Contribution to the Social Dialogue 1

BANCA POPOLARE DI MILANO, FAIRTRADE AS CORE BUSINESS

Oliviero Picco - Diversity manager

Banca Popolare di Milano

Oliviero Picco Welfare Manager, Mobility Manager and Diversity Manager at Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM), chosen as the corporate partner on the N.O.R.M.A. project for the best practices adopted by its governance structure.

BPM is a co-operative bank with a large number of member-employee stakeholders. It is, therefore, an exception within that symbol of the capitalist system in Italy, the banking sector.

We have been compared to the bumblebee, an insect which, according to the laws of physics and aerodynamics, should be incapable of fl ight given the small size of its wings. And yet, just as the bumblebee can fl y, BPM has continued to be a successful bank for over 150 years.

Social dialogue goes very deep within BPM, and in addition to the two typical bargaining levels in the banking sector (national level and company level), BPM has a third level, a standing 'round table'.
This allows us to quickly absorb changes in the system and then bring them into the company-level agreement.

Social dialogue is fundamental for the successful implementation of the complex framework directives issued at European Community level, such as the one on antidiscrimination - which we are debating at this conference.

This means:

  1. the ability to overcome one's limits and the rigidity of counterparts on the other side, while promoting a dialogue characterised by strategic thought, and a holistic global vision. It involves proceeding gradually and having clearly in mind one's environment and responsibility.
  1. in-depth knowledge and professional, scientific approach to be promoted mainly through training.
  2. effective communications systems.
  3. strong corporate commitment.

Italian companies all too often still see staff costs and investments as one of the first items on the balance sheet to cut back on in difficult times.

We, however, believe as Andrea Gasperini and Nadia Raso state in their book "Capitale umano e performance di business.
Misurare il ROI del capitale umano", businesses, especially based on people, in which employees and clients are the main stakeholders, should invest more in human resources.

The researchers show that there is a direct correlation between the well-being of staff and the results a business achieves, since employees with high work satisfaction are better disposed to clients, have lower absentee rates and, as a result, are more productive.

As part of the N.O.R.M.A. project O. Picco presented two specific examples of good corporate practices, the first on balancing work and family better, the second on strategies adopted by BPM to attract immigrant workers.

"Il Giardino di Bez": setting up a workplace crèche at BPM

In 2006 Banca Popolare di Milano set up a 600 m2 company crèche inits service centre called "Il Giardino di Bez".
This was partly due to the fact that in Milan, state-run crèches can only meet 20% of demand. Obviously this project was unable to cater for the needs of all the bank's 7,000 employees, as it offered only 50 places, and this initially led to reluctance on the part of trade unions to support it.

Employees were involved in the project through a company intranet forum, a website and a competition to decide the name and logo of the crèche. The competition was won by the son of an employee.

The idea for a company crèche came against a backdrop of many employees applying for part-time contracts and parental leave.
We are certain, and we intend to prove this in the future with the aid of concrete data, that the opening of the workplace crèche will significantly reduce the number of such applications, thereby considerably increasing productivity, as well as having more satisfied staff and a better environment.

The scheme is part of a number of services to balance work and family proposed to employees. They include a summer camp - for which BPM pays part of the costs - and the Cassa di Mutua Assistenza, covering

the healthcare (including dental care) costs of employees and their families.

BPM is considering additional similar activities that will reduce gender discrimination such as the provision of a childminder to women managers who have to travel, office delivery of groceries and dry cleaning etc.

Management of "Il Giardino di Bez" is shared by the Bank and the specialist company it has appointed to provide educational activities.

The crèche currently has 15 children belonging to non-employees, but whose families live in the local neighbourhood. While on the one hand this provides greater visibility for the project, the exponential growth in the number of applications makes it difficult to manage.

In view of the high quality of the crèche staff, employees who use the service have started a petition to set up a nursery school. The bank is considering the proposal.

Managing multiculturalism - a project promoted by BPM

Data issued by ISTAT (Italy's National Statistics Office) show that immigration flows into Italy are growing exponentially, especially from Romania. However, immigration must not be considered only as a problem to be tackled, but also as an opportunity for growth. Many banks are able to make up for the local customers they lose by acquiring new customers of non-Italian nationality. And studies have shown that these new customers display the same level of insolvency as Italians. According to data published by Italy's national employers' organisation - Confindustria - the number of small businesses run by immigrants is growing much more rapidly than ones owned by Italians.

In 1992 there were approx 573,000 immigrants in Italy. This figure is expected to rise to 26 million by 2030, albeit taking into account the fact that Italy, unlike other countries, considers immigrants also resident second and third generation non-nationals. The data further highlight the peculiar distribution of immigrants in the country. In the construction industry they have almost completely replaced Italian workers, creating a problem within a problem, as these foreign workers are discriminated twice over, in view of the fact that their wages are lower than those of their Italian counterparts and often undeclared.

On arriving in Italy, immigrant clients have basic banking needs, and a current account is adequate to meet them. As they become more settled their requirements change. These include mortgages, insurance policies and sometimes products that are even more sophisticated than those generally asked for by Italian clients, such as international credit cards, bank transfers abroad etc.

Banks must think of immigrants not only as clients but also as employees, in view of the fact that immigrants often do jobs which are considered "menial" while possessing a high level of education. Acting on the principle "Think global, act local", BPM has begun its multiculturalism project by recruiting four multilingual employees for its Call Centre. Their purpose is to respond to the needs of non-Italian clients better. BPM is planning to provide training courses for its employees, in particular counter staff, with the aim of combating prejudice and encouraging mutual cultural knowledge. Both BPM projects ("Il Giardino di Bez" and "Managing multiculturalism") have received Sodalitas social awards.