Vimar has been awarded the prestigious “Welfare Champion 2020 Company” award. This significant acknowledgement, which is bestowed each year by the Welfare Index PMI (the Italian SME Welfare Index) Guidance Committee, awards companies with up to 1,000 employees which have distinguished themselves through the scope and contents of their welfare initiatives, the way in which the company involves its employees and manages its choices, the originality of their initiatives and their distinction on the Italian scene.
In the analysis conducted by the Committee of approximately 4,000 companies, Vimar came second place in the Industry category, with a score of a generous 5W, thanks to the notable focus which the company - since its year of establishment in 1945 - has placed on human resources. This is testified by the numerous welfare initiatives for employees and their families, including supplementary healthcare extended to the entire family unit, special agreements with local crèches, summer seaside camps and study grants for their employees’ children.
What’s more, Vimar has always believed training to be essential leverage for the growth of its personnel and of the organisation on the whole. Training activities organised for employees during working hours in 2019 exceeded 23,000 hours. In 2018, the company also launched a training scheme outside working hours called “Attiva la mente” (Activate the mind) which involved the participation of nearly 400 employees in language, IT, graphics, photography, yoga and pilates classes as well as evening training/information courses and seminars - also open to employees’ families - on topical issues, such as prevention, lifestyles and stress management.
And that’s not all. Vimar in fact also obtained the “Special Mention for Resilience to Covid-19”. This award was set up specifically in 2020 by the Scientific Committee to award companies which particularly stood out for the way they tackled the medical emergency, using company welfare as leverage for business continuity and building employee loyalty, offering them - and the reference community - specific support and closeness at such a difficult time.
Indeed, since the start of the medical emergency, Vimar has focused all its attention on people. The company immediately took out Covid-19 insurance to cover the nearly 1,000 employees; a direct channel with the appointed doctor was set up, who on a case-by-case assessed whether to perform the swab free of charge at home for employees on sick leave for more than three days and possibly affected by Covid-19, in those cases where the healthcare system did not provide for it; a procedure was launched for active monitoring of employees returning from abroad, for both work and personal reasons, with the possibility of being diagnosed at the company’s expense; remote working has been encouraged wherever possible. Vimar has also supported volunteers form the Marostica Civil Defence, offering personnel and company premises for the packaging of disposable face masks to be delivered to local citizens.
Both awards were delivered, in the presence of the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, during the Welfare Index Report presentation event which was held today in Rome.
Vimar Chairman, Gualtiero Viaro, and Chief Executive Officer, Piero Camillo Gusi, both expressed their utmost satisfaction and sincere gratitude. It is no coincidence that the company was among the first companies in Italy to obtain the most important certifications relating to environmental management (UNI EN ISO 14001:2015) and occupational health and safety management (UNI EN ISO 45001:2018).
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