Corporate welfare is not just about corporate social responsibility and shouldn't be seen only from the point of view of reducing public welfare, but from a systemic perspective, to improve the productivity of companies and the well-being of workers. It is following this orientation that Ubi Banca and Adapt, the school founded by the labor lawyer Marco Biagi, have presented Welfare for People, the second report on occupational and corporate welfare in Italy, promoted by the Ubi Welfare Observatory. “Certainly – said the scientific coordinator of the 400-page research, Professor Michele Tiraboschi – there is the issue of the flaw in the public welfare system, due to the aging of the population and also of the population within companies. Productive and industrial relationships are changing and the State is having a hard time taking charge of them, but the spirit must not be just that of rushing to put on a patch but that of build a new ecosystem of industrial relations".
Corporate welfare is by now a consolidated reality, but which still presents a very divided picture of the country: in the North and in large companies it already works well, less so in the South and in small and medium-sized enterprises. "We must avoid - explains Tiraboschi again - that this debate is also divisive, as the public debate of an industrial and trade union type has been up to now". The report reveals that out of the 25 collective agreements analysed, all in the benchmark metalworking sector, the percentage of "welfarisation" of the productivity bonus, i.e. the transformation of the productivity bonus into benefits and services for the worker, went from 3% in 2016 to 30% in 2018, then increased tenfold. “The theme of welfare is linked to that of labor productivity, which in Italy continues not to grow unlike other European countries - argues the labor law coordinator of the research -: if a company is productive, it is easier to distribute resources and benefits to workers and thus protect them".
In fact, among the various categories of corporate welfare services, over half are of an economic-productive nature and therefore concern both the well-being of the employee and the added value for the company itself: these are, for example, benefits for collective transport, insurance coverage, health care (a very important issue due to the aging of the working population and the greater risk of chronic diseases), supplementary pensions, of training hours and organizational flexibility, such as teleworking for example. The other services that can be considered as corporate welfare are, for example, meal vouchers or purchase vouchers, recreational activities, assistance and care also for the employee's family members.
"By now even those who work are at risk of poverty", commented Letizia Moratti, chairman of the Management Board of Ubi Banca, recalling that the bank was among the first in Italy to offer a corporate welfare service with strong territorial connotations, as in the spirit that has always distinguished a reality like that of Ubi. Own from the point of view of a system vision and not just a corporate task, Ubi Banca, through the specialized Ubi Welfare division, has signed a framework agreement with the national Confindustria and as many as 18 agreements with employers' and business associations in the area to promote culture and the adoption of good welfare practices. The operation has three fundamental elements: the consultancy approach, the valorisation of the territory as a constitutive element of a proximity network, subsidiarity.
“The gap between demand and supply of welfare services – explained Letizia Moratti – is now an established fact and in Italy alone it is expected to reach 70 billion euros by 2025, a not too distant horizon. And to be insufficient compared to the needs are, in particular, key services such as health care offered by the public sector”. Ubi is already thinking about this, through an offer of 600 services and in particular by making it easier for companies that join facilitated access to healthcare in more than 1.200 facilities affiliated. Already 400 companies throughout Italy make use of Ubi Welfare: "A rapidly growing number that testifies to our interest in the dissemination of corporate welfare also and above all as a strategic element for the competitiveness of companies".
