Background information

The private hospital company HM Hospitals decided to pay to its staff an extraordinary salary bonus as a reward for the effort during the first months of the pandemic, when they treated more than 23,500 COVID-19 patients in their hospitals in Madrid and more than 1,500 in Barcelona. The company has 17 hospitals in Spain: 10 of them in Madrid and Barcelona.

Content of measure

The bonus was paid during August 2020 to workers of the Madrid and Barcelona HM hospitals (both territories faced the highest numbers of the pandemic in Spain in terms of patients and hospital service congestion) especially to those workers located in the divisions most exposed to the contagion of COVID-19 patients: doctors, nurses, clinic assistants, orderlies, physiotherapists and cleaning personnel. Moreover, HM Hospitals reported that the company does not face a favorable economic situation to assume this extraordinary expense, so it is the Abarca Cidón Family, the Group's main shareholder, who assumes this expense by waiving the dividend corresponding to the 2019 financial year.

Use of measure

A total amount of €2.9 millions of were paid as bonuses to 3,288 workers at the Madrid and Barcelona hospitals. The individual amount varied depending on the occupation and the category.

Contents

• Bonuses

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Particular professions Workers in essential services	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	Companies Other

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

There is no evidence of any involvement of unions or of employer organisations in this initiative.

Views and reactions

AMYTS (the majority union among the Madrid medical professionals) has celebrated this measure, considering that it should serve as an example for the rest of private hospitals (public hospitals have already implemented similar measures).

Sectors and occupations

Sources

• 31 July 2020: El Sector Privadas de AMYTS celebra la “gratificación extraordinaria” que HM Hospitales entregará a sus trabajadores por la lucha contra la Covid-19 (amyts.es)
• 26 November 2020: Covid-19: HM Hospitales gratifica la labor de sus trabajadores (tweetsalud.com)