The Government has launched the call for aid so that small and medium-sized companies can participate in a pilot program in which the implementation of the 4-day working day will be tested, an initiative that has 9.65 million euros, one fifth of the 50 million that the Executive had promised to Más País, the party led by Iñigo Errejón, for this project.

The idea is that the employees of these companies work fewer hours a week without lowering their salary, with the intention that they learn to be more productive (do the same job in less time), hence the State will subsidize this part of the salary so that it does not suppose an extra cost to the companies, according to the Official State Gazette (BOE) and El País. At a minimum, they must reduce their working hours by 10% (if they work 40 hours a week, at least 4 hours) and the maximum amount that each SME can receive will be 200,000 euros, so if that level is reached in each concession, In total, only 48 companies will be able to benefit.

The endowment of the program is much lower than what the Government had initially agreed with Más País in exchange for this party supporting the decree for the management of European funds that was voted in Congress in February 2021. “We will vote in favor after having arrived to an agreement for a national pilot project that studies with companies the implementation of a reduction in working hours”, announced Errejón at the time, who agreed to the figure of 50 million euros.

The final endowment, of 9.6 million, is far from that amount and seems low in comparison with the budget managed in other similar pilot programs, such as the one activated in the Valencia City Council, which has 1.5 million euros. In that city, the program was already launched last year, but only 45 companies requested aid and only three were granted, with which the total cost did not reach 35,000 euros. This year they have launched a new edition of the program with the same budget.

For the program of the Ministry of Industry, published today in the BOE, companies that have up to 20 workers must include at least 30% of the workforce (6 people); while for companies with between 21 and 249 people, the experiment must affect at least 25% (between 5 and 62 employees). All affected employees must have a full-time, permanent contract and the maximum financeable individual hourly cost will be 60 euros. The program must be active for at least two years.

The recipients are SMEs in the industrial sector that have been active in that sector for at least three years. They have one month from today to apply for the call. The Government understands SMEs as all companies with fewer than 250 employees that bill a maximum of 50 million euros per year or whose annual balance sheet does not exceed 43 million euros.

The activities included are the paper industry, manufacturing of electrical material and equipment, recovery, manufacturing of machinery and equipment, manufacturing of computer, electronic and optical products, food industry, clothing manufacturing, manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, metallurgy (manufacture of iron, steel and ferroalloy products), manufacture of rubber and plastic products, warehousing and storage, repair and installation of machinery and equipment, furniture manufacturing, pharmaceutical product manufacturing, architectural and technical services engineering and other activities related to technical advice, textile, leather and footwear, wood and cork industries (except furniture, basketry and plaiting), coke ovens and petroleum refining, other manufacturing industries, manufacture of other non-mineral products manufacturing of other transport equipment, business support activities, tobacco industry, technical tests and analysis, graphic arts and reproduction of recorded media, manufacturing of metal products (except machinery and equipment), manufacturing of beverages and the chemical industry .

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