Intesa Sanpaolo has chosen a corporate welfare model that operates within an integrated system and includes: a supplementary pension scheme, supplementary healthcare, the cultural, recreation and sports association for Intesa Sanpaolo Group employees (ALI), and mobility management activities and activities focused people and a work/life balance.

Starting from continual engagement with employees, the model targets the main aspects of a better work/life balance for employees and their families, with the aim of promoting solutions and projects which are sustainable and consistent with their expectations.

From the very start, the Group has adopted a structured welfare system also developed through work with trade unions, to offer a comprehensive programme featuring supplementary pension and healthcare schemes, flexibility for a better work/life balance through permits, leave, flexible working hours both morning and afternoon, part-time options, etc., and subsidies and economic contributions, such as benefits for families with disabled children, out of the workplace accident policies, loans, mortgages, meal vouchers and study grants.

With the 2014-2017 Business Plan, debate with trade unions on welfare issues was even more effective, with a joint body set up – the Welfare, Safety and Sustainable Development Committee – directly involving company technical functions in specifically overseeing these issues. Innovative measures have been jointly developed by the works of the Committee and incorporated into agreements that put the Group at the forefront of welfare management.

Welfare

Following agreements signed in 2015, it was possible to set up a single Pension Fund with defined contributions from the Group, incorporating nearly all equivalent funds and staff registered with open funds or who are not registered with any welfare schemes. In July 2016, the project was finalised with staff registered with Group pension schemes, as well as 4,000 employees previously registered with open pension funds on a collective bargaining basis being switched over to the defined contribution Pension Fund of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group. New recruits and colleagues with no supplementary welfare schemes also joined the pension fund in the same month. The operation involved over 60,000 people.

The minimum contribution from the employer went up to 2.5% as from January 2016, and to 3% as from January 2017. It will go up to 3.5% in January 2018. As from 2016, these payments by the employer are guaranteed, regardless of contributions made by registered members. Various welfare schemes of the Group's international companies are also being monitored to assess the possibility to start streamlining processes.

Future sustainability

To help younger staff of Intesa Sanpaolo to access credit facilities, the Bank has provided the opportunity for under 35's to apply for loans up to 100% of the property value and with maturities of up to 40 years.

SUPPLEMENTARY HEALTHCARE

The Healthcare Scheme Fund protects the health of over 200,000 people benefiting from the scheme's services, with amounts reimbursed to scheme members and medical services provided directly during 2016 amounting to over 140 million euro. This figure is far higher than previous years and reflects an increased interest in the scheme, which is one of Italy's leading healthcare schemes and a principal player in supplementary healthcare.

As from 2016, the Scheme has been trialling the reimbursement of innovative treatment medicines for severe illnesses that are already included in the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) Directory, but not covered by Italy's National Health Service.

During the year, the scheme worked with the International Banks Division and the Intesa Sanpaolo Welfare Department to provide healthcare for employees of the Group's international subsidiaries who are not covered at present. A solution was identified for 2017 providing cover for more risks, through a healthcare policy for around 23,000 staff members at international subsidiaries of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group.

The cardiovascular prevention campaign which ran during the second half of 2015 and the first few months of 2016 was successfully completed: around 13,000 questionnaires were compiled, centres administered “600” diagnostic “packages” free of charge and activities to raise awareness of cardiovascular risks were extensive (specific material published on various Intranet/Internet channels and sites was viewed online 65,000 times).

From November 2016 to the end of May 2017, the “Colours of Health” initiative launched a new campaign on the prevention of osteoporosis, a widespread disease that above all affects women.

The initiative is for all Healthcare Scheme female members aged from 40 to 60 years. To take part in the campaign, members have to fill in an online questionnaire: high-risk subjects can have a free bone mineral density scan.

The “Guide with practical advice on a healthier lifestyle”, with tips to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, is available to all members, and can be consulted/printed from the “Colours of Health”/Prevention section of the Scheme's site.

The Scheme took extensive action, contacting members by email and through online channels to support the campaign and raise awareness among members of the correct prevention of this illness.

At the same time, a regular column with articles by experts and qualified professionals was launched on the Healthcare scheme's website, which can be accessed by all scheme members.

The Insurance Division set up a “Wellbeing at work” section on the internal portal, with three themes covering various initiatives to promote every type of wellbeing: Nutrition; Body and Mind; Smoke Free. In particular, “Healthy Nutrition Sessions” were promoted, in conjunction with the San Raffaele Resnati Hospital and involving 145 members of staff.

The “Smoke free” theme covers images, stories and features to encourage awareness and the direct involvement of staff. In particular, an awareness meeting was held with the Director of the Anti-Smoking Clinic for the Milan area.

Serving up health

As part of the “Gusti Giusti” (Right Taste) project launched in 2008 in collaboration with the Slow Food Association and active today in all eleven canteens of the Group, Intesa Sanpaolo has developed various activities and projects over the years, to promote the principles of good, tasty and sustainable nutrition. In June 2016, the second stage of the “Taste the World” project, launched in 2015 to celebrate the international dimension of the Group and its added value, was completed. The project came about from a joint initiative of the international Banks Division, the CSR Sub-department, the Welfare Department and General Services Department, involving staff from International Banks working in Italy, who gave recipes of traditional dishes from their own countries to serve on particular days in one of the Milan canteens. 44 recipes were collected and 10 days have been dedicated to the initiative.

A vegetable garden in the company

In 2016, the “Urban Vegetable Garden” initiative of the Milan Insurance Division continued. This is a long-term project from an idea of some colleagues and developed in association with Slow Food, inspired by the values of “good clean and fair”. In detail, an agri-ecological vegetable garden especially created on the terraces of Viale Stelvio in special containers was tended, and a series of learning sessions for the group of employees who look after the garden on a regular basis were held. The project was also awarded by the Workplace Health Promotion Lombardy programme, as part of initiatives to promote wellbeing and a better work/life balance.