Denbora erabiltzeko modu berriak
Nuevos usos del tiempo
Innovative Uses of Time

In recent years, Bilbao and Bizkaia have been undergoing major changes that have affected the population’s lifestyles and time management. Faced with this situation, the City Council of Bilbao and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia are supporting the creation of the NETWORK of AGENCIES in BILBAO and BIZKAIA, consisting of firms and organisations that are committed to the achievement of better time management and the reconciliation of work and family and personal life.

Our Network’s best practices

CONTACT PERSON:
Ms. Lourdes Garrald
HR Manager

Parque Tecnológico, 809
48160 Derio (BIZKAIA - SPAIN)
Phone: + 34 94 401 11 94
e-mail: lgarralda@euskaltel.com
www.euskaltel.com

PROCESS

Ever since it was created, EUSKALTEL has sought to become a benchmark and excel in people management systems, with the aim being to motivate its employees and nurture their engagement. Dialogue, listening, and paying continuous attention to people’s ever-changing needs, have informed a long list of improvements both in management systems and in the conditions of the reconciliation of personal and family life and work.

On 1 January 2011, approval was granted to a new uninterrupted workday for all employees, from 7.30 a.m. to 3.15 p.m., which constitutes a milestone in the introduction of measures designed to foster the reconciliation of the working and family lives of the company’s employees. By then, EUSKALTEL was already a yardstick within this field in the Basque Country, as its workday was governed by what was referred to as a "European timetable", which meant leaving work as early (for Spain) as 5.15 p.m. (with a minimum break for lunch of thirty minutes).

This change and other measures are contained in the company’s wage bargaining agreement. They are assessed separately by gender, and their impact is measured in environmental, economic and health terms, being very highly appreciated by employees as a whole.

MEASURES

Flexibility in the use of time

  • New model of timetable: Staggered times for entering and leaving work (better distribution of the working day).
  • Shift workers: their own organisational arrangements.
  • Allocation of 20 paid hours per year for attending to personal matters.
  • First year following the birth of a baby: mothers have the option of reducing their working day to six hours, while remaining on full pay.

Flexibility in the workplace

  • Option of working from home.

Leave and time off

  • Fifteen days unpaid leave. In order to fit in with school holidays, this leave may be added on to the holidays in August.
  • Voluntary leave of absence for any reason, with the right to return to the job being upheld for a period of three to five years, for pursuing projects that do not compete with Euskaltel’s business.
  • Four months of leave of absence with the right to return to the job.
  • For justified personal reasons, employees may request a voluntary reduction in the length of the working day.