Appunti del direttore

2021-06-08 Simona Cuomo

Privilege is Invisible to Those Who Have It

Too often, those who have (gender) privileges still do not recognize the economic and social significance of their condition. This lack of awareness produces effects of normalization of certain attitudes – such as insults, denigration, or a certain culture of rape – that should be publicly denounced. Three recent cases in the news demonstrate that reflecting on the nature of one’s privilege is the first step necessary to question it. Three episodes regarding gender discrimination have dominated the news in the past two months. The episodes are apparently unconnected, including due to ...

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2021-05-17 Stefano Basaglia

The Bill Against Homotransphobia: What Side Are Businesses On?

After 24 years, the Italian Senate is finally set to consider a bill against homotransphobia that would allow our country to approach France, Spain, and Germany in terms of the protection of the LGBTQI+ population. A favorable legislative environment would also favor businesses, making inclusion easier in their organizations. However, there has not yet been a common public stance or statement made by entrepreneurs, managers, or their associations. May 17 is the International Day against Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. The idea for the celebration came to Louis-Georges Tin, ...

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2021-04-28 Zenia Simonella

Stories of Inclusion: The Next Project, Beyond the Borders of Business

More and more companies are investing in Corporate Social Responsibility-CSR projects to make a contribution to local communities in terms of employment and social wellbeing. Maria Cristina Alfieri, the current Director of the Next Association, talked to us about how the project she leads has already allowed many people in fragile conditions to receive training and find jobs. According to the latest report from the Socialis Observatory, the number of companies that invest in Corporate Social Responsibility-CSR projects is growing: from 44 companies in 2000 to 92 in 2019 (the sample was made ...

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2021-04-07 Stefano Basaglia, Simona Cuomo, Zenia Simonella

Smart Working, Remote Working, and South Working: Let’s Sort Things Out

We are in a historical moment in which some people can choose where to live and work. Smart working, that should not be confused with the extensive forced remote working used during the pandemic, is in fact based on the possibility for the worker to choose where and when to work, in the absence of rigid forms of control. This solution, in the absence of spatial constraints, could co-exist with “south working” and the decision by many workers to move from cities to areas of Italy considered to be the periphery (towns in the mountains, the countryside, small villages, etc.), modifying the geography ...

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2021-03-08 Stefano Basaglia

Against Discrimination, In Favor of Differences

From the recent campaign by Coop supermarkets to promote gender equality and combat disparities, to the polemics on gender in the language of professions triggered by Beatrice Venezi on the stage during the Sanremo Music Festival: what is missing is attention to not neutralizing differences in the name of equality. On the occasion of International Women's Day, we want to discuss two cases: the campaign by the Coop supermarket chain on gender equality, and the issue of gender nouns in professions raised by Beatrice Venezi during the 71st Sanremo Music Festival. Let's start with Coop, one of the ...

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2021-02-08 Simona Cuomo

Redefining the Organization of Work Post-Covid: the Experience of illimity

Marco Russomando tells us how illimity, the bank of which he is the HR director, has managed the sense of isolation, uncertainty, and the management problems regarding employees during the months of the pandemic: from the strengthening of internal communication, to the creation of courses to strengthen relational skills, to the organization of an awareness campaign to reduce the stress generated by hyperconnectedness and the loss of sociality, there are many activities that have provided an enhanced sense of community and belonging. Starting with this experience, in July 2020 a new work model ...

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2021-01-18 Zenia Simonella

Being Welcomed InJail: Stories of Inclusion

Silvia Polleri, entrepreneur and founder of the Catering ABC - La Sapienza in Tavola cooperative and the InGalera restaurant, speaks of her experience in the Bollate jail and the importance of education and training for reintegration of prisoners into society. Let us start with your history. You are an entrepreneur, with a background in early childhood education. How did you come to work in and for the Bollate jail? For over two decades, I worked as an educator in a nursery school in the hinterland of Milan, an area with large pockets of decay. In that period, together with my husband who is ...

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2020-12-21 Stefano Basaglia

Equality It Shall Be, but on All Fronts

A sensation has been caused by the fine imposed on the City of Paris for not having respected gender parity in 2018 in the appointment of top civil service positions (directors and deputy directors): the city appointed 11 women (69 percent) and 5 men (31 percent). These appointments violate a regulation of the French Civil Service Ministry from 2013, based on which the same gender cannot exceed 60 percent of personnel. The regulation was then amended starting in 2019: organizations can exceed that limit, but only if it doesn’t cause an overall imbalance between genders. As regards top positions, ...

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2020-11-19 Simona Cuomo

“We the people”: An Inclusive Leadership Perspective

The speeches of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have given us an image of a nation attentive to diversity, and thus working to create the conditions that allow all people to live and work expressing themselves and their abilities to the fullest. In this year that is so difficult for everyone, the recent presidential election in the United States could represent a glimmer of light and hope. The union between President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, apart from their political affiliation, represents a symbol of inclusion and sharing. First of all, the iconic ...

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2020-10-12 Zenia Simonella

Waiting for ESG(D)

The pressure from institutional investors on Boards of Directors in regard to ESG themes (Environmental, Social, Governance) is growing. The construction of sustainable business models increasingly shapes the choices of investors, to the point that they may decide not to invest in companies that dedicate little attention to the subject. Thus, the construction of sustainability reports and the reporting of non-financial information are not aspects of mere compliance, but become tools for company policy. In the pages of some international newspapers, it has been argued that the acronym ESG should ...

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