Diversity & Inclusion

The Mondadori Group participates in the celebration of love in all its forms and nuances through some of the most interesting and representative books published by our publishing houses, dealing with themes such as diversity.

In our Group, we strive every day to build a more inclusive world where everyone can feel loved and accepted. So this month, through the power of words, writing and reading, we want to promote stories that speak a universal language: the language of love.

Certification confirming the company’s commitment and ability to create a working environment increasingly focused on equity and inclusion: this is the UNI/PDR 125:2022 gender equality certificate obtained by the Mondadori Group.

The certification, which is valid for three years, was issued by Bureau Veritas, an accredited certifying body, following an audit that recognised the Mondadori Group’s solid commitment to valuing diversity and significantly favouring inclusion within the company.

This is a further step forward in the strategic path begun in 2021 with the creation of the Diversity & Inclusion unit, designed to guarantee fair and transparent opportunities for the entire Mondadori community, giving them the chance to express their uniqueness and talent while strengthening their sense of belonging to the company.

‘We are proud to have received this award, as it is the result of the strategic approach that we have developed as a Group regarding diversity, inclusion and gender equality,’ says Mondadori Group CEO Antonio Porro. ‘As a publishing company, we have a responsibility to foster cultural change through the content we offer our readers and users every day, becoming a virtuous role model in the appreciation of such issues. This is a goal we will continue to pursue as we look towards sustainable growth, increasingly integrating ESG into our business plans.’

‘This certification confirms that there is a strong conviction within the Mondadori Group that we must continue to create a space for social reflection, and not just economic value. Attention to gender balance certainly translates into a more inclusive working environment, but also into better allocation of each person’s talent, and into a greater drive for innovation, which only comes from legitimising different points of view,’ underlines Francesca Rigolio, Chief Diversity Officer of the Mondadori Group. ‘For our journey, which started three years ago, this certification is an important milestone, generating renewed enthusiasm in the Group to further develop the many ongoing and future projects.’

Based on the UNI/PDR 125:2022 practice of reference, the certification was obtained by measuring, reporting and evaluating a set of qualitative and quantitative indicators capable of driving change in corporate gender equality policies. The KPI are spread over six areas: culture and strategy, governance, HR processes, growth opportunities and inclusion of women in the company, gender pay equity, parental protection and work-life balance.

With specific reference to parenting, the project launched in 2023 was particularly appreciated. Its goal was to work towards a genuine shift in culture and approach by providing all new parents with useful, concrete tools — such as the parental kit or counselling service — at a time of great change in their professional and personal lives.

Moreover, as part of its selection processes, Mondadori is one of the first companies in Italy to adopt blind CVs, which do not contain information on candidates’ gender or age. This leads to a selection process that is as fair and inclusive as possible, and not influenced by gender bias.

Also of great importance among the Group’s policies was the fact that top management was assigned a three-year ESG target, focusing on key gender equality indicators such as the percentage of women in management positions and reduction of the gender pay gap. This parameter is anchored to a comprehensive system of constantly monitored KPIs, which testifies to Mondadori’s concrete commitment to this issue.

Sustainability plan

Obtaining certification for gender equality is one of the objectives achieved as part of the Group’s Sustainability Plan, through which Mondadori is pursuing its commitment to continuously improve its ESG performance.

The plan is divided into three large areas:

• ‘Social’ – enhancing people, contents and places for education and culture;
• ‘Governance’ – promoting sustainable corporate success;
• ‘Environment’ – spreading the environmental culture and mitigating impacts on ecosystems.

In the plan, quantitative and qualitative targets and short and medium-term actions are identified that are linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out in the 2030 Agenda.

The Mondadori Group strengthens its commitment to fostering an increasingly more inclusive corporate culture with the launch of the parenting project.

Such new initiative will provide concrete support to all the Group’s new parents during this intense period of transition with the aim of making a very important moment of their life inclusive.

Mondadori is increasingly more committed to ensuring balance between one’s private and professional life and to paying attention to people’s needs through Diversity & Inclusion projects intended to enhance individual uniqueness: thematic webinars with external authorial contributions, activities, services and surveys – alongside corporate welfare – to promote open discussions and offer tools developed to improve people’s well-being.

The Mondadori Group’s new parenting project is part of Mondadori Care, a corporate plan conceived to foster care in its broadest sense, such as caring for oneself, one’s children, one’s parents and society.

