Global Government Assistance

View of London's financial district

As a global business, SThree and our family of STEM staffing brands is continuing to monitor and respond to the different challenges we and our clients are facing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. 

We know that every business is having to navigate new rules, advice and government support, often with differing regional, national and city-specific nuances.  

With that in mind, we’ve pulled together some information on the various government assistance programmes from across the world. 

So, whether you’re in the UK and Ireland, Continental Europe, the US, or Asia-Pacific, we hope you’ll find the following links helpful. 

Australia 

Employers can claim subsidies of $1,500 per employee per fortnight if they have experienced a fall in turnover greater than 30%. Find full details here. 

Austria 

Employers can reduce their employees’ hours by a maximum of 90% through the ‘Short Time Working’ scheme. Employees will then receive 80-90% of their reduced salary with a cap of 5,500 Euros. Find full details here. 

Belgium 

Employers can furlough employees – meaning they can’t work during a specified timeframe - and those employees can then receive 70% of their maximum salary, directly from the State, up to £2,700 Euros per month. Find full details here. 

France 

Government legislation means that employers can furlough employees and those employees can then receive 70% of their normal salary. Find full details here. 

Germany 

Through the ‘Short Time Work’ scheme, employees can receive between 60% and 67% of their reduced salary, with a cap of 82,000 Euros, which employers will be compensated for. Find full details here. 

Japan 

Employers can reduce their employees’ working hours to 60% and can reclaim up to 8,360 JPY per employee per day from the Government. Find full details here. 

Luxembourg 

Employers can re-claim 80% of their employees’ salaries each month. Find full details here. 

Netherlands 

Employers, whose revenue has been negatively impacted by 20% or more by COVID-19 over a three-month period, can claim back employee costs. Find full details here. 

Republic of Ireland 

The Irish Government has introduced support measures which could help you and your employees during the COVID-19 outbreak. Find full details here. 

Singapore 

The government will co-fund the first $4,600 of gross monthly wages paid to each local (Singapore citizen) employee for nine months. Find full details here. 

Spain 

Employers can request government assistance to allow employees to be paid 70% of their salary (based on last six months’ average) with a maximum of 1,098 Euros for those without children and 1,400 Euros for those with children. Find out more about the Spanish Government’s response here. 

Switzerland 

Employers can re-claim 80% of their employees’ average salary (based on last 12 months), capped at 12,350 CHF. Find full details here. 

UK 

The Coronavirus Job Retention scheme allows employers to claim 80% of furloughed employees monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum automatic employer pension contributions. Find full details here.  

US 

Employers can furlough employees, including W2 workers. Those employees will maintain their benefits, including medical insurance, and would be entitled to unemployment benefit of up to $3,000 per month. Find full details here. 

Be assured that Progressive Recruitment is here for you and if you have any questions, please get in touch with us.

Stay safe, 

Mark Dorman 
Chief Executive Officer at SThree 

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