#SiamoEnel
Curators of potential

People and their needs have always been at the center of our Open Power approach. Enhancing the individual in all stages of the professional life is part of our Group’s sensitivity and experience. For 60 years we have been committed to generating shared value in the communities where we operate. With this awareness, the "Statuto della Persona" ("Charter of the Person") that we have signed with FILCTEM, FLAEI and UILTEC aims to place the human being at center stage in a synergetic ecosystem in which businesses and trade union organizations work together to create a healthy, safe, stimulating and inclusive professional environment that furthers the individual’s complete fulfillment.

This is an innovative protocol of understanding for Italy, a concrete example of inclusive bargaining that involves not only our Group, but the entire network of companies that collaborate with us. It’s a path toward a more sustainable model that is also based on a reconsideration of interpersonal relations, which need to be more open and receptive with respect to others.

The "Statuto della Persona" embraces three crucial areas for work and its social function. The first is well-being, participation and productivity, to promote the protection of dignity at work, inclusiveness, prejudice-free environments, the work-life balance, and a focus on the human factor.

The second aspect is lifelong learning, which includes training and professional refresher courses, as well as female empowerment to encourage the choice of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects, as well as the availability of apprenticeships and external training.

Lastly, there is the question of safety in the workplace, “our first commitment to the benefit of people,” as Valente emphasizes, with activities aimed at reducing the risk of accidents, identifying the most innovative technologies for accident prevention, empowering workers and strengthening a safety culture where suppliers are also involved in the process.

“This Charter is a response to the rising existential, relational, and environmental needs in which the human being plays a leading role – as Ernesto Martinelli, Head of Industrial Relations, Welfare and Wellbeing, explains – and launches a new phase of participation, a system that is strongly focused on kind relationships, on care and responsibility between the parties that make up the system we call ‘Me, us, community and environment.’”

Find out more about the "Statuto della Persona" in the episode with Ernesto Martinelli and Francesca Valente on the Enel Radio podcast (Content available only in Italian).

The strong strategic value of the "Statuto della Persona" emerged clearly on June 21 in Rome during the presentation event at Villa Lazzaroni. “We decided to call it a ‘Statuto’ in reference to the ‘Statuto dei Lavoratori’ promoted by Gino Giugni,” as Guido Stratta, Head of People & Organization, remarked in his opening statement. “Industrial relations, in the energy and emotional transition we are facing, in fact govern complexity. And this complexity begins with the person.” Jurist and academic Michel Martone added that “The Enel community was brave and innovative because it was able to find those values to organize the work of the future after a crisis like the one caused by the pandemic and in a difficult international scenario like the present one.” This consideration was also confirmed by the President of the National Council for Economics and Labor (CNEL), Tiziano Treu, who explained that the agreement marks an evolution in industrial relations: “Until now, labor law has contemplated the defense of the more vulnerable workers that need protection. For the first time, Enel’s "Statuto della Persona" acknowledges the person’s right to development. It does not disregard the need for protection, but moves one step forward.”

Trade union representatives also expressed unanimous satisfaction during the event. As Ilvo Sorrentino, National Secretary of FILCTEM-CGIL explained: “This document is the result of awareness-raising efforts on many social issues, from hiring after apprenticeship to the fight against ‘pirate’ contracts.”

Our hope is that this agreement may be extended to the entire professional world. “I have heard many participants express the desire to be ‘contaminated’ by the Charter,” said Amedeo Testa, Secretary General of FLAEI-CISL, “I have no doubt that this will be an irreversible model and that it will have a positive impact on many other companies,” to which Antonio Cozzolino from UILTEC added: “It is the beginning of a process and we will in no way be jealous if others interpret our work and are able to improve it.”  

It was an opportunity to stress once again what Valente called “the intent to virtuously contaminate all businesses that work with us and the community in which we operate to create an integrated and synergetic ecosystem aimed at jointly generating shared value.” Martinelli added that “The Statuto della Persona will be able to become a point of reference not just for the utilities sector: our ambition is to reach beyond our sector and spread to other contexts.”