- Innovative agreement signed with trade unions that combines flexibility with compensatory time with the donation of vacation days by colleagues
Rome, April 6th, 2020 - Enel Italia has signed an agreement with the national secretaries of the Italian electricity sector’s trade unions aimed at protecting the company's workers engaged in operational activities that cannot be carried out remotely and which are currently reduced or suspended to ensure safety in light of the emergency resulting from COVID-19. This agreement concerns personnel who carry out external activities, and involving possible contact with other people.
The agreement is a first, not only for Italy’s electricity sector, as it uses extraordinary and innovative contractual measures to make the current emergency organization sustainable, through tools such as flexibility with compensatory time and solidarity actions involving colleagues, including managers, on a voluntary basis, and the Company with the donation of vacation days.
Patrizia Grieco, Chairman of Enel: “The agreement reached with the trade unions represents the concrete application of the values of solidarity and responsibility in a particularly difficult moment for the country, guaranteeing a solution with which everyone, within the Company, can do their part. With a view to sustainability and commitment to the country, the use of innovative tools underlines Enel's attention to industrial sectors and activities most affected by the crisis."
For periods of inactivity due to the emergency, the employees concerned will be granted paid leave with compensatory time, which may be offset once activities resume in the subsequent working hours that exceed normal working times, for which overtime will be recognized. To drastically reduce the number of hours to be compensated, Enel has created a solidarity system in which employees, middle managers, managers and operating staff, can choose to donate one or more of their vacation days, which will then be distributed among the employees concerned to contribute to the compensation of paid leave. The "Vacation Day Bank" will start with a number of days donated by the Company equal to the number of employees in force in Italy and until the end of May will be able to collect the vacation days donated on a voluntary basis.
In this emergency period, the Company will also intensify, in a spirit of collaboration, training activities by providing at least three days of training.
The agreement is part of Enel's actions taken to face the emergency due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The Company has implemented measures to protect the health of its employees while ensuring the security and continuity of the service. In addition, to meet the country's health and assistance needs, through Enel Cuore, the Group's non-profit organization, the company has allocated 23 million euros to support Italy’s Civil Protection activities for the fight against the epidemiological emergency; health facilities for creating new beds and purchasing equipment; and the third sector to ensure its security and continuity of work. In addition to these activities, Enel is supporting local administrations committed to immediately helping those who more than others are impacted by the emergency and, subsequently, for the resumption of activities.