The CEOE Foundation, Cáritas and CEO introduce the EmpleaLab labour market inclusion project in Ourense

El objetivo de este proyecto piloto es mejorar la empleabilidad de personas vulnerables de la provincia.

Cáritas Española, the CEOE Foundation and CEO (Ourense Business Confederation) presented the “Emplea Lab” work inclusion project tosocial entities and the region’s employers.  This project is financed through the European Union’s Next Generation Funds and has the support of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, and the Adecco Foundation. 

Emplea Lab is an inclusion pilot project whose objective is to improve the employability of people at risk (recipients of the Minimum Subsistence Income) through the improvement of their basic, transversal, and digital skills to find and keep a job.   

The event, held at the headquarters of CEO, was attended by the president of the Confederation, Marisol Nóvoa, the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez, the Secretary General for Employment Support of the Xunta de Galicia, Covadonga Toca, the director of Cáritas Ourense, María Tabarés, and the president of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Galicia (CEG), Juan Manuel Vieites, as well as by representatives of social entities and companies in the region. 

The event was used to explain this collaborative pilot project which, in addition to Ourense, is being launched in 10 other Spanish provinces: Albacete, Barcelona, Cuenca, Girona, Guadalajara, León, Lugo, Menorca, Valladolid and Zamora.

Together with CEO, the CEOE Foundation will explore business prospects in Ourensewith the aim of reaching collaboration agreements with companies and learning about job vacancies in the area, with the aim of facilitating labour inclusion. This prospecting work will also result in a diagnosis of the region’s actual labour needs.

The CEOE Foundation, in collaboration with Caritas services, will also carry out the intermediation step, coordinating job offers and referring suitable participants.

The methodology developed for the implementation of Emplea Lab has a strong social innovation component, as it requires conducting social research. The aim is to find out whether guidance, training and support in the job search process have an impact on the employability of the candidates.

Stages and working methods

The EmpleaLab Project aims to define and develop intensive itineraries in employment guidance, training in digital and basic skills and intermediation that enhance employability mainly for beneficiaries of the Minimum Subsistence Programme (IMV) through inclusion initiatives.  The impact of these actions will, subsequently, be assessed.

To this end, the work will focus on three stages: orientation, training and the third stage, which includes business prospecting, intermediation, and insertion. The project will conduct intensive social inclusion itineraries with the participants to provide them with innovative services, methods, and tools to achieve their integration into the labour market.

Some of the services and tools that the project will promote to ensure a good match between job vacancies and candidates coming from these disadvantaged groups are business prospecting, business awareness, loyalty actions, management of job offers and networking activities.

Companies participating in the EmpleaLab project will qualify for the Social Inclusion Seal, a public seal awarded by the Central Government that acknowledges companies that undertake actions to help people receiving the Minimum Subsistence Income to transition from being at risk of poverty and exclusion to actively participating in society.

The importance of public-private collaboration

One of the hypotheses that this project aims to test is the contribution that the business sector is able to make through its participation in the process of identifying vacant jobs and the subsequent intermediation between companies and individuals at risk of exclusion. The outcome will help in the design of public policies, especially those focused on vulnerable populations or on people who suffer the greatest difficulties in accessing employment.

“The combination of our entities’ staff, resources, actions, training, and strategies will enable us to help our society’s most vulnerable individuals in joining the labour market.  This is happening at a time and within a contextin which it is extremely necessary, following several consecutive crises suffered since the pandemic that have aggravated the fragile situation of these groups of people,” said Marisol Nóvoa at the opening of the event.

From Cáritas Ourense, María Tabarés pointed out that “programmes such as EmpleaLab benefit Ourense’s society as a whole because when our participants’ standard of living is raised, it improves society in general and, ultimately, it also benefits the business fabric. We need to continue raising awareness among companies of their social responsibility so that, through inclusive employment actions, the quality of life of the entire population is improved.”

Juan Manuel Vieites said he was proud “as president of the CEG to see our company’s commitment to the community and, in particular, to the most vulnerable individuals.CEG is pleased that our business organisations, in this case the CEO, have made a firm commitment to the development of the project with Cáritas and the CEOE Foundation in the province of Ourense. Companies must not only modernise their technological capacity, invest in digitisation, sustainability, and energy transition, which of course are unavoidable challenges that will condition their survival, but they also need to commit to and support their social environment upon which they must build their strength”.

From the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez said that “With Caritas’ leadership and in an alliance that is focused on the Spanish society’s best interest, the CEOE Foundation will channel the social commitment of our companies to integrate the most vulnerable people through training and employmentthanks toEmpleaLab. […] It is a cutting-edge project that should be a bridge to employment and a reference in terms of inclusion. A successful alliance for the people that seeks to become a reference in social innovation and a growth driver based on a united front.  This alliance proves that Spanish companies are still using their full capacity to serve the people so that we may achieve excellence as a society”, she added.

Finally, the Xunta’s Secretary General for Employment Assistance, Self-Employment and Social Economy, Covadonga Toca, emphasised the importance of carrying out actions to achieve inclusive employment, implementing specific employment measures with equal conditions and opportunities, which also extend to the field of entrepreneurship. Toca indicated that corporate social sustainability will become, with the new Galician Equality Act currently being processed through parliament, one of the fundamental axes in the fight against discrimination towards women at work and to ensure equal opportunities in the community.

At the closing of the event, Marisol Nóvoa stressed that “the business community is also concerned – not just now, but has been for a long time – with social cohesion; companies are also committed to social development, because the business fabric is linked to society from its inception, and this link gets stronger and more vital in order to give back to society what society has offered it for its development. And because the current situation and the context of consecutive crises that we are enduring requires us to get even more involved to curb social inequalities”.

During the presentation of EmpleaLab, there was a round table discussion moderated by the secretary of the CEO, Jaime Pereira, with the participation of the project coordinators from Cáritas, Beatriz Iraeta, and from the CEOE Foundation, Miguel Ángel García, who explained the project’s operating procedures, stages, and objectives in detail. Representatives from the companies Prink and D3 Gestión also took part in the discussion.