Background information

Norauto, a company specialised in automotive equipment and maintenance, faced a drop in activity as consequence of COVID-19 pandemic. In order to face these consequences, Norauto was forced to place 40% of its workforce in lay-off and decided to reduce working hours in order to facilitate shifts among workers.

Content of measure

In order to face the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, Norauto was forced to put 40% of its workforce in lay-off and decided to reduce working hours in order to facilitate shifts among workers. As a way to develop strategies to overcome this crisis, the company created three autonomous teams with different objectives:

• recover the past: projects, processes or tools that have not been yet completed;
• ongoing projects;
• thinking about the best way to get out of the present crisis and identifying opportunities during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

All workers in the various departments, including laid-off workers, were involved in the decisions taken due to COVID-19. A telephone line was created to support workers in lay-off, both for administrative matters and for psychological counselling. The intention is to make these workers feeling included, as part of the company.

Use of measure

All workers have been part of the strategic plan to face the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Contents

• Basic working time
• Health and safety
• Other topics
• Work organisation

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	No special funding required

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

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

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

Unknown.

Views and reactions

Unknown.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 01 March 2020: Norauto (www.norauto.pt)