Generali to open new global academy in Trieste to train 90,000 people

The refurbishment work that has transformed Palazzo Berlam in Trieste into a prestigious centre for advanced training for Generali’s 90,000 employees has recently been completed. It is here, in this century-old building standing imposingly at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Rive, that the new Generali Excellence Academy – presented by Chairman Andrea Sironi and Group Chief People Strategy and Organisation Officer Monica Possa – will be based. The company is dedicating an increasing budget to training, which is one of the six strategic levers of the business plan to 2027: over €62 million in 2024, rising to €74 million – an 18% increase – in 2025, and set to exceed that figure in 2026. Sironi emphasises that ‘in a context of accelerating change in skills such as the one we are experiencing, having a training process that is continuously adapted and made available to everyone in the group is very important. It is also a tool for attracting talent, and investing in the training of our people is an investment in resilience, a way of dealing with a scenario of great uncertainty. It is just as important as having a healthy amount of capital and a rigorous risk management system’.

“The new academy is a key driver of transformation for Generali, a company with a 200-year history, and it enables us to look ahead to the next 200 years by changing the way we deliver training,” explains Possa. This involves a different approach even among managers, to the extent that “the upskilling index, which measures participation in training programmes on strategic skills, is incorporated into the variable remuneration system for all our managers and leaders, confirming its strategic importance”. The programmes will cover everyone at Generali, at all levels, “from top management, to the 9,500 managers worldwide, to all employees, so that they can make a significant contribution to the group’s excellence and growth,” adds the manager.

In the classrooms at Palazzo Berlam, the teaching staff will mainly consist of in-house staff, but there will also be external leaders and experts who will share their expertise and experience within the organisation. The human factor, but also the technological one: artificial intelligence will be among the tools used to make learning more effective and personalised, interactive and accessible on a large scale. For face-to-face training, more flexible and cost-effective formats have also been devised across the various sites, supported by a single Group training platform that will gradually be aligned with local systems.

The choice of location is a building, also known as the ‘Red Skyscraper’, deeply rooted in the company’s history and identity, with the winged lion standing out against its summit. Palazzo Berlam, with its red brickwork, evokes the grand buildings of early 20th-century New York: it houses the company’s prestigious archive, and its selection as the home of the Generali Excellence Academy takes on a profound sense of identity, where history and roots provide momentum for the future and the need to align everyone’s skills with the strategic plan of the group led by CEO Philippe Donnet.

The increased resources are needed to support growing targets, as the company aims to triple its upskilling rate – that is, the proportion of people who have successfully completed their training – from 31% in 2025 to 90% in 2027. In relation to this objective, the fact that 91% of the group’s employees cited training as central to their engagement provides a driving force for achieving results. The new Generali Excellence Academy is an evolution of the Group Academy established in 2014, which played a key role in promoting the group’s identity and supporting reskilling initiatives for critical skills and roles. The establishment of a single global academy will strengthen synergies and knowledge sharing across the countries where the company operates, with its 90,000 employees serving 75 million customers. By leveraging its multinational reach and internal expertise, the academy will serve as a central hub for the consistent management of strategic skills in support of the business and for developing a culture of excellence throughout the organisation. The task the company has entrusted to the academy is also to promote role modelling, collaboration and partnership at both global and local levels. As Donnet explains, the three-year plan “Lifetime Partner 27: Driving Excellence” has set ambitious goals and “the Generali Excellence Academy will play a key role in promoting a culture where human talent and technology work together, enabling our organisation to adapt, innