CET 11.18 Rome, 27 December 2021. Atlantia SpA is continuing the process of radically changing the Company’s relationship with its workers, with the aim of adopting fairer, more transparent and more inclusive forms of organising work and pay.
After having launched an employee share ownership scheme in April 2020, and last October 2021 having introduced an active citizenship scheme granting employees the right to take 10 days leave on full pay to do voluntary work, Atlantia SpA has reached agreement with all the labour unions (Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl, Uiltrasporti, Sla Cisal and Ugl Viabilità) that will result in the introduction of a new remuneration model from 2022. The new approach aims to improve access to different forms of pay and incentives for all employees, giving them an increasingly active and effective role in the Company’s transformation.
The model – designed to create an organisation in which responsibilities and opportunities are widely shared (the “We Economy”) – extends the variable incentive schemes previously available only to senior management to all Atlantia’s workers, without any exception. In this way, non-executive staff (middle managers and administrative staff) will have the opportunity to earn bonuses worth up to 50% of their fixed pay (with additional opportunities linked to outperformance).
In this manner, every employee’s pay will be made up of 4 ordinary components: a basic salary, variable remuneration (linked to financial, environmental and social targets), annual share incentive plans and non-statutory welfare schemes.
In accordance with the principles set out in International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 190 of 2019 and the EU’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, Atlantia and the unions have also committed to formalising protections and support for all types of diversity, by adopting all the measures necessary in order to eliminate every form of pay gap, above all between men and women. Atlantia is to publish an annual, externally assured report setting out the initiatives undertaken in order to remove all identified pay gaps.
The agreement opens the way – subject to shareholder approval of a recommendation from the Board of Directors – for the introduction of a share incentive plan for employees, involving the award of a regular number of Atlantia’s shares, as a component of remuneration.
Atlantia, with assistance from the unions, has reshaped the Company’s non-statutory Welfare provision, further expanding the categories of goods and services available to employees and their families (for example, education for children, elderly care provision, mortgage interest, culture and sport). All workers will also be offered health insurance, that can be extended to include other family members, and a life insurance policy. Among the many initiatives designed to promote sustainable mobility, annual season tickets for public transport used to travel to work will also be guaranteed.
To attract the best graduates and reward the active participation of the youngest members of our workforce, Atlantia has also agreed to raise the monthly allowance paid to interns to €1,200. This is a concrete measure, which we hope will mark a first step towards reducing the current gap between Italy and the other EU countries that many of Italy’s talented young people naturally feel drawn to.
Atlantia has also reached a second agreement with the labour unions that, based on our experience at the height of the pandemic, marks the permanent introduction of a “hybrid” form of working. This aims to ensure an optimal work-life balance, whilst also taking into account the vital need to ensure that our teams can continue to maintain close professional relationships with each other through their presence in the office.
The new approach involves a working week of 3 days in the office and 2 working remotely, to be planned on a weekly basis. Remote working can be carried out with the greatest flexibility between 8 o’clock in the morning and 8 o’clock at night. To reconcile organisational needs with the right of workers to take a break and enjoy a satisfactory work-life balance, employees have been granted “the right to disconnect” between 1 o’clock and 2 o’clock in the afternoon and 8 o’clock in the evening and 8 o’clock in the morning, during which employees are not required to be connected or to carry on working. In addition, during the working day, employees have the right to disconnect for a further 3 hours. In adopting this model, the Company will give priority to workers with particular needs of a temporary or permanent nature.