Not just better economic conditions for employees, but additional measures reinforcing corporate welfare and experimental new solutions to reformulate working hours, also with a view to their reduction in specific “pilot” areas of production. These are the key points of the new Leonardo Supplementary Contract signed today in the Unindustria Roma offices, in the presence of the CEO and General Manager Roberto Cingolani, the Co-General Manager Lorenzo Mariani, the Chief People & Organization Officer Antonio Liotti, and the General and National Secretaries of the FIM, FIOM and UILM trade unions.
The new Supplementary Contract, which will go into effect as of 1 January 2024, also defines several important milestones for the standardisation of the economic and regulatory conditions applicable to employees, further perfecting the process of harmonisation that began in 2016 with the establishment of One Company.
As early as July 2023, in a context of great uncertainty and volatility, both in macroeconomic terms due to the impact of inflation and from a geopolitical point of view, Leonardo and the trade unions had already come to an agreement about the principal economic measures to be included in the Supplementary Contract for the years 2024-2026, with the goal of finding new solutions, including structural ones, to fight wage erosion. Today’s agreement introduces additional, more qualifying measures to respond more concretely to the various dimensions of employees’ well-being, at work and beyond, and to the need for a more effective life/work balance, always with a view to the Group’s overall economic compatibility.
Leonardo has come up with concrete new tools for the overall reinforcement of employees’ welfare, to strengthen the existing system, with the goal of focusing corporate strategy on enhancement of the company’s human capital. These measures include adaptation of the supplementary healthcare model; reinforcement of supplementary pensions with an increase in the company’s contribution; implementation of new forms of protection for all employees and their families in the event of death or permanent invalidity due to illness.
With a view to fostering an ongoing commitment towards people by creating shared values, consolidating employees’ sense of belonging and making the Group attractive to new talents, the company supplementary contract introduces significant regulatory measures to address specific needs, particularly focused on the issues of parenthood, fragility, inclusion and gender equality, care needs and support for victims of gender-based violence.
“Reaching the agreement was possible thanks to the effective and modern model of industrial relations and the positive climate of dialogue that Leonardo and the trade unions consolidated over the years, focusing the Group’s Development Plan on the enhancement of people’s expectations as a strategic lever for achieving the company’s objectives,” said Antonio Liotti, Chief People & Organization Officer of Leonardo. “In a context of transformation of technology and the labour market, the renewal of the Supplementary Agreement represents the confirmation of the will, increasingly widespread among companies, to seek new balances in a context increasingly sensitive to a concept of Welfare that creates greater connection between different issues, such as health and well-being, work-life balance, environmental impact.”
The most innovative part of the supplementary agreement concerns the definition of guidelines aimed at experimenting with the re-modulation of working hours, also with a view to their reduction, to be carried out in selected ‘pilot’ areas directly linked to production or operational support activities; areas for which flexibility appears feasible only through experimental and gradual methods, able to accompany the evolution of traditional work organisation. The aim of the experiment is to identify the best solutions capable of reconciling the work-life balance needs of the employees involved with the objectives of strengthening the company’s competitiveness and productivity.
The experiment, once the most suitable “pilot” areas for the purpose have been identified, will start in the last quarter of 2024 and will continue for a maximum of six months. During this period, the staff involved will benefit from shared measures to reduce working hours, to be enjoyed collectively, against productivity and efficiency gains that will be measured according to agreed indicators calibrated to the specificities of individual business sectors.