The Maria Bellisario Foundation has awarded the multi-utility company with the Golden Apple for Women-Friendly Company. Here are the motivations for this award which recognises the Group's dedication to promoting equal opportunities in the work place.
The Hera Group takes the podium for the value it places on female workers: this was the important outcome of the XXVIII edition of the Maria Bellisario "Donne ad Alta Quota" (high-flying women) Award which presented the multi-utility company with the Golden Apple for the "Women-Friendly Company" category.
A prestigious award, with Hera selected unanimously by the Bellisario Foundation's awarding commission for its important and innovative policies and strategies to promote the growth and well-being of women in the company.
Diversity management, fighting discrimination and support for families: these are the main fronts on which the Group has been working for years to promote the value of a company culture that, rooted in present challenges, always achieves excellence, from all perspectives. And everything starts with equal opportunities. Whilst the utility sector, due to the characteristics of the services provided, has historically seen a prevalently male workforce, the percentage of female employees on permanent contracts in 2015 is at a healthy 23.7%, compared to a national average for the sector, not rising above 16.5% (2010 ISTAT data).
This has been a long-term process for Hera, launched back in 2009 with the signing of the "paper for equal opportunities and equality in the workplace". Together with other entities, both public and private, Hera undertook to fight against all forms of discrimination in the workplace. Another fundamental step was the introduction in 2011 of the Diversity Manager, Susanna Zucchelli, supported by an "entirely female" working group made up of women holding very different roles united by the shared objective of further developing and consolidating equal opportunities whilst also managing and promoting diversity.
Hera runs many initiatives which consolidate diversity management: from company nurseries and intercompany nurseries, with long opening hours to support the careful balance of home and work life, to provisions regarding family leave, not only available for maternity and paternity but also for those who need to assist other family members or elderly relatives. A particularly good example is "the smooth return to work policies" project, founded and realised by Hera and aimed at improving the management of family leave. This project also saw investment from the Prime Minister's Office, due to the innovative and socially important nature of the approaches employed.
"The Golden Apple of the Bellisario Award presented to Hera for the Women-Friendly Company category makes us hugely proud because it represents a recognition of the long and methodical commitment which we have maintained for years in terms of time, enthusiasm, resources and ideas, involving companies of all different levels" - declared Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, Chairman of the Hera Group. "Our attention to women in the workplace is not our only commitment in terms of personnel policies and diversity management, but this certainly represents an important moment, also because of the genuinely original talent that female employees demonstrate in their work." "A talent that we support through a series of articulated measures aimed at translating rights into practices, to help women in the performance of their daily work and in the management of their time."