More than 6,400 companies hire people at risk of exclusion through Incorpora of the "la Caixa" Foundation

More than 6,400 socially responsible companies have taken a step forward through Incorpora, the "la Caixa" Foundation's social and labour insertion programme, and have not only continued to hire after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, but have also continued to provide work for people at risk of social exclusion, who are also the most vulnerable to the crisis caused by the coronavirus.

In total, Incorpora has already facilitated 16,195 hires, most of them for essential jobs in the context of the state of alarm decreed from March to June of this year. This has been possible thanks to the 6,400 companies and through the 406 social entities that form part of the Incorpora network.

In view of the coronavirus crisis, Incorpora redoubled its efforts to provide an immediate response to the needs for social action. The programme offers companies a free advice and support service for social responsibility actions to facilitate the integration of people with disabilities or in a situation of vulnerability into the workplace, such as young people at risk of exclusion, victims of gender violence, the long-term unemployed and ex-prisoners, among others.

"Companies are key agents of change for social progress. Since Incorpora, more and more socially responsible companies are taking a step forward to provide opportunities to those who need them most", explained the Director General of the "la Caixa" Foundation, Antonio Vila.

In this way, companies have access to an employment exchange of candidates who have received specific training for the jobs offered. The Incorpora network, made up of 406 social entities, employs 1,054 technicians for social and labour insertion from Incorpora, essential figures for their personalised attention to users. This process, which the CoronaVirus has made it necessary to adapt to teleworking, ranges from prospecting companies to monitoring the training process, providing labour support, resolving possible conflicts that may arise in the context of labour relations and encouraging new companies to join the programme.

The objective of Incorpora is for people to be agents of their own change to get out of difficult situations, focusing on employment as a form of social insertion. To this end, it builds bridges between companies and social entities dedicated to labour integration, in order to create a climate of understanding and collaboration between both parties that results in opportunities for those who need it most.

The stagnation of sectors such as the hotel and catering industry, and the consequent increase in unemployment figures, are in contrast to the increase in demand for personnel in essential services such as the socio-health sector; ancillary services, including cleaning and comprehensive building services; the agricultural sector, for fruit and vegetable harvesting campaigns, and trade, especially food trade, both retail and wholesale.

Thus, people in situations of high risk of exclusion have become essential workers, carrying out tasks in the front line of the response to the pandemic: in hospitals and homes for the elderly, cleaning staff or nursing and geriatric assistants, and auxiliary technicians in pharmacy and health emergencies; in shops selling basic necessities, salespeople, warehouse workers and stockists, as well as agricultural labourers.

The "la Caixa" Foundation has been working for fourteen years on social and labour integration since Incorpora. Since its inception, 176,976 companies have hired over 193,752 people at risk of exclusion through Incorpora.

In addition, through its self-employment line, Incorpora supports people in vulnerable situations to create their own microenterprise, and in the current situation, intensifying the response to the queries of entrepreneurs. In 2019, 1,356 new microenterprises were created.