The Group adopts national collective labour agreements for all its employees (the main national collective labour agreements applied include: “electricity sector employees”, “gas and water sector employees”, “environmental services employees”), which ensure contractual salaries are paid to all employees. Generally, workers with leasing contracts receive the same remuneration as provided for in contracts of Group employees. Furthermore, no differences in benefits for full-time employees, employees with fixed-term contracts or part-time employees exist.
Group employees receive national collective labour agreements and incentive tools in line with company values.
The remuneration policy, within the context of defined budget guidelines, is always based on performance evaluation, taking into account, however, the remuneration package of the people holding the evaluated positions. In any case, any form of discrimination based on gender, age and/or health shall be avoided, and retraining initiatives are performed in the event that personnel are unfit for previous or similar responsibilities.
Variable remuneration linked to performance (for example, employees working on call) and the achievement of company and individual targets is added to fixed remuneration. In 2020, the ratio of the highest annual basic salary to the median basic salary of all other employees is 4, while the ratio of the increase in the Group’s highest basic salary to the median basic salary increase of all other employees is +0.93. The Group’s average basic salary by gender is 1.07 compared to the average local salary by gender (Source: Istat 31/12/2017).
Bonus system
The remuneration and meritocratic policy of the Group aims to reward employees that achieve high levels of results in line with company values, the Group Job System (see page 130 of the “Sustainability Report”) and in accordance with adequate levels of quality and productivity. Personnel are required to be flexible in adapting to new working methods and to demonstrate remarkable professional commitment in terms of versatility.
Performance bonuses. Collective performance bonuses are provided to increase personnel involvement and encourage the achievement of Group objectives, established according to strategic and management objectives and aimed at enhancing the correlation between compensation and attained results. Several factors are taken into account to determine the compensation, which are connected to rewarding productivity, service levels and the achievement of specific profitability objectives. Once again for 2020, specific agreements were approved on the subject and bonuses may be paid in the form of one-off compensation or via welfare instruments to non-management personnel. Also, in 2020, part of the Performance Bonus was consolidated for the current workforce, allocating an additional contribution towards the supplementary pension fund for new hires.
Management by objectives system (MbO). In most Group Companies, all executives, junior managers and employees holding important positions are included in the incentive system (Pay for Results) under which individual targets are assigned that, when achieved, grant the payment of the amounts that were defined at the time when the targets were given. The “objective-based system” is based on the measurable indicators (economic-financial, operative, sustainability or relevant to strategic projects), in line with the Business Plan and the company mission.
One-off compensation. Across all Group Companies, a one-off incentive can be paid to employees that have achieved particularly positive results through remarkable work commitment, mainly through projects or innovative activities. The people to receive bonuses are identified after meticulous analysis of individual performance results, which is conducted by their various managers.
Regarding the year 2020, 54% of employees received a formal assessment of the performance achieved, a small percentage compared to previous years following the acquisition in 2019 of San Germano and in 2020 of I.Blu with the admission into the Group of 1,045 employees, to whom the evaluation system has not yet been extended. The percentage figure, net of these two Companies, is 61% and in line with the previous year, as the calculation criteria for the population has remained the same, in line with the policies defined. The performance assessment process involves the assignment of objectives, a mid-year assessment, an end-of-year assessment and, for certain employees (3,340 in 2020), the process is managed through a computer system.
The total amounts allocated to variable remuneration are shown in the table below.
| Variable remuneration (thousands of Euro) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Performance bonuses | 9,581 | 9,626 | 12,232 |
| MbO (1) | 4,148 | 3,829 | 3,308 |
| One-off compensation (1) | 4,468 | 4,534 | 2,112 |
(1) Amounts allocated.
As part of the more complex standardisation of corporate agreements, it has also been envisaged that part of the performance bonus will be converted into a fixed remuneration component for people employed by the Group as at 31 March 2018. From 2019, this new logic motivates to reduce the total value of the performance bonus compared to the 2018 figure.
N.B. The personnel data contained in the Sustainability Report do not contain the data of the former Unieco Environment Division.
