a culture of innovation among our colleagues, with the ultimate Fostering social dialogue - an EWC priority - facilitates the
object of improving our customer service. For instance, we rollout of Groupwide initiatives while accounting for local needs
produced videos, articles and interviews to raise awareness and constraints. This cooperation contributes directly to the
of our mobile and internet banking services, to inform ongoing development of Europe’s common culture10.
colleagues and encourage them to act as multichannel banking
ambassadors to our customers9. In 2012’s challenging economic environment, our local
entities worked with employee representatives to identify
We have begun to solicit our colleagues’ feedback through solutions that serve our cost management and simplification
online polls and ratings in order to gauge the effectiveness objectives while ensuring sustainable and responsible resource
of our communications on key Group issues. We have also management.
organized focus groups and forums to discuss internal
communication products and services with our colleagues. In Italy, we signed an agreement regarding colleagues who are
These initiatives give greater insight into the perceptions and entitled to retire by 2015. It also allows for greater flexibility in
emerging needs of our colleagues and will help guide our our internal labor market by in-sourcing activities for employees
communications in 2013. Among the insights obtained in who would otherwise become redundant, as well as by enacting
this way, one will entail leveraging our direct communication measures that facilitate the movement of employees to other
channels, such as a platform on our intranet in Italy. positions. The agreement guarantees both adequate retirement
rewards and safe, sustainable work flexibility, while responding
As part of our efforts to improve direct communication, we to the cost savings objective of the strategic plan.
created CEO Insights - informal gatherings for Group executives to
share their thoughts and ideas with the CEO on how to drive our In Germany, within the context of our Corporate and Investment
Group forward and achieve our business targets. To complement Banking (CIB) division business restructuring, we reached an
these meetings, we introduced the CEO Insights virtual forum, agreement that secured a number of employee rights, including
which encourages online discussions among our senior redeployment or termination payments.
management between our CEO and leadership team members.
And in Austria, our Movement Management initiative allows
relevant employees to be assigned to job vacancies available
within our bank, thus leveraging greater flexibility in order to
Fostering social dialogue avoid termination of employment. We organized an internal job
Maintaining a high degree of awareness and understanding among fair where employees involved in Movement Management could
our people on our Group’s key strategic decisions requires us learn more about the job vacancies in different units, meet with
to make social dialogue an integral part of our labor policy and managers and share their experiences with other colleagues.
industrial relations. We believe social dialogue also contributes to We also established a process to collect employee feedback
our ability to understand global and domestic needs. This approach regarding the initiative.
has consistently helped us manage a range of challenges, which is
why we remain committed to improving social dialogue Groupwide.
In 2012, two European Works Council (EWC) and three EWC
Select Committee meetings were held at the Group level, and a
steady flow of information to the Select Committee members More information is available on the dedicated section
also contributed to employees’ understanding of management’s in our website
actions, particularly with regard to the UniCredit Strategic Plan.
9. Refer to the Serving Individuals and Families chapter for more information. 10. Refer to the Supplement for more information on UniCredit EWC’s activities.
UniCredit · 2012 Sustainability Report 29