Surely you have heard about SEPE more than once, but could you tell us what the acronyms correspond to? Do you really know what the function of this service is and what it can serve you for.
If you just went blank because you can't determine what is SEPE, what are its functions or the relationship and importance it has for you, then this that we have just elaborated will help you to know everything about this figure.
What is SEPE
The SEPE are the acronym of the State Public Employment Service, In other words, it is a body related to the Ministry of Labor that is in charge of coordinating employment policies throughout Spain.
It has a state headquarters and 52 offices that are distributed throughout our country to inform, manage and control everything that has to do with employment. In addition, it has many more face-to-face offices that are distributed throughout 50 provinces of Spain as well as Ceuta and Melilla.
In fact, it is possible that you have continued to call this INEM, and you were not wrong. However, the Employment Law that was formulated in 2003 (and was reformulated in 2015), caused the former National Employment Institute (INEM) to change its name to the State Public Employment Service, which is now known as SEPE .
Who is the "target audience" of the SEPE
The SEPE is a service that must be by and for society. The problem is that most of the time we think that this body only takes care of people who are looking for work, but nothing more. And it is not like that.
Actually, its "target audience" is much broader. Specifically:
- Unemployed or long-term unemployed workers seeking a job opportunity.
- Young people who are going to enter the labor market.
- Active workers, either to answer questions, to offer training, to manage labor problems ...
- Entrepreneurs. If you have an idea, you can go to the SEPE where they will inform you of contests, grants or even ways to get in touch with others who can make that business idea come true.
- Companies. Because through SEPE you can think about hiring staff for your business.
The functions of the SEPE
Now that you know a little better what SEPE is, as well as the people it can help, it is time to find out what functions it has, both in general and more specifically.
In general, the SEPE's mission is to «Contribute to the development of the employment policy, manage the unemployment protection system and guarantee information on the labor market in order to achieve, with the collaboration of the Autonomous Public Employment Services and other agents in the labor field, the insertion and permanence in the labor market of citizens and the improvement of the human capital of companies ”. In other words, it deals with cover and satisfy the labor needs of the Spanish population.
To do this, you have several tools. These are:
Development of employment policies
The SEPE is the competent body in mind to analyze the labor market to present employment policies, or what is the same, to develop a form of action that benefits employment in the country.
Coordination with labor agents
By job agent you must understand that they refer to companies, freelancers, employees and unions. All of them are related to working life and, therefore, must be coordinated so that there are no inequalities, or preferential treatment in certain groups.
Coordination of Employment Offices of Autonomous Communities
Another aspect to coordinate (especially so that there are rules and that these apply to everyone equally), is with the offices it has in the different autonomous communities, including Ceuta and Melilla.
Database update
And what are databases? Well refers to the record kept of all workers that are registered in the country, as well as jobs, companies, ... The SEPE has access to these data, as well as to its own database.
For example, the offices have databases of city workers, so that, if there is a job offer, candidates can be selected to send them to the company and they can conduct an interview to see if they get the job.
The relationship with Social Security
Perhaps this function is one of the best known, and the one most closely related to the SEPE. As we have said, it is the one in charge of labor supply and demand in Spain, but it is closely related to Social Security. Why?
- Offers training courses. The training courses serve so that the worker is more qualified and can opt for better job opportunities. Therefore, access more offers.
- Manage unemployment. When a worker is unemployed, the SEPE is the body in charge of recognizing the unemployment benefit, managing it and controlling it. Even after this, you can establish other types of aid for the unemployed while they find a new job.
How to contact the SEPE
If after reading all this you think that the SEPE can help you in relation to the labor market, either because you are looking for a job, because you need workers, or because there are data related to work that are not very clear to you, know how to contact them is very important.
You must bear in mind that the form of contact with the SEPE is very diverse. It's known that has more than 700 offices distributed in the 52 provinces of Spain And, therefore, you could go in person to any of their offices in search of guidance, answer questions, comment on benefits, etc. In some cases, it is required that, for various issues, a prior appointment is requested to avoid crowds or that they cannot attend you as quickly as you need.
However, the face-to-face form is not the only one. They also have telephone assistance services enabled. Specific:
- A telephone to assist the citizen, 900 81 24 00. In addition, in each office they also have a citizen service telephone number (another thing is that they take it from you).
- A phone to serve companies, 901 01 09 90, where doubts are answered and data can also be sent.
- Finally, you could access the SEPE through its website, where you can enter employment services, benefits, employment information, etc.