Employment is one of the priority areas in which a series of measures are adopted to motivate and engage people in terms of flexibility, efficiency and productivity.

In 2016, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group had a workforce of 88,700, 46% men and 54% women. With 4,100 new hires, the turnover rate was -1.14%, compared to a turnover rate in 2015 of -1.36%.

To protect jobs, the Business Plan envisages the re-employment of 4,500 surplus personnel over the period 2014-2017; by the end of 2016 the process had been largely completed, with the proviso that the re-employment process can only be considered finalised once the economic and asset targets in the Business Plan are met.

Employer Branding and Recruitment

Partnerships with leading Italian universities were further strengthened in 2016 with regards to recruitment and employer branding, with new methods for engaging and selecting young talent. Through the Make It Real brand, the company attracted over 200 millennials, offering them experience of company business games on ground-breaking themes (Big Data - Blockchain, User Experience - Cognitive Computing, etc.) with in-house tutors over two consecutive days, at the end of which the most talented individuals were given a position in the company. Three Make It Real events were organised in conjunction with the Polytechnic and University of Turin.

On LinkedIn, Intesa Sanpaolo continued to strengthen its brand profile as an outstanding place to work both in Italy and abroad through a programme of editorial and communications activities for the recruitment drive.

Tried and tested Employer Branding activities also continued with the aim of supporting students and graduates as they take their first steps in the world of work: career days, events and workshops, and scholarships for specialist master's degrees.

Overall, more than 50 initiatives were organised at universities and on Bank premises, in Italy and abroad, involving around 200 personnel as Employer Ambassadors, with 210 internships offered.

Special Projects

With the aim of developing new areas of business, in line with the Business Plan, opportunities for new jobs were created and specifically selected projects launched in close collaboration with the business structures. With this in mind, and within the context of real estate brokerage, the creation of Intesa Sanpaolo Casa has seen the launch of personnel retraining for those showing interest in the project and a recruitment programme for real estate professionals with the aim of creating a network of over 200 staff throughout Italy.

The ICT Department, as part of a redesign of processes to develop digitalization and a multi-channel approach, has launched a challenging recruitment programme involving more than 550 new employees, including young and recent graduates and industry experts.

To strengthen and expand the Banca dei Territori Division, 100 young graduates were hired through a recruitment drive in the Online Branches at the centres in Turin, Milan, Padua and Naples.

Mobility Within the Group

In 2016, the Group Internal Mobility Service, set up in 2015 to facilitate the management of mobility across divisions, functions and companies within the Group, is now fully operational and has reallocated about 400 people. To support the Direct Job Offering tool (mainly aimed at company projects with significant personnel requirements), the Job Posting tool was relaunched in 2016. The tool facilitates the posting of new job opportunities within the Group, allowing employees to apply of their own accord as positions are advertised by the company. Job Posting has helped to promote motivation and expertise within the Group by facilitating mobility across the Group and developing the internal labour market. In 2016, there were more than 1,700 applications for the 39 Job Posting campaigns.

The Commitment to the Differently Able

The diligent management of inclusivity practices regarding people with disabilities has gained recognition from Italy’s leading national organisations and associations: in June 2016, Intesa Sanpaolo again received the Diversity & Inclusion Award Diversita-lavoro, given to companies that promote policies to provide work for people with disabilities, aiming at developing talent and skills. In addition, two projects were undertaken in conjunction with universities and associations that involved 12 visually impaired and blind employees and external collaborators.

Young People and the World of Work

Alternating school and work

The law called La Buona Scuola (“the good school”) introduced the requirement for an alternating school and work programme during the final three years of secondary education, with at least 200 training hours for secondary school students and at least 400 hours for students at technical/vocational colleges.

In the last four months of 2016, Intesa Sanpaolo launched a three-year course of increasing complexity, adapted for students at secondary schools and at technical/vocational colleges, providing an understanding of the world of work and that, over the three years, fully meets the legal requirements. The pilot involved 16 educational workshops for third-year students held in squares in Milan, Turin and Florence (9 for secondary schools and 7 for technical/vocational colleges), attended by a total of 298 students.

A memorandum of understanding is currently being formalised with the Italian Ministry of Education to officially launch the partnership in 2017 and extend it to other cities across Italy.

Soft skill lab

In 2016, under the “#My Place in the World” initiative, the partnership continued between the Training Department and the Museum of Saving in Turin with a series of workshops for senior school students on communication, teamwork, assertiveness and conflict mediation.