Healthcare, pensions, work-life balance, maternity support and more. All homemade by businesses. Corporate welfare continues to grow in Italy, above all thanks to the incentives launched by the government: of the nearly 8 contracts with performance bonuses signed in 2016, over half (4.100) provided for corporate welfare measures, for which full tax exemption is envisaged. This is what emerges from the second edition of the Welfare Index Pmi report, promoted by Generali and presented today at the Luiss University of Rome.
According to the analysis, in the last year the sector that recorded the most significant growth was that of integrative healthcare (companies with at least one initiative in this area increased to 47% from 39% in 2016). Measures for work-life balance and maternity support (the increase was from 22 to 31%), in particular with provisions for flexibility of working hours and organization of work. In the lead, however, remains the supplementary pension (stable at 40%), considered essential to bridge the gap between today's paycheck and tomorrow's INPS check.
As proof of this trend, the report underlines that between 2016 and 2017 the companies considered "very active" in corporate welfare (i.e. those engaged in at least six areas) doubled, going from 9,8 to 18,3 percent.
“Italy is made up of small and medium enterprises – he said Marco Sesana, country manager and managing director of Generali Italia – and the Welfare Index Pmi initiative aims to spread the corporate welfare culture among them, and therefore throughout the country: a key tool for growth. We are very pleased that an increasing number of companies adhere to the Pmi Welfare Index to assess their level of welfare. A result that was only possible thanks to the participation of many actors, such as businesses, confederations and institutions".
Surprisingly, the map of these initiatives does not show significant differences between North, Center and South. Rather, it is they who are decisive the size of the company: in supplementary healthcare, for example, the activity rate of companies with between 100 and 250 employees is three times higher than that of companies with fewer than 10 employees.
On the side of the objectives, it is necessary to distinguish two levels. From the point of view of the general interest, “corporate welfare helps to make money the public one is more sustainable – explains Enea Dallaglio, CEO of Innovation team, the company that carried out the survey – and contributes to cope with social instability” produced, for example, by the youth unemployment rate (at 37%) and by the low rate of inclusion of women in the labor market.
Companies, on the other hand, focus on welfare above all for improve employee satisfaction and the working climate (50,7%), the most immediate result. Entrepreneurs who say they rely on corporate welfare to increase productivity there are much fewer (16%), above all because they believe that effectiveness on this front can only be found in the medium-long term.
In addition, the Welfare Index Pmi report has been introduced this year a new rating which divides companies into five classes. "It is a tool in the hands of the entrepreneur - underlines Lucia Sciacca, head of communication at Generali - who will thus be able to communicate their commitment to corporate welfare in a simple and recognizable way".
Here are the 22 companies that have earned the maximum rating (5W):
– Acli Servizi Trentino Srl
– Agrimad srl Agricultural Society
– Fungar Snc Agricultural Company
– Natura Iblea Srl
– Baobab Social Cooperative Onlus Srl
Castel Srl
– Colorificio San Marco SpA
– Adriatic Agricultural Consortium Soc. Coop.
– Consortium Farsi Prossimo Soc.Coop.Soc. ONLUS
– Count Vistarino Agricultural Society ss
– Ecosviluppo Soc. Onlus social cooperative
– Gruppo Società Gas Rimini SpA
– THE LITTLE PRINCE Social Cooperative Society ONLUS
– The Open Fist Social Cooperative Society
– The Cloud SCS Social Enterprise ONLUS
Monnalisa SpA
– Siropack Italy Srl
– Sonzogni Camme SpA
– Stranaidea SCS Social Enterprise ONLUS
– Thun Logistics Ltd
– Vesti Solidale Soc. Coop. ONLUS company
– 3C CATENE Srl
As regards Generali's role in this sector, the group considers itself "a house of corporate welfare - notes Andrea Mencattini, head of Generali's insurance subsidiaries and institutional relations - Our first pension plan dates back to 50 years ago and shortly after we gave the the plan for supplementary healthcare was launched, while from the end of the XNUMXs we also concentrated on the issues of work-life balance. All this has made us aware that corporate welfare is a great asset”.
