FUNDACIÓN SANTA MARÍA LA REAL AND CLECE REACH AGREEMENT TO PROMOTE WORKPLACE INCLUSION
Álvaro Retortillo Osuna, the Director of the Lanzaderas de Empleo program of the Fundación Santa María la Real [Santa María la Real Foundation], and Leticia San José Barriga, Head of Clece Human Resources North-West, have signed a collaboration agreement today. This seeks to promote joint activities focused on improving employability and the workplace inclusion of those who participate in the Lanzaderas program.
In December 2016, Fundación Santa María la Real concluded a collaboration agreement with Clece on the Lanzaderas de Empleo program. The Foundation drives and manages the program across territory in the south of the Country. After seeing the good results obtained, both entities have broadened their alliance through this new collaboration agreement encompassing the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula.
The agreement means that Clece volunteers will give practical workshops on different topics (the search for employment, job interviews, etc.) as part of the Lanzaderas de Empleo program Fundación Santa María la Real has started in the north of the Country, working in collaboration with, and co-financed by, different public administrations and/or private sector entities.
Clece will also facilitate opportunities for those on the program to participate in job intermediation processes and job offers the company generates in the north-west zone.
Strategic Alliance
Álvaro Retortillo points out that the agreement with Clece in the south has produced good results from sharing the valuable experience and advice of company volunteers and workers with program participants, as well as through actual job opportunities and placements. “Based on this positive experience, we are now widening our alliance with Clece as our collaborator and strategic partner. This is due to the different areas and activities it is involved in, and its special social commitment to the struggle against unemployment”.
Leticia San José Barriga, Head of Human Resources for the north-west zone, welcomed the opportunity to be able to “widen collaboration with the Foundation to other zones, strengthening the Lanzaderas de Empleo program as part of this new agreement. This is because we believe Lanzaderas is an effective resource for inclusion within the workplace. Above all for those collectives, such as young people, who experience so many difficulties in accessing the job market, and with the highest unemployment rates in the Euro zone. Lanzaderas de Empleo attempts to deal with this lack of opportunity through proactivity, innovation and effort, all of which are evident in the program”.
About Lanzaderas de Empleo
Lanzaderas de Empleo started in 2013 as a program of the Fundación Santa María la Real (the entity that decades ago created the Escuelas Taller [Workshop Schools]). It is a Social Innovation program whose aim is to provide guidance to those who are unemployed, enabling them to emerge from the solitude of unemployment, to recover their self-esteem, and to activate and optimise their search for work through new techniques and tools that fit the needs of the job market.
From its inception until now, Fundación Santa María la Real has started more than 440 Lanzaderas de Empleo programs throughout the Country in collaboration with different public administrations and private entities. It has reached out to 9,000 unemployed people and achieved an average job placement rate of around 60%.