Edison has always been attentive to people. As part of the Wellness@Work program created in 2015, a new café was opened in 2016, demonstrating Edison’s commitment to improving conditions at work and people’s health and lifestyles.

The Edison Café reflects new ways of working and open, collaborative work spaces, considering people’s well-being and promoting healthy eating habits with a varied range of healthful dishes designed with the support of leading nutritionists.

To improve sustainability and energy efficiency at the Milan offices, work sites have been set up to analyse and identify areas for improvement on the following issues:

• sound-proofing spaces with a high density of people (open spaces);
   
• increasing sorted waste collection for office waste by optimising logistics collection and disposal processes and by creating a communication and awareness plan;
   
• energy savings: the energy diagnosis conducted in 2016 highlighted new opportunities to improve efficiency, including the completion of the re-lamping (LED) project commenced in previous years. As part of sustainable mobility, a few additional actions were identified to be developed in 2017, such as including electric cars in the company car fleet.
   

In 2016, Edison played an important role in a large transformation project, which included various initiatives to involve employees.

One of the most significant projects was the launch of the new company intranet, equipped with more modern information management and collaboration instruments to make content more functional and optimise employees’ routine work. The new portal’s go-live was supported by an online and offline communications campaign involving employees in Milan and those at the plants and foreign branches.

In February, the annual Management Convention was held, in which the Group’s results and objectives for the future are discussed.

2016 was a crucial year for ASD EDISON PLAY, a non-profit association to encourage sports as a source of well-being and a way for colleagues to spend time together. On 19 March, the first employee snow day was held at La Thuile ski resort in Valle D’Aosta: the highlight of the day was a ski race. One hundred people participated in the day, including PLAY member employees and their families and friends.

Also in collaboration with ASD EDISON PLAY, Edison organised its annual Summer Sports Day at the Milan Rugby association’s sports centre, which usually ends the company football tournament. For the first time, teams from other sites and plants also participated in the final football tournament. During the day, a running race was also held, a four-way football play-off, a volleyball tournament, touch rugby for children and adults and table football and ping pong. In collaboration with the ASD EDISON PLAY sports association, other sports initiatives were sponsored for charity.

May is the month of Parents who work and Edison opens its offices to their children and grandchildren. In 2016, workshops and fun activities were held for children – managed by MUBA (Milan children’s museum) – for the parents-who-work day, to promote a creative approach and teach them through play. A theatre performance, “Once upon a time … here it is”, was also put on by the Milanese Piccolo Teatro.

Again in 2016, Edison took part in the intern “EDF PULSE” contest for innovative ideas submitted by employees. Edison received a special award for Edison Pulse, which was recognised for being original and easy to replicate.

In December, the “Kaleidos Christmas Party” was held, an opportunity for employees to meet and celebrate the holidays.

Company volunteering includes the continuance of the Siticibo project in collaboration with the food bank, Banco Alimentare, to gather extra food from the company canteen for donation to Milanese food programs for the hungry. In 2016, Edison’s commitment with Siticibo led to the collection of approximately 6,000 portions.

Meeting employees’ needs: Edison for you

Edison for you: this program is organised to meet the growing and constantly changing needs of Edison workers to help them achieve a better work/life balance. This program comes in addition to previous benefits like insurance policies, healthcare coverage and company and contractual pensions.

In 2106, the program handled over 7,000 requests for services or expense reimbursements for 1,690 employees, equal to 68.7% of Edison’s Italian workers (who used the program for at least one of its services). According to 2016 records (Source: IPSOS - My EDF survey), 85% of Edison employees are satisfied with the overall welfare benefits offered by the company, while 96% of employees described the “Edison for you” program as extremely useful, very useful or useful (results that are higher than any other EDF Group company and higher than the benchmark for Italy and for international energy companies). In this area, Fenice, which recently joined Edison, also offers pension, health and insurance welfare benefits that are appreciated by most workers. In 2017, Edison will evaluate and define the ways in which it will progressively extend additional work/life balance and welfare projects and services to Fenice personal as well.

The “Edison for you” program consists of services and support for:

Family, especially employees’ children (paediatric consultations, recreational activities - summer camps in Italy, sleep-over and day programs, study/holiday experiences and inter-cultural exchanges abroad thanks to the partnership with Fondazione AFS - Intercultura Onlus - and initiatives to support learning like a small school loan. In 2016, the company financed two annual scholarships and 11 summer programs abroad with Intercultura. To assist the elderly or disabled family members, there is a help desk for the elderly. Workers at the Milan and Rome offices have also made a professional babysitter search service available and “nanny coupons” can be used. In addition, employees may request reimbursement for school and university expenses and for the attendance of day campuses for people who live outside Milan.

Health and well-being: medical prevention campaigns were held again in 2016, giving employees the choice of medical care, like general, cardiology, gastroenterology and men’s and women’s cancer prevention check-ups. Company experts on occupational health and safety organised information and training seminars on workers’ posture at work. Furthermore, an online consulting service is available with the support of an independent professional for employees’ mental health. In collaboration with AVIS, blood donation drives continued, managed directly at the Group’s head office.

Time for yourself: with the aim of simplifying all time-consuming activities to manage paperwork and daily duties, legal and tax consultancy services are available online and over the phone. In addition, there is a service in Milan for bureaucratic, postal and bank paperwork. Furthermore, there are many offers and discounts for leisure time (theatre and cinema box office, theme parks, travel and cultural events). Employees at the Milan head office receive discounts in accordance with agreements reached with the local transport companies ATM and Trenord.

Savings: employees may buy exclusive goods and services on an interactive website at a discount. Many purchases are also combined with paybacks for additional discounts. Edison is part of IeP, a network of companies and people that develops and spreads corporate welfare as a competitive lever for companies and a responsible contribution to improving company well-being.

The online and on-site temporary shops were managed again in 2016, in collaboration with non-profit associations to which 5% of sales proceeds were donated.

More in general, to facilitate and promote the use of the program, the website that employees use to access this program was completely redesigned. At the same time, following a special listening survey for feedback from employees, the program updated its brand and communication identity.