Support for employees by Italian companies is growing. 45% of small and medium enterprises are active in at least 4 corporate welfare areas, while 11% are very active in interventions in favor of workers, with initiatives in more than 6 areas including social security and supplementary healthcare, insurance and financial support for employees and families, protection of equal opportunities and support for parents, reconciliation of work and family needs, training and support for mobility , safety and prevention, support for vulnerable subjects, social integration and welfare extended to the territory. This is what emerges from the first National report on welfare in small and medium-sized enterprises, presented on Tuesday in Rome, sponsored by the Prime Minister and promoted by Generali Italia with the participation of Confagricoltura and Confindustria.
The research, carried out by the specialized company Innovation Team, was conducted on 2.140 companies with 10 to 250 employees. At the center of the study is the Welfare Index PMI, the index that measures the level of corporate welfare in Italian SMEs, with the aim of spreading the culture of welfare in small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent the backbone of the national production system and employ 80% of the workforce in the Village.
The analysis shows that there are no substantial differences between Northern and Southern Italy. The distinction is rather in the company size: the most active companies are those with more than 100 employees. 64% of SMEs have undertaken initiatives in the area of training and mobility support, assuming a role of support for active employment policies, especially for young people. 35%, on the other hand, were able to invest substantial resources in welfare thanks to tax advantages, moreover increased since the last one Stability Law.
"We have given a signal with the reductions on corporate welfare: the implementing decree is ready and will arrive quickly, we are in the concert phase - said the Minister of Labor, Giuliano Poletti –. I think it's a right choice, which must be made structural over time. The question before us is no longer in terms of conflict-contract. Today work is different: it is not an exchange of mechanical energy, but imagination, commitment, creative ability, desire to do and to be. We must defeat rents and promote opportunity. There is a long way to go and bargaining is probably not the most suitable tool to deal with it. Confusing income with work is wrong: we must govern the current transition, in which technological progress, much faster than social progress, reduces jobs. This is the challenge before us. Enough with the cunning, we must build together a society in which everyone knows they have a chance".
Secondo Philippe Donnet, country manager and CEO of Generali Italia, “with corporate welfare I win everyone. The employees win, who see their real income increase. Entrepreneurs win, who get a return for the company in terms of productivity, ability to attract talent and tax benefits. The local administrations win, which by integrating public and private welfare see an increase in social well-being. But Italy also wins: SMEs are the real engine of the Italian economy and if they do better, the country does better. We work to spread the winning culture of corporate welfare, which contributes to the growth of companies, the territory, the community and the country".
According to the report, SMEs can be classified according to five different approaches to corporate welfare:
• "Life and work” (21% of the total), companies with relevant initiatives in the areas of work-life balance, support for equal opportunities and parents;
• "Inclusive” (9,5%), the companies most active in the areas of social integration and welfare initiatives extended to the territory;
• "People dear” (10,8%), companies with initiatives concentrated above all in the areas of human resource management and fringe benefits;
• "Actuators” (48%), companies active in various areas of corporate welfare which, however, mainly apply the provisions of the national category contracts;
• "Beginner” (10,7%), companies that are in the initial phase of corporate welfare experience.
“The company can increasingly become a distributor of well-being – he maintains Alberto Baban, president of Piccola Industria Confindustria –. I am convinced that increasing the sense of community in businesses will increase productivity. But we have to create culture in our companies, explaining why welfare can be done and also how simple it is to do it. For its part, the government is moving in the right direction: tax relief is a correct measure, because it does not treat welfare as a simple benefit, but as a tool to increase competitiveness".
As for the welfare areas most used by companies, they can be grouped into three types:
1. Personnel management initiatives: training and support for mobility (64,1%), insurance for employees and families (53%), economic support for employees (46,2%).
2. Classic complementary welfare initiatives: supplementary pensions (40,4%), health (38,8%), safety and prevention (38%).
3. More innovative initiatives: equal opportunities and support for parents (18,5%), welfare extended to the territory (15%), social integration (14,1%) and work-life balance (4,9%).
The reasons that drive SMEs to undertake corporate welfare initiatives are mainly two: personnel management, and therefore the well-being of employees to improve their satisfaction and productivity, and the long-term sustainability of corporate success, combined with reputational aspects.
