Although we are a rapidly aging country, with many unemployed and little generational turnover, a sign of hope has finally arrived: not only do recent Istat data reveal that unemployment is declining, but Eurostat added that in Italy the most significant drop in unemployment in the entire European Union is being recorded.
We are still at marginal percentage changes, but it is the first sign that the provisions of the Jobs Act (acausal fixed-term contracts, simplification of apprenticeships, contracts with increasing protections) are restoring confidence in the market: workers can no longer feel "precarious" and companies can once again consider their workers as "resources" in which to invest and retain.
A further initiative that can contribute to increasing job opportunities is now given in Piedmont by the launch of the "generational relay" between workers, a measure of "solidarity" which is aimed at generational turnover within companies and which provides for the transition to part-time workers over the age of fifty against the permanent hiring, even in apprenticeships, of unemployed young people: the "short" blanket is divided and social cohesion between the generations is preserved.
The initiative is managed by the Piedmont Work Agency and financed with 3 million euros assigned to the Piedmont Region as part of the national "Welfare to work" project.
The recipients of the "relay" are, on the one hand, "mature" workers over 50 years of age, who have been on the force for at least 5 years in companies based or with production units in Piedmont and who meet the pension requirements established by legislation in force within a maximum span of 36 months and a minimum of 12 months, on the other hand, unemployed young people between the ages of 1 and 18 (without prejudice to the age limits established for apprenticeship employment).
Specifically, the "relay" mechanism provides that:
a) on the one hand, one or more "mature" workers agree with the company, on a voluntary basis and with a specific agreement signed at the employment office, to transform their permanent employment contract into part-time, with a reduction of working hours, "horizontal" or "vertical", not exceeding 50%. In exchange, the INPS pays them a number of months of supplementary contributions (by way of voluntary contribution) from a minimum of 12 to a maximum of 36 months. Furthermore, the contribution integration ceiling can also be higher, where, for months over 36, the voluntary contribution derives from different forms of financing, including private ones. However, the company's commitment to identify solutions to guarantee the "mature" worker in the event of regulatory changes regarding access to pension benefits must remain firm.
Finally, where the agreement between the parties provides for it, the "mature" worker can undertake to accompany the job placement of the young new employee in the company, performing the function of tutor/mentor for him.
b) at the same time, the company proceeds with the hiring, within the same production unit or another production unit present in the region, of one or more young people with a permanent contract (today with increasing protection) or with the simplified apprenticeship contract (provided completion of the training course is guaranteed, regardless of the duration of the intervention of the "generational relay").
The operation must lead to a positive company employment balance, ie an increase in the total volume of working hours, calculated by comparing the total part-time working hours of "mature" workers with those relating to young people hired. The positive balance must be guaranteed for the entire duration of the period in which the contribution supplement is paid: if it fails, the company must proceed with a new hiring within 30 working days (otherwise, it will be required to pay INPS the contribution supplement due, or, in agreement with the "mature" worker, to reintegrate him full-time).
Furthermore, since it is related to working hours, the calculation of the employment balance is independent of the number of workers involved: it is therefore possible that a positive balance also follows from the hiring of a lower number of young people than that of "mature" workers who accept the reduction of working hours.
Companies located in the Piedmont area, according to the regional public notice issued in recent days, will be able to submit an application to join the "generational relay" initiative until 30 June 2015, also notifying the internal union representatives or, in their absence, to those most representative on a territorial level and declaring its commitment to transform the employment contract of "mature" workers who have voluntarily joined the initiative into part-time contracts and the related permanent hiring of one or more unemployed young people/ unemployed.
