Uses of Time

As every year since 2021, the award aims to contribute to making visible innovation efforts in companies that facilitate greater flexibility in working time and space. The jury, made up of experts and representatives from the city's relevant economic, business, trade, trade union and academic spheres, honored companies that are implementing innovative measures such as guaranteeing the right to digital disconnection or the four-day work week. 

In this tenth edition, 16 nominations were submitted in four categories. The first winner was Advantage Consultores S.L. (company with less than 10 employees), for taking a courageous and innovative step in improving working time by implementing a four-day working week without reducing employees' salaries. INGECAL, Ingeniería de la Calidad del Medio Ambiente S.L. (company with more than 10 and up to 50 employees) also received the award, for implementing a wide range of measures for the organization and use of time and especially for the implementation of the digital disconnection protocol. 

The third prize went to SOM Fundació Privada Catalan Tutelar (company with more than 50 and up to 250 employees), for the range and diversity of self-managed flexible working hours measures and especially for the effort to extend them to all employees in the organization, including those in positions that require presence and proximity. Finally, Webhelp Spain Business Process Outsourcing S.L. (a company with more than 250 employees) received an award for the range of measures and for its creativity in finding solutions to respond to the circumstances of the people who form part of the organization, such as the Social Parentive measure that facilitates the creation of support and care networks beyond the family environment.

All the award-winning companies agreed that flexibility is increasingly important for all people, especially for younger people, and has become an essential requirement for attracting and retaining the talent that companies need. They also underlined the positive impact of these measures on the well-being of people, the company's results and society as a whole. 

The award ceremony was part of the conference "Leadership of hybrid teams: doing business with people who work in different environments and at different times". Sílvia Cóppulo, director of the Observatoriod el Liderazgo en la Empresa and professor at the UPF Barcelona School of Management, was in charge of opening the day's reflection and also led a round table discussion with the participation of Anna Vilar, Head of Labor Relations at Henkel Ibérica; Óscar Bermejo, Business Development at Softmachine; and Ana Mayor, Operations Director at Kim Global. 

All of them highlighted this greater autonomy over when, where and how to work as a key dimension of the new work culture and shared recommendations on strategies, technologies or practices to strengthen cohesion, collaborative capacity and the involvement of teams in this scenario. After presenting the awards, Raquel Gil, Commissioner for the Promotion of Employment and Policies against Precariousness of the Barcelona City Council, closed the event by highlighting the ten years of the Award and recalling the importance of identifying benchmarks to motivate change.