The “Sofidel People” project, launched following the 2016 survey on organisational well-being, continued in 2018.
The three areas identified concern improving internal communication flows, improving the spread and knowledge of company processes and procedures and optimising human resource management.
Sofidel People.
Improving internal communication flows
With the aim of encouraging internal communication and employee participation, the Group’s communication tools have been enhanced with:
- an Intranet where employees can find communication and information tools, an area dedicated entirely to human resources and a series of tools to facilitate their daily work;
- the Soft & Green newsletter in order to develop the company’s culture on sustainability issues;
- Sofidel Channel, an internal communication channel present in the Italian plants, to reach those who do not work in the offices.
Sofidel People.
Spread and knowledge of company processes and procedures
The project relating to expanding knowledge of processes and procedures is being implemented through various
initiatives. One of these was the purchase and implementation of a proprietary e-learning platform. This
tool allows a more rapid, organised, widespread and traceable dissemination of company procedures that
require training. The platform has been active for the entire Group since January 2018 and during the year was
used to distribute company documents, tutorials and training courses.
Another project, already underway and
scheduled for launch in 2019, aims to make it easier for employees to access information on the company’s
organisational structure. It is a software application that dynamically interacts with the SAP HR management
system. This tool allows users to view and search for information related to the employee’s organisational
profile and other operationally useful details.
Sofidel People.
Optimising human resource management
Defining the distinctive Sofidel leadership style is one of the improvement projects in the Sofidel People initiative. It aims to promote greater uniformity and effectiveness in the management of human resources and represents a challenging and long-term project for the Group. The project testing phase in the HR area was completed in 2018. With the active involvement of the HR Managers of the various European countries, Sofidel’s ten principles of good leadership were translated into actual behaviours to be applied in the day-today activities of the area in question, in the various fields involved. Some of the projects that arose from the need to translate the ten principles into practice include: new performance review, job rotation, remote management, recruiting and induction. These projects continued in 2018 with the division of the HR International Team into different subgroups, coordinated by five Project Managers, based on the guidelines received from Corporate. Project Managers regularly reported on the progress of their work at the HR meetings held during the year.
In the last few years the company has been developing the concept of “Safety at Work”, which has always been one of its main priorities, from protecting employees from physical and psychological harm to promoting their health and well-being.
The protection of workers’ health is ensured by constant monitoring of working environments, with implementation of the best safety standards for machines and equipment, and by conducting training programmes and providing information. In this regard, during the year Sofidel continued the Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) and Welfare projects.
Workplace Health Promotion (WHP). 
The Group, which respects the principles of the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion, considers
that real and lasting improvement in the level of health and well-being of workers can only be achieved by
combining the following elements: improvement in the work environment and work organisation, promotion
of active participation, encouragement of personal development and the adoption of healthier lifestyles.
Accordingly, in Italy Sofidel has joined the “Workplace Health Promotion” (WHP) programme, a long-term project
set up by the Region of Tuscany, which concerns the adoption of good practices in relation to diet, physical
activity, smoking and alcohol.
During the year, the issues developed in the previous year in relation to nutrition and physical activity were
further implemented and training was added with regard to combating harmful alcohol consumption and
other addictions.
To promote the culture of well-being and a healthy lifestyle, the Sofidel Running Team was established, bringing
together all the running enthusiasts, expert or otherwise, from the Sofidel workforce. In addition, the
event “La salute vien camminando” (Walking for health) was organised, in collaboration with the North West
Tuscany Local Health Authority, with the aim of spreading information and medical training on the benefits of
physical activity. To raise awareness of the WHP programme among the company population, a special section
has been created on the corporate Intranet, where employees can consult the relevant information material.
The Workplace Health Promotion programme will be rolled out to the other Group countries in the coming
years. The experimental project “Peer Health Promoters” has been developed, again in collaboration with the
North West Tuscany Health Authority, in order to promote health and healthy lifestyles in the workplace and
raise awareness and a sense of responsibility in a group of workers by developing, through experiential training,
personal, relational and cognitive skills so as to create peer support.
Welfare. Programme based on supporting the costs of employees for socially useful activities
With this project Sofidel has made available to workers a basket of essential goods and services (from education, assistance, health and supplementary pensions to the “shopping trolley”), guaranteeing them the possibility of tax advantages and significant discounts while continuing to use their preferred supplier. This project was successfully implemented in Italy in 2018 and will continue in 2019. The possibility of extending it to other subsidiaries of the Group will also be considered.