In 2016, in line with the Business Plan, training focused on updating the skills needed to strengthen the company’s professional competence was accompanied by projects designed to support the development of the banking sector and customers' needs. Indeed, the Bank continued to invest in custom training initiatives aimed at strengthening the skills of all Group personnel. In 2016 began the task of defining the rationale, methods, tools and technologies for designing training courses organized as an “ecosystem of content accessible at any time and place” to support everyone in their daily activities and in their work.

The model favours digital channels with simple, fast and interactive engagement methods: the platform supports all learning and development methods by providing access to training content with an integrated multi-channel approach (multi-format and multi-device). The design is realized through the Learning Factory, a new way of co-creating content through the direct and parallel involvement of all interested structures and end recipients.

A BANK AIMED AT SERVING HOUSEHOLDS AND BUSINESSES

Many training initiatives have supported the development of the skills required to improve the quality of the service provided to Household and Corporate customers.

The project “Insieme per la Crescita” (Together for Growth) a change management program involving 38,000 employees and 4,200 branches, continues for the dissemination of behaviours and practices for exceptional service in the Banca dei Territori. The goal is to improve business results and the satisfaction of customers and employees through improved communication. The essential behaviours identified at the beginning of the programme by people from the network were communicated through specific focus groups and video conferencing throughout 2016. The programme is supported by the online platform “Pro” for professionals from the network. In this initiative, the Pro platform supports participants in effectively implementing what they shared and learned, and collects stories of network achievements. There have been over 23,000 accesses on the platform in 2016.

Starting in November 2016, the behaviours identified, currently focused on macro activities conducted in branch – reception, transactional, relationships, development and management/coordination – are undergoing review through engagement activities across Italy. The behavioural review is designed to be the natural development of the programme to define each professional's contribution to the life of the branch and to the satisfaction of employees and customers. This work is carried out with the support of the Team of Change, personnel chosen by the Regional Departments to enable “Insieme per la Crescita” closer contact and greater presence in local communities. In 2016, several initiatives were launched:

  • some devoted to individual professionals to share successful experiences and reflect on the value of communication (Area Managers Training), and focus groups to develop the role of coordinators as a guide and coach for Branch employees (Companies and Retail Coordinators' Meetings);
  • some devoted to individual professionals to share successful experiences and reflect on the value of communication (Area Managers Training), and focus groups to develop the role of coordinators as a guide and coach for Branch employees (Companies and Retail Coordinators' Meetings).

Alternative communication tools were also used, such as the publication on PRO of the follow-up novel Ugo Robot, a comic-book story that recalls the importance of essential behaviours through the adventures of Ugo, Fred and Margherita. On average, each episode recorded over 6,000 visits to the platform.

Concerning the information on the programme's positive impact on the business, the customer satisfaction index (NPS - Net Promoter Score, see Social and Relational Capital) registered an improvement, both for retail customers (+1.7, from 7.6 in April/July 2016 to 9.3 in August/December 2016) and for personal customers (+2.1, from -0.8 in April/July 2016 to 1.3 in August/December 2016). There was also a 7% increase in the number of contacts and a 1% increase in the rate of converting meetings into success compared to 2015 (Retail and Personal areas cumulative data).

Again with a view to improving customer service, the Integrated Multi-Channel Approach project is designed to strengthen integration between branch activities and digital channels, and to offer customers new remote services and products. All the new instruments available were examined through specific online training lessons. A social learning platform then made it possible to widely disseminate the training content (making written communication more effective) and, through chats and social instruments, to share successful and widespread “multi-channel” experiences. There were over 1,000 hours of online training on the multi-channel approach.

Within the Flexible Work project (see the chapter “The Quality of Life in the Company” [i]), targeted training continued for all managers and employees involved in the trial. Half-day classroom sessions were provided for managers, as well as an online training initiative for other personnel based on mini training sessions, themed in-depth analyses and educasts (by the end of 2016, a total of 800 attendees for 100 man days).

In early 2016, in collaboration with Training, Managerial Development and Managers' School, the Insurance Division launched Insurance Academy, a permanent training, development and innovation platform dedicated to all employees who work in the insurance business. Insurance Academy follows the model of the Professional Academies already active in Intesa Sanpaolo and is aimed at strengthening professional skills and individual abilities for the optimal oversight of current and prospective roles.

The activities are grouped into three distinct areas:

  • Skills: the strengthening of professional technical skills and of managerial and behavioural abilities;
  • Development: development initiatives, including in relation to job rotation and internal mobility, while respecting the specific nature of individual structures;
  • Factory: spreading a culture of innovation, including in conjunction with the Innovation Center.

The Insurance Academy is supervised by a Strategic Committee, which oversees alignment between the Division's strategic goals and the progressive roll out of initiatives, and by a Scientific Committee, which ensures the suitability and continual updating of content regarding job skills, focusing on the entire professional family in question and on new job trends. The Insurance Academy also has an internal faculty and operates in a network with teachers from the best specialist universities and schools.

In 2016, the first nine Area Skill professional technical modules were activated, in accordance with the priorities identified by employees in focus groups conducted at various Division sites.

