It is now well recognized that the work environment is undergoing a series of deep transformations that Covid has only accelerated and made more relentless.

Beyond the phenomenon of the ‘great resignation’ that has been often talked about over the past year, we find that younger generations are increasingly attentive to certain aspects that are radically different from those that have, until now, motivated employee choices. Traditionally: salary, role, type of contract, or benefits used to be the triggers for making a choice. Work-life balance, well-being, i.e., being well at work in order to be well in one’s personal life as well, and also aspects such as inclusiveness and sustainability are now apical to make the decision. This mindset switch has increased the mobility of employees in general, who growingly find themselves making different choices as they are taking into consideration their life as a whole.

Therefore, in addition to this evolving scenario, the world of human resources has for some time been confronted with an increasingly scarce market in terms of available resources, particularly with regard to more specific and qualified skills at all levels (managerial, clerical, and even blue-collar). In addition, in particular, in Italy, there is an obvious demographic trend that is generating an increasingly unfavorable gap between the active and therefore potentially working, and inactive (mainly retired) population, which severely reduces the availability of the labor force, including ‘generic’ and unskilled profiles. This leads to new and fierce competition between companies, which must necessarily reinvent themselves to be attractive on the market. There is a need to understand the new needs and requirements of both the potential resources in coherence with the human capital that is already in the company.

 In fact, engagement is becoming increasingly imperative: people feel more the need to be properly integrated into their corporate context, to fully perceive the company culture, and to work in an environment of openness, transparency and sharing. It is essential that everyone is informed and involved and that continuous feedback on the work performance is given to them beyond ‘institutional’ and traditional performance management processes.

 In this context, technology offers us invaluable opportunities to implement projects and ideas to improve the involvement of resources, both in terms of attraction and engagement.

“We have activated a project aimed at defining our employer value proposition (EVP) in an advanced, accurate, and modern way, supporting the project with an internal and external information campaign to create awareness around it by leveraging it, particularly on digital channels”

In our Group, we have activated a project aimed at defining our employer value proposition (EVP) in an advanced, accurate, and modern way, supporting the project with an internal and external information campaign to create awareness around it by leveraging it, particularly on digital channels. More specifically, on the external communication front, using the same tools, we have set ourselves the goal of making ourselves better known by “showing our faces.” In many of our recruiting posts, we give visibility to the people with whom candidates would be working. We want to give candidates the opportunity to understand where they are going to work, with who, and what will be the context and environment they will live at work.

We have enhanced our applicant tracking system (ATS) system to facilitate our human resources professionals to identify, already at the stage of application analysis, the matching profiles for the job descriptions, as well as to improve the level of efficiency of the selection process by pulling up the information and assessments of HR and the ‘line’ (understood as the function concerned).

Once the most suitable people have been recruited, it is essential to ensure that they are given an effective onboarding process, enabling them to develop a better and earlier understanding of how the company works and how they can best navigate the new environment, both in terms of processes and in terms of their relationship with people. In order to facilitate integration as much as possible, we are developing digital tools to make it easier for new employees to use information and training materials and to familiarize themselves with all the company’s key information.

The biggest challenge, for the reasons already mentioned, remains staff engagement. To engage people, digital communication tools are essential. Intranet or management tools such as Microsoft Teams allow ‘collaborative’ communication even when working remotely, as has often been the case in recent years and will continue to be the case in the future with a view to achieving a better balance between personal and professional life.

Finally, sustainability. An issue that is increasingly dear to all workers in Bauli Group and beyond. In order to reduce waste and material consumption, we are aiming for the most complete dematerialization possible of recruitment-related documents, thereby also reducing ‘physical’ storage space. In this way, on the one hand, the company reduces paper consumption and improves its level of efficiency and sustainability of processes, while on the other hand, it finds new employees appreciate the commitment of their company and the possibility of having full accessibility to archives in digital format, which allow them to have access to documents in real-time and without fear of losing them. We are effectively using technologies, especially digital ones, in order to improve the relationship between the company and its people in the broadest possible way.

 Technology is often misinterpreted as opposed to man and more ‘human’ aspects in general. In our work, however, technology can put the person at the center, facilitating relationships and exchanges. With technology, we are able to communicate with the people in our company in a fast, open, and transparent manner, to transfer to them not only key information but also an approach and culture of work, increasing their level of involvement. At the same time, we facilitate the approach to new potential resources and manage to provide them with more and more information and even ‘sensations’ with respect to the work context in which they might be placed, stimulating their interest in the company.