Level-two collective bargaining of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group includes a number of measures to promote a better work/life balance. These include the “Time Bank”, an annual “bank” of hours of paid leave for employees, who can use the time in case of serious, proven personal and/or family situations if they need additional leave. The time bank was given 50,000 hours by the Company in 2016, and was topped up by voluntary donations of holiday leave, public holiday leave and hours worked as “time bank hours” by employees plus the same amount of hours from the company, with a particular focus on cases of seriously ill minors.

Employees donated 8,078 time bank hours during 2016, with the same number of hours donated by the company, in addition to the initial 50,000 hours. This made it possible to give employees with difficulties over 2,000 days of leave, giving them concrete support in managing difficult personal and family situations.

The Group has also provided extra hours of paid leave which may be used by colleagues who do “voluntary work” for specific projects/initiatives with social purposes outside the Group, also promoted by external bodies, selected by the Intesa Sanpaolo Onlus Foundation and/or Banca Prossima. During the last quarter of 2016, the first initiatives were promoted, involving 10 different associations in Italy and 75 colleagues, over 76 working days. The Bank has also introduced an option for employees to take days off on a voluntary basis, without the need to give justification, for a maximum of 15 working days; in this case the Company will pay 35% of standard remuneration. A comprehensive set of measures has been introduced to encourage the involvement of fathers in family care (including supplementing remuneration in the case of parental leave taken by the employed father). Permits are available for specialist visits for employees suffering from serious diseases as well as permits to support home schooling activities for children with specific learning disabilities.

Flexible work: benefits for both people and the company 

After an initial trial, “Flexible Work”, i.e. the possibility for colleagues to work from home, from a company hub or from the customers' premises, rather than from their office desk, following an agreement between the Company and trade union organisations, became an operating procedure to gradually extend to all Group entities in 2016. The project aims to achieve a better balance between staff and production needs. In 2016, more than 5,700 colleagues from 13 different Group companies were involved in “flexible work”.

Managers were key in deciding to include their own departments in the trial: they believed in their people and in a new way of dealing with their daily work. But the greatest success came from colleagues. They showed how a different way of working can improve the quality of work as well as personal and family life, increasing motivation and productivity.

“Flexible work” is on a voluntary basis, involving individual colleagues and focussing on inclusion, meaning it is open to all people from identified departments who satisfy some basic requirements. The project is particularly innovative because it allows people to work from home up to 8 days a month, also divided up, while flexible working from the hub and at the customer's office does not have specific limits.

Positive feedback, in terms of satisfaction and business productivity, led the company, and the Welfare, Safety and Sustainable Development Committee to continue with the “Flexible Work” project, paying particular attention to network entities operating in Italy and the possibility of smart learning for professional training.

Alongside this flexible work project, Intesa Sanpaolo participated in the “Flexible Work Day” event organised by the Municipality of Milan. The initiative is aimed at private companies and public authorities trying out alternative working methods. The objective is to improve flexibility of the organisation and productivity, and reduce the time spent on commuting from home to work, thereby contributing to improving individuals' quality of life and reducing environmental pollution.

Excellence - for little ones too

Five company crèches – our “baby nurseries” operating in Milan, Florence, Naples, Turin Moncalieri and the new Turin Headquarters – accommodating 255 children in total, offer considerable support for families. The quality service meets requirements of the PAN Consortium’s Quality Manual, prepared by a Scientific Committee, which covers all aspects of educational and organisational management. High educational standards go hand in hand with facilities that comply with environmental sustainability principles, favouring the use of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PFEC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certified materials. To integrate the service, a number of agreements are in place with the PAN Consortium and, with a view to enhancing the options offered under intercompany agreements, the pilot project for a corporate crèche shared with Telecom Italia continued in Milan for Intesa Vita staff.

Crèche for children in long-term hospital care

Based on its significant experience with company and community welfare, a pilot project began in late 2016 for a crèche for children in long-term care at the outstanding Paediatric Oncology/Haematology Unit of the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin. The project offers free nursery care five hours a day, five days a week, throughout the year, for all children aged from 6 to 36 months – of employees and others – who are at the hospital. The service can also be used by children who have been temporarily transferred from other departments for treatment.

The project, which is sponsored by the City of Turin, helps children overcome the social and psychological isolation caused by their condition, by debilitating treatments and long-term hospital stay. The patients are assisted by specialist, qualified nursery staff who help the children in their cognitive development with tailor-made educational activities. The service also gives families concrete support to help them adapt to circumstances which are far from their normal routines.

Intesa Sanpaolo Workers Association

As part of the integrated company welfare system, the Association – with 125,000 members – is providing a new type of welfare, catering for the diverse needs of people and offering leisure solutions – encompassing tourism, culture and sport – at special rates. A website with management system streamlines administrative formalities, and also offers services for a better work/life balance. At the end of the year, an agreement was reached with Coopselios and Cadiai to implement Welcare family services and offers services at special rates from parenting to caring for the elderly and persons who are no longer self-sufficient, with a view to achieving a better work/life balance.

Families with children in full-time education can benefit from summer holiday initiatives; open to children and students from 4 to 25 years, camps organised by the association were attended by 1,800 children, while 2,700 families opted for other camps with a contribution paid by the Association. For families with children affected by disabilities, the contribution was doubled.

Since 2016, 10 grants have also been provided for an inteculture programme to study abroad for a year/six months, as well as 10 grants for summer study programmes. An important new addition to the Association's initiatives is the chance to buy school textbooks at discounted prices, and also receive a special contribution, with 3,100 children of association members benefiting.

To further support the household spending of its members, the Association gave out 15,000 contributions for sports and leisure courses, and over 4,000 contributions for medical check-ups for participants of competitive sports.

Over 46,000 vouchers to purchase books were given out, and members can access LEA, the new Laterza book streaming platform, free of charge. Over 180,000 discounted cinema tickets were also made available.

During the year, a webticketing service was also provided, generating 13,000 contacts.

In September, the second edition of “Push to Open” took place. This programme was set up to help young people enter the world of work, in partnership with Jointly, and involved over 330 young people in the last two years of high school. “Push to Open” is a programme comprising several stages based on direct contact and interaction with experts and people from the world of work, encouraging young people, promoting contact and offering useful information to help make their ideas and university and professional choices a little clearer.

In autumn, the ALI IN FESTIVAL was held, the first of its kind dedicated to Intesa Sanpaolo staff and their families, with two days dedicated to knowledge. Over 800 members from throughout Italy met up in Florence for events, culture and shows. The festival was attended, among others, by Zygmut Bauman, who held a talk on “Finding happiness in a consumer society” and by Gianrico Carofiglio, who spoke of the power of language. The Fondazione Banco Farmaceutico Onlus (Non-Profit Pharmaceutical Bank Foundation) was present at the Festival; this foundation has set up a project in partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo to collect unused medicines which have not expired, to promote initiatives encouraging donations of medicines. The project – which already covers Milan and Turin – is in addition to support from over 150 members who volunteered during the Medicine Collection day.

Mobility

Intesa Sanpaolo continued to focus on sustainable mobility issues in 2016, researching and suggesting innovative solutions for personal mobility needs (see the section on “Natural capital” @).