VIVIDIGITALE - DISSEMINATING DIGITAL CULTURE

The growing digitisation of customer interaction, a process that has been ongoing for some time in all sectors, calls for new service models and an important evolution in the role of the Bank. To support these goals, it is necessary to invest in the ongoing development and improvement of the digital skills of our people and customers. To this end, a series of “Vividigitale Day” (Live-digital Days) were held, 13 meetings with 150 customers to discuss new technologies and channels and introduce them to the Bank's digital products and services.

BIG DATA Academy

Big Data refers to high volumes of information by which areas of improvement trends are revealed within the entity that can help in analysing potential external markets. The Big Data Academy is an advanced training course, distinctive and exclusive to Intesa Sanpaolo, for building, strengthening and supporting the development of skills in this area, and one of the initiatives envisaged by the 2014-2017 Group Business Plan. Over the coming years, coordinating such information sources will increasingly provide an important competitive advantage for companies that invest in this area.

During 2016, four out of the eight planned modules were delivered, with a total of 69 attendees and 4,230 man-hours of classroom training.

THE CULTURE OF RISK

The culture of risk governance and of the control system has strategic importance and occupies an increasingly important position on the company’s scale of values. In 2016, more than 24,000 employees participated, with about 18,000 hours of training delivered. The initiative does not only cover company functions dedicated to monitoring this area, but involves the entire company. To spread this culture and increase the awareness of these issues, various training initiatives were planned with the aim of involving all the company employees in a gradual and targeted way. The initiatives are supported and enhanced by a special section dedicated to risk awareness and control systems on the Regulatory Training portal. Alongside the permanent training offering, employees of the various Bank structures were involved in over a hundred custom projects. Multiple managerial and behavioural themes were addressed, including, for example: business collaboration, leadership, teamwork, ageing, managing complexity, wellbeing and resilience.

In 2016, “Dimensione Impresa” continued, a modular training plan designed to foster significant growth in technical expertise and advanced management behaviour in relations with corporate customers. The ultimate goal is to generate a virtuous advisory and business cycle that benefits all stakeholders and spreads a culture that is able to detect the extent of risk in preventive as well as final terms. For this purpose, training projects were implemented in the Banca dei Territori Division that enable all SME Branch professionals to continue to provide entrepreneurs with partnership services aimed at the increasingly effective anticipation of both risks and opportunities in complex and dynamic contexts.

In 2016, a mentoring process known as Risk Culture also began for employees of the Banca dei Territori branches, at the supply chain structures of the Control System, with the aim of raising awareness of the risks to be taken in the granting, management and classification of credit, in order to oversee them in a suitable manner.

THE CULTURE OF RESPONSIBILITY

With a joint project between the Corporate Social Responsibility Sub-Department and the Training Department, the activities continued to transfer skills and develop awareness of specific sustainability issues, with a focus on disabilities, the supply chain, the Equator Principles and the environment.

Through a systemic interpretation of contexts and complexity in order to foster responsible supply chain management, a classroom experience was created for 20 individuals from the Procurement Sub-Department, during which specific cases were analysed to make the shared approach instantly applicable to everyday circumstances.

“Ambientiamo”, set up in 2009 as a distance learning project to strengthen knowledge of environmental sustainability, is now a permanent training platform available to all Group employees. “Ambientiamo” has delivered, over the years, training modules in various formats (video, e-learning, web TV, corporate radio and magazines, educards and emails) on topics regarding climate change, renewable energy, green products, sustainable mobility, efficiency and recycling.

In 2016, a training initiative at the International Subsidiary Banks focused on integrating ethical issues into processes for dealing with customer complaints. In October, an initial pilot training course was held at the Privredna Banka Zagreb (Croatia). The initiative, delivered in the classroom to 15 employees involved in complaints management, used exercises and actual case studies to provide a number of criteria and tools for the identification, management and monitoring of customer complaints that, depending on their characteristics, could indicate, even implicitly, potential violations of the principles of the Code of Ethics. The project will continue in 2017, with further sessions at other International Subsidiary Banks via training pills available on the various e-learning platforms of the International Subsidiary Banks.

“Fiore dei Valori”

From July 2016, the courtyard of the Insurance Division's Milan headquarters in Viale Stelvio will host an installation called “Fiore dei Valori” (Flower of Values), which was inaugurated and presented to employees by the Head of the Division and is a strong symbol of identity. Installed in the centre of the courtyard, it represents the concept of having roots where you are.

The origins of the flower go deep, beginning in a training project developed in conjunction with the Corporate Social Responsibility Sub-Department and the Training, Managerial Development and Managers' School. The training program, concluded in mid-2015, aimed to spread the values of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group and strengthen the ability to take account of the views of all stakeholders in daily decision making. The course envisaged the use of writing as a “teaching device”. Out of this classroom experience was created a collage of stories, revealing what it means for employees to work at Intesa Sanpaolo. To further develop this multifaceted depiction of the Group, made by those who work for and identify with the company, the idea was conceived for an installation that, located in the inner courtyard of the Viale Stelvio headquarters, would give everyone the opportunity to read some of the stories and become an inspiration to others to share their own.

Each petal asks a key question, referring to the “virtual place” where the answer can be given, i.e. the portal devoted to Insurance Division personnel. Conceived as a symbol of identity, the “Fiore dei Valori” has also become a focus for telling stories and meeting people, activating a corporate identity that transcends barriers.