Poste Italiane’s mission is to grow responsibly, through the decisive contribution of its people for sustainable success, based on innovation, digitalisation and the social cohesion of the country. In this mission, the focus on sustainability is “obviously endemic”. Underlining the commitment of the country’s largest employer and the importance of the people it employs is Tania Giallatini, Head of Poste Italiane’s Management and Selection Department, speaking at Il Sole 24 Ore’s Sustainability Forum.
The Sustainability Forum
The Sustainability Forum was an excellent opportunity for experts, companies and institutions to meet. The various guests, including Poste Italiane, discussed best business practices and how to strike the right balance between enterprise and sustainability, business and social responsibility. With a view to protecting people and the planet, more and more companies are turning to sustainable models, both environmentally and socially, as demonstrated by the interventions in the various panels.
Poste’s focus on people
The sustainability strategy is an integral part of Poste Italiane’s business, as Giallatini explained in her speech, and is based on eight pillars, including valuing people, diversity and inclusion. This means that the Group is not only committed to specific targets related to the different business areas, e.g. in terms of revenue, but also to concretely achieving the objectives related to the eight pillars of sustainability, among which are those just mentioned. These objectives, which with respect to Poste’s people are concrete commitments, are communicated to the market and all stakeholders. Poste, for example, has committed to providing 25 million hours of training for employees by 2024, as the Group aims for its people to make an active contribution to business development. In addition, Poste is committed to reducing workplace accidents and has set itself the goal of achieving equal pay for men and women within the group by 2022. The audit process related to this certification is ongoing.
Innovation and tradition
Why are these objectives relevant to Poste Italiane? The success of the Group depends not only on its economic and financial performance, but also on how responsibly it acts with respect to the country, in the context in which it operates. It also relies on the trust people place in it. Poste Italiane is unique in the national context – it is an institution as well as a corporation. It is present throughout the territory with 13,000 post offices, but it is also digital and omnichannel. Poste is innovation but also tradition, and its history coincides with that of Italy.
Valuing people to achieve sustainability
Today, the biggest challenge for the Poste Italiane group is to enhance the talent and skills of the four generations of employees working there. People are the organisation’s most valuable resource for achieving its strategic goals and ensuring the creation of lasting and stable value over time. Poste is also aware of the need to adopt a business model that, on the one hand, combines the objectives of the low-carbon economy and, on the other hand, protects people and the social context in which it operates, through constant and ongoing dialogue and collaboration. This approach is part of the company’s DNA: it’s present in its mission statement. Obviously, these objectives and principles are reflected in HR policies: the aim is to support business development through the enhancement of human capital, precisely by identifying potential and developing talent, as well as consolidating experience through growth paths within the organisation. Within the group it is possible to try out different experiences, without leaving the company.
Insieme 24 SI
Sustainability is therefore part of Poste’s DNA. Among the company’s various initiatives to involve its people and to give concrete expression to the eight principles of the pillars of sustainability is the second edition of Insieme 24 SI (Sustain & Innovate), a people engagement platform launched in 2021 with the aim of involving all of the Group’s 120,000 people. Employees can propose ideas, projects and initiatives that are evaluated by an internal group. Some of them, 10 to be precise, undergo an acceleration process, with the three winning proposals being implemented. Poste Italiane’s objective is to ensure that people can effectively participate in the projects of the industrial plan based on the 8 pillars of sustainability. It is an open and participative platform that also aims to train Poste’s people in innovation and transformation.