“The idea according to which Mondadori Care was conceived is based on the awareness that our Group’s employees undergo many different experiences both at work and in their private life, such as for example the birth of a child, which often involves significant amounts of care. This initiative aims to support our people during the most delicate moments of their life as parents, children and members of the society in which we live. We not only wish to carefully listen to their needs, but to also provide them with the necessary skills and tools, thus strengthening their sense of belonging to Mondadori,” stated Francesca Rigolio, Chief Diversity Officer of the Mondadori Group.

The leaflet

The project will be presented through the launch of a leaflet containing the values in which the Group believes, also in view of developing corporate culture.

Mondadori’s approach to parenting is expressed through six points, wherein parenting is understood as:

1. social heritage: to foster a vision of parenting as an amplifier of well-being by promoting the concept both within the Group and throughout its institutional seats through a series of dialogues and discussions;
2. shared responsibility: to support a fair distribution of attention and care within families by overcoming gender stereotypes;
3. organisational and emotional discontinuity: to foster open discussions and a constructive approach, so as to transform a person’s temporary leave into an opportunity for personal, professional and organisational growth;
4. balance between professional and personal well-being: to carefully listen to the needs of those facing such period of transition and to promote flexibility and welfare tools designed to better balance individual aspirations and organisational needs;
5. caring and loving relationships devoid of stereotypes and social conventions: to further support, through the legal tools available, any parent and type of couple without comprising the importance of a caring and loving relationship;
6. free and unconditional choice: to support parenting as a choice and not as an obligation, so as to respect those who legitimately choose not to have children or are unable to become parents.

Parental kit

To provide concrete support to new parents, the project further includes a parental kit with all the tools and information needed to better plan the before, during and after parental leave period, from the announcement to the company to the re-entry preparations.

The parental kit consists of: a checklist with practical information and tips on how to organise these months in the best possible way; a parental booklet with regulatory details on maternity and paternity in Italy; an individual counselling service dedicated to our people with children up to 3 years of age. A space is also planned for listening and reflection and during which any doubts about returning from a leave, any evolutionary processes and parent-related difficulty can also be conveyed.

MONDADORI CARE

The first actions of the Mondadori Care’s planned initiatives, including the parenting project, were implemented through the service developed in partnership with the Atelier della Mente association which, through a free path of personalised guidance, aims to provide concrete answers to those whom are called to take care of a relative suspected of cognitive impairment. Such social issue is increasingly widespread at national level, as also demonstrated in recent research which highlights how, in Italy, 1 out of 3 workers take care of an elderly or non self-sufficient relative and that the vast majority of caregivers (70%) are women between the ages of 45 and 55 (sources: Istat data).

Throughout the year, Mondadori Care will launch further initiatives aimed at pursuing the growth path of the children of our Group’s employees, also via educational guidance opportunities.

THREE-YEAR SUSTAINABILITY PLAN

The parenting project is one of the 2023 goals included in the Mondadori Group’s Three-year sustainability plan. Strategic settings, quantitative and qualitative targets and short to long term actions aimed at continuously improving the Group’s social, governance and environmental performance were identified within the document.

The Plan is divided into three macro areas of reference, consistently with the global goals of the United Nations Organisation:

• “Social” – enhancement of people, contents and places for education and culture;
• “Governance” – promotion of sustainable corporate success;
• “Environment” – diffusion of environmental culture and mitigation of impacts on ecosystems.

The Mondadori Group has set up a Diversity & Inclusion function, assigned to Francesca Rigolio as Chief Diversity Officer. Rigolio is tasked with valorising gender, age and skill diversity and promoting inclusivity in the workplace, to ensure that every individual has the opportunity to express their opinions and talents and make a significant and personal contribution to the challenges facing Mondadori.

Increasingly regarded as important sustainability levers, diversity and inclusion are carefully assessed by everyone: consumers, institutions, the financial community, key stakeholders. In other words, by the community of which the company is an integral part. This is the starting point from which the Mondadori Group will become a workplace characterised by a drive for innovation, open discussion and widespread responsibility, where each individual can bring their unique characteristics. It has been shown that companies that offer everyone real opportunities for professional and economic growth also have a greater propensity for innovation, a more positive working environment and better performance.

The new function will work systematically to collect the data needed to analyse and manage phenomena such as the gender pay gap and the co-existence of different generations in the workplace and promote growth paths open to everyone, fostering the development of interfunctional projects that embrace business challenges and the diversity culture. Using her knowledge of the company and her experience with the Human Resources department, Francesca Rigolio will focus on people development with special attention to gender, age and skill diversity.

11 May 2021