The power of interaction
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- The power of interaction
How can a publishing company be sustainable? This seemingly simple question constantly guides our reflection on corporate social responsibility.
In order to respond effectively to this question, the company also needs the contribution of all its stakeholders in order to fully understand their needs and demands.
In our path to sustainability, we wanted to give a new centrality to relations with stakeholders. This resulted in a more complex and systematic plan for the involvement of the Mondadori Group’s stakeholders. We started with an internal process within the company to update the stakeholder map: identifying them, starting from the organizational evolution and activities of the company, and grouping them into more homogeneous categories. The new stakeholder map guides the planning of the engagement activities put in place each year in order to understand together what the Mondadori of the future should look like.
Materiality analysis and stakeholder engagement
The Mondadori Group periodically carries out a materiality analysis process, in order to identify the elements of strategic interest in the field of sustainability and ensure the correct presentation and understanding of the Group’s activities, its performance, results and the impact produced, with regard to the social, personnel, and environmental spheres, respect for human rights and the fight against corruption and bribery.
Specifically, the year 2021 saw an update of the materiality analysis, in light of the following four steps, which are further detailed below:
- mapping of relevant stakeholders;
- identification of sustainability topics of potential interest to the Group and its stakeholders, in line with the relevant industry trends and identified priorities;
- prioritization of identified sustainability topics, including through internal and external stakeholder engagement activities;
- identification of material topics and their approval.
Prioritization of identified sustainability issues also through internal and external stakeholder engagement activities
In order to prioritize the sustainability topics identified for the Group, specific internal and external stakeholder engagement activities were carried out.
Specifically, in 2021, individual interviews were conducted with top management, including members of the Sustainability Committee, and a specific online questionnaire was administered to the Group’s employees and associates, which collected over 1,400 total responses (approximately 78%). Additionally, a further online questionnaire dedicated to the teaching staff was developed, collecting almost 5,000 total responses, thanks to the contacts that the Group has developed over time with this category in light of its crucial importance.
The stakeholders involved were asked to identify, in line with their own expectations and needs, the sustainability topics they consider more or less relevant. The participation of the Group’s internal and external stakeholders was paramount in the materiality analysis process, as it made it possible to identify more objectively the topics of interest and to capture with greater clarity and depth the different perspectives and information needs that mark the stakeholders involved.
The materiality results also include responses from questionnaires administered to customers in 2020.
Focus: Teacher involvement
In 2021, the Mondadori Group fostered an important stakeholder engagement activity aimed specifically at the teaching staff. Specifically, an online survey addressed to the topics of sustainability gathered the opinions and perspectives of almost 5,000 teachers from primary and first and second level secondary schools, active across all the regions of Italy.
The sustainability topics considered most relevant in light of responding teachers’ expectations are: diversity, equity, and inclusion; promoting reading and sociocultural growth; managing environmental impacts; and climate change.
Among the various contributions received, responding teachers also indicated the need to focus more attention in the future on the following aspects related to the school world: innovative teaching practices, with a view also to inclusion; training for the teaching staff dedicated to the topics of sustainability and Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development; as well as initiatives for the engagement of young people in civil society and introduction to civil education. Further areas of strong attention are linked to the fight against school dropouts and the promotion of initiatives aimed at fostering gender equality. These contributions have been incorporated by the Mondadori Group in the strategic formulation process mentioned in the previous sections of this chapter, and will become tangible areas of action, which will become the base for actions of continuous improvement over the next few years.