Banco Bpm, summer smart working for up to 18 days for mums and dads

For those with young children, the summer period becomes at once the worst and the best. The former coincides with the end of kindergarten or school, while to find oneself in the latter situation, at the seaside or in the mountains or discovering new countries and cities, one has to wait for the holidays, which are, however, a very limited period. From this summer, however, Banco Bpm mums and dads will have one more card to play. The bank led by CEO Giuseppe Castagna has in fact reached a union agreement on smart working and smart learning that improves flexibility by meeting those with special needs.

Taking the text of the agreement, we read in fact that in addition to the 10 days per month provided for all those who can work remotely, for parents there are 'up to 8 additional days in the summer period, i.e. in June, July, August and September, as a further instrument of attention in favour of workers who are parents of children up to 12 years of age as well as in favour of workers who benefit from the permits under law 104/92 for child care'.

Banco Bpm's agreement rethinks the use of the tool both in demographic terms, taking into account that in 2025 the number of new births fell below 355,000, and also in social and environmental terms. In this case there is also the possibility of supplementary agile work, i.e. working remotely 5 days a week. We are talking about particularly serious situations, serious illnesses and disabilities, but also seismic or meteorological events, in which work can only be performed in agile mode, communicating it through informal communication channels, if the situation requires prompt action.

After the experimentation started a year ago, Banco Bpm will make the new work organisation structural, which contemplates more flexibility and an increase in the remoteisation of both work and training, also for those working in corporate functions, with roles of responsibility. The agreement reached with the trade unions (Fabi, First, Fisac, Uilca and Unisin) in the bank led by CEO Giuseppe Castagna envisages the smart working option for a maximum of 10 days a month for workers in head office structures, including customer support and development, and also experimentation with up to five days a month "within the five corporate markets (including corporate centres) and the large corporate with recognition for corporate/large corporate managers and corporate employees," reads the text of the agreement.

In order to enable everyone to have access to remote days, the new agreement confirms the possibility of smart learning and provides for up to six annual days of remote training, with the company's commitment to assess a higher number of days. For Gianpaolo Fontana of Fabi, "it is a very valuable agreement that guarantees stability and new opportunities. Smart working and smart learning are fundamental tools, both because they are very useful and appreciated in the context of work-life balance needs and because, with the reduction of travel, they promote compliance with ESG recommendations, especially in a phase like the current one, in which the energy crisis requires a careful use of resources".