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Human Resources

Within a setting of marked attention to the need to keep personnel costs down, activities were focused on operations to rationalise the resources available, prioritising provisions for internal mobility and the conversion of professional profiles, but also on careful use of staff in observance of the Trade Union Agreement signed on 4 June 2008 (entered into to implement law 247/2007, which established the obligation to offer people employed with fixed-term contracts for a total of 36 months as at 1 April 2009, followed by further fixed-terms contracts with the same employer after such date, a permanent employment contract).
The presidia of initiatives for the monitoring and control of accessory working activities and, more generally, of the variable retribution captions (overtime, bonuses, transfers), particularly in the case of Big Events was strengthened.

The detailed control of production expenses related to transfers of journalist areas was also extended. Needs to save also regarded the use of fixed-term employees, the management of which as inspired by criteria of caution and rigour, implemented by substantially blocking fixed-term contracts for new employees and those to replace absent employees, using only staff already included in the catchment areas or on compulsory employment lists, for which specific selection procedures have been activated. In the second part of the year, this setting was strengthened further by identifying specific contexts in which to implement immediate and decisive actions to contain expenses.

Looking at the activities in detail, a new initiative to incentivise resignations was launched during the year, in support of the industrial restructuring operations envisaged by the Company in the 2010-2012 Plan.

To this end, it has been necessary to redefine the pre-existing application parameters, taking into account the new pension "windows" and the rise in age and the number of years' employment needed to retire with a pension.

On the basis of the new conditions, 251 resignation agreements were signed during the year, with 218 members of staff having already left. Consequently, from the numerical point of view, in December 2010, the Company workforce comprised 10,055 members of staff, against 9,953 at the beginning of the year, as a result of 405 resignations (258 of which were incentivised, including 40 which were lying over from the previous incentivised resignation initiative) and 507 new employees: 352 in application of trade union agreements; 77 in application of the resolution by the Board of Directors which established the incorporation of Rai Sat; 21 for mobility within the group; 25 arrivals finalised at the limited reformation of the workforce due to turnover or to satisfy new structural requirements; and lastly, 32 returns following legal disputes.

In terms of relations with the trade unions, for journalistic staff, on 13 January 2010 an agreement was signed for the renewal of the Rai/Usigrai Integrative Accord - valid from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013. A new contractual text was drawn up during the year, providing for the harmonisation, review and simplification of certain contractual clauses.

For staff employed with the Collective Agreement for middle management, white collars and blue collars, an agreement on results-related bonuses for 2009 was reached on 10 May 2010, in consideration of the fact that failure to reach the earnings targets was largely due to external factors - particularly to the drop in advertising revenues - not directly linked to the work of employees and taking into account the hard work of staff, which considerably limited losses during the year.

Within the scope of out-of-court labour disputes, various current or potential issues were settled, with 25 cases reconciled through the trade union. 65 individual cases of legal disputes were settled out-of-court, reaching agreements with the defending lawyers of the plaintiffs. 51 of these resulted in the assignment of stable employment contracts with the Company (in compliance with the agreements entered into between Rai and the Trade Unions in 2008 for staff who had been allowed to return temporarily to work).

As regards the general matter of the Organisation, the main interventions involved micro organisation aimed at finding mechanisms to ensure improved operation.

Layouts and consequent process adaptations deriving from the absorption of the associated companies RaiSat SpA, Rai Trade SpA and RaiNet SpA were then analysed and prepared. In terms of training, the consolidated practice of holding qualified and specialised courses internally, including digital audio-video courses and courses on high definition, taught by staff from CRIT, or courses on state of the art equipment, such as digital cameras and titlers, assigned to the technicians of the TV Production Department, continued.

The innovations included the workshop entitled 'New television with the advent of digital', the first edition of initiatives for training and refresher courses for the benefit of Rai executives, which provided an opportunity for comparison and analysis.

The consolidation of specialised internal skills enabled the complete use of the channels to seek funding for training from the interprofessional funds Fondimpresa and Fondirigenti.

As regards activities aimed at recouping tax evasion linked with the so-called special subscriptions, a project was drawn up for the recruitment and selection of Subscription Agents throughout the country, to support initiatives to collect revenues. The Company Health Service fulfilled the obligations envisaged by Lgs. Decree 81/08 (5,500 monitoring visits, 730 preventive operations envisaged in defence of the health of staff working abroad - including staff working on the World Cup in South Africa - and health assistance plans for 31 big production events throughout the territory) and, in agreement with the pertinent Local Health Department, it launched integrated health protocols for former employees of the Rome offices who have been exposed to asbestos.

In terms of safety in the workplace, the progressive adoption of initiatives to strengthen culture and instruments for prevention has enabled Rai to reduce the number of accidents.

The activity to maintain and progressively extend the certified Rai office, in accordance with OHSAS 18001 continued, within the scope of the Health and Safety Management System which, in 2010, led to the certification of 2 Regional Offices, Trento and Trieste, and of the TV Production Centre in Turin. At the same time, certification was prepared for another regional office, Campobasso, to be completed in the first half of 2011.

Work continued on the coordination of the safety activities of the subsidiaries (Rai Cinema, Rai Trade, 01 Distribution, NewCo Rai International and RaiNet) aimed at guaranteeing standardised assessments and actions for prevention and the protection of Rai Group employees.

As far as security is concerned, the upgrade of the Data Security Planning Document in compliance with the instructions dictated by the Privacy Protection Supervisor, extended, also in the form of collaboration, to all the companies of the Rai Group Lastly, there was the organisation of the fourth edition of 'Bimbo Rai', the day on which the Company opens its doors to the children of employees, at all the offices throughout Italy.