, young people in vulnerable situations, immigrants, ex-convicts, and victims of gender-based violence, among others.

Incorpora offers companies advice and support in social responsibility actions, in this case focusing on the integration of vulnerable people into the workplace. In 2021, the programme helped with the recruitment of 41,482 people with special difficulties in finding work thanks to the collaboration of more than 14,500 companies. In Castilla y León, 2,268 new hires were made by 809 companies.