Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure AT-2020-10/712 – measures in Austria
Country |
Austria
, applies regionally
|
Time period | Temporary, 01 March 2020 – 26 March 2020 |
Context | COVID-19 |
Type | Other initiatives or policies |
Category |
Protection of workers, adaptation of workplace
– Teleworking arrangements, remote working |
Author | Bernadette Allinger (Forba) and Eurofound |
Measure added | 16 April 2020 (updated 04 January 2021) |
In the COVID-19 crisis, the city of Vienna is committed to keeping the city's economy going. This measure is addressed at the more than 60,000 Viennese micro, small and medium-sized companies which are currently particularly dependent on support, for example when it comes to the necessary switch to a home office. Support is provided via the Vienna Business Agency (Wirtschaftsagentur) in collaboration with the Vienna Economic Chamber (WKW).
The funding program supports Viennese companies to set up teleworking stations and to create stable communication between teleworking stations and the company location or locations. These include:
It is targeted at small and medium-sized companies as well as micro-enterprises from Vienna
Submission: Continually online with the online funding application; retrospectively from 1 March 2020. The applications are assessed by experts from the Vienna Business Agency. The funding rate is 75% and up to €10,000 per project.
The uptake was substantial. In the first week of funding, 700 applications were received by the Vienna Business Agency, and more than 2,000 applications were filed within the first two weeks. The originally envisaged funds of €2 million were first tripled to €6 million and exhausted by the end of March and then increased to €10 million.
In total, 2,049 companies received funding (while around 100 applications were rejected). By the end of July 2020, around €3.1 million in funding has been paid out (based on submitted invoices). The average subsidies lie around €4,900 per company. The main beneficiaries (measured by the total volume of funding) are companies in the field of professional and technical services (€3 million), information and communication (€1.52 million) and retail/commerce (€1.07 million). In terms of company size, the main beneficiaries were micro-enterprises (€4.3 million), small enterprises (€2.8 million) and one-person enterprises (€1.74 million). There are currently no plans to continue the funding.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers |
SMEs
One person or microenterprises |
Does not apply to citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
Employers' organisations
Local / regional government Public support service providers |
Regional funds
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | No involvement | Consulted |
Form | Not applicable | Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
The Vienna branch of the Federal Economic Chamber was involved in the design of the measure.
The regional employers organisation was involved in the design of the measure and is thus supportive.
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Subsidy for home offices - IT infrastructure, measure AT-2020-10/712 (measures in Austria), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/AT-2020-10_712.html
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