“When it comes to Polis, we are in line with the plan that had been set out: we have awarded 97% of the tenders and have approximately 1,600 open sites plus, and starting from April, we will have 140 post offices able to issue passports.” These were the words of Poste Italiane’s General Manager Giuseppe Lasco during the press conference to present the new ‘The Connecting Platform’ strategic plan for 2024-2028.
In line with the programme
“When it comes to Polis, we are in line with the plan,” Lasco reiterated, “the response from the territory has been wonderful – 13 million people live in these areas, which is like saying the eighth largest country in Europe, and there is a very strong need not to move in order to access public administration services. The closing down of the Polis activities is set for 31 December 2026, but we will have completed the entire Polis project by early 2026,” recalled the General Manager of Poste Italiane. The Poste General Manager added that, at the same time, “we are also working on the 250 co-working locations in those areas where the big players in this sector have not invested, i.e. in small and medium-sized cities. Having logistical areas that can be used for professional activities and start-ups is important, especially in the South, where most of the facilities for these activities are located.”
Training and generational change
As for the Poste Italiane personnel, Lasco explains that “in addition to being the Group with the highest number of employees, we are a company that always tends to create active employment policies. Over the past six years, the generational turnover involved about 90,000 people,” emphasised Lasco, “which has allowed us to lower the average age of our workforce and raise the schooling of our personnel.” “In contrast to the financial system, we remain present on the territory just like when, in 2017, we made a commitment to the mayors not to close down post offices.” The Polis project “stems from the previous idea of not closing down post offices,” added Lasco. “We submitted 17 projects as part of the PNRR and we chose only one that is worth 1.3 billion: 800 from the PNRR complementary plan, 500 million invested by the company. We will continue to invest in resources with a view to balancing the financial system.”
The Government’s choices
According to the General Manager of Poste Italiane, “when decisions are taken by the government that single out Poste Italiane for certain activities, there is also a desire to remain in the territory, which means doing business for shareholders but also being a company part of the county’s economy. It is understandable that Poste Italiane would then be taken into consideration for this specific activity’.
