Discover the Acea Group online 2019 Sustainability Report
Diversity and Inclusion
Inclusion and protection of diversity are monitored at the governance level. Indeed Acea has a Code of Ethics and a Charter for the management of diversity and an active Committee for Ethics and Sustainability, which has the responsibility of assisting the Board of Directors in matters of diversity, with the task of promoting the culture of valuing diversity and combating all forms of discrimination.
This commitment saw Acea among the signatories of the “Utilitalia Pact – Diversity makes the Difference “ drafted by the Commission for the Management and Promotion of Utilitalia’s Diversity. The Pact establishes the principles of Diversity Management – including diversity of gender, age, culture and skills – in business processes: selection, welcoming, training, rewards and staff development. In particular, the programme focuses on inclusive policies at all levels of the organization, work-life balance, transparent merit management and internal and external awareness raising policies.
Acea has adopted a Group procedure on “Protection, inclusion, promotion of the diversity and well-being of workers” and measures to support parents, such as the extension of parental leave for additional three months for family reasons for both mothers and fathers; the extension of paternity leave, with the recognition of two more days of paid leave to be taken within two months of the birth, adoption or foster care of the child; hourly leave for taking children to the first day of nursery school, preschool or elementary school and the holiday bank.
In addition, it adopted work-life balance measures such as teleworking (see the box for details), and has disseminated the Microsoft Teams application to the Group: a virtual co-working space that allows sharing and storing files, exchanging instant messages, making video calls and holding meetings online.
ACEA’S SMART PEOPLE PROJECT
The Smart People agile work project has structurally implemented teleworking in the Group, both to improve work-life balance and to attract talent and increase productivity.
Altogether 508 people worked from home one day a week during the year, with a participation rate that almost doubled between the first and second half years.
The innovative scope of the project has to do with the deconstruction of constraints connected to the work place and working hours, defining working methods and focusing on the objective. Teleworking also allows the values of the Leadership Model (implementation, teamwork and initiative) to be acted upon by experimenting with a new way of working.
Monitored by means of qualitative and quantitative KPIs and specific surveys of teleworkers and managers, the project was appreciated by the workers involved, who saw it as an effective work-life balance tool.
In 2019, as a result of a Trade Union Agreement, innovations were introduced that will come into force from 2020: extension of the period of use of teleworking from 6 to 12 months, going beyond the access limit (no longer limited to 50% of the staff of a Unit) and expansion of the types of activities that can be carried out with agile work.
In the first half of the year the company held the presidency of the innovative Business School System project coordinated by the Elis consortium, contributing to the realisation of two initiatives:
- Inspirational Talks Role Model, a programme for the promotion of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) training programmes among female middle and high school students. The project involved more than 100 women professionals, including four from the Acea Group who as role models shared their experience of professional success in male-dominated sectors;
- Intergeneration lab, an initiative to promote intergenerational diversity through mixed teams composed of employees of Acea, Wind Tre and Terna, university and higher education students, professors and university researchers who have worked together to find solutions to the business challenges proposed by the companies involved.
Acea participated in the Marisa Bellisario Foundation, which focuses on promoting female talent in the workplace. It sponsored the 31st Edition of the “Women at High Altitude” Award, and for Pink October it lit the Lazio Region building with pink lighting as it was a promoter of the breast cancer prevention initiative.
Finally, Acea activated services aimed at better integrating customers with disabilities, for example by working with Pedius to develop the app that allows people with hearing impairments to call company call centres.
In compliance with the law97, there are employees belonging to protected categories (disabled, orphans, etc.) who are guaranteed support services, assistance and technical support tools to facilitate the performance of the tasks entrusted to them. In 2019, 291 employees (201 men and 90 women) belonged to protected categories.
In 2019 there were no cases of discrimination against Group employees in Acea.
97 Italian law no. 68/99.