More specifically, businesses are supported for the configuration of the premises and the supply of the necessary equipment and for subsidizing the salary costs of up to two babysitters for the first two years of operation of the premises.
The platform opens for submitting applications for the program to create 120 baby care spaces in businesses
The following announcement was issued by the Press Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs:
The program for the creation of baby care units within 120 medium and large enterprises starts today, as the special platform in the “ERGANI” Information System of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs https://ChildCareUnits.yeka.gov.gr has been opened for the submission of participation applications by the companies concerned.
The object of the program – which has a budget of 16 million euros, is financed by the Recovery Fund and is implemented by the General Secretariat of Demographic and Family Policy and Gender Equality – is to subsidize businesses with more than 100 employees (medium) and more than 250 employees ( large), including shopping centres, to create baby care spaces within their building facilities.
More specifically, businesses are supported for the configuration of the premises and the supply of the necessary equipment and for subsidizing the salary costs of up to two babysitters for the first two years of operation of the premises.
The operation of the care facilities after the end of the funding should be maintained by the beneficiaries for at least twice the duration of the funding, i.e. for four years.
Beneficiaries will receive upfront 50% of the costs for setting up the spaces and the remaining 50% upon the start of operation of the spaces.
Then every year they will receive the subsidy for the salary costs of the two childcare workers for the first two years of operation.
The maximum eligible expenditure amounts to approximately 150,000 euros for each of the large enterprises with more than 250 employees that will join the programs and to approximately 107,000 euros for each of the medium-sized enterprises employing between 100 and 250 employees.
The program will include two application cycles with the first cycle starting now (with the publication of the relevant call to businesses), and the second cycle “opening” later in the year.
It is estimated that a total of 120 businesses will join, 70 large and 50 medium, and the spaces that will be created will accommodate approximately 2,500 infants, aged from 6 months to 2.5 years.
The aim is to harmonize family and professional life and to strengthen the participation of women in the labor market, through the provision of complementary baby care services and the creation of friendlier workplaces for new parents – and especially for women.
In-house childcare facilities are a practice common in advanced European countries that enhances gender equality in the workplace and in the family and contributes to the well-being of working parents and their children.
Considering that family obligations are cited as the main reason for not participating in the labor market by 20% of “inactive” women aged 25-49, increasing the availability of childcare services could contribute to increasing women’s employment .
The “Neighborhood Babysitters” program, which has started operating as a pilot in 61 municipalities, has exactly the same objective and is in the phase of certifying the babysitters so that they can then take care of babies for the families who will participate in the program.
The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakis stated: “The coverage of the family’s needs by the State is no small thing! So we have increased the number of children going to nurseries by 30,000 in the last few years. We expanded parental leave. We are moving forward with the “Neighborhood Babysitters”. And now it is the turn of the creation of 120 care spaces for young children of workers in the same number of enterprises. It is a policy with a modern European color».
Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Maria Syregela said: “With the new action for the creation of babysitting spaces in businesses, we are expanding the options of working parents, especially mothers, so that they can combine work and family, while at the same time we enable businesses to offer quality and modern services to their human resources. We are next to the family and we prove it every day, practicing social policy in practice. We plan and implement measures and actions that encourage the reconciliation of personal and professional life, strengthen women’s work and support young couples».
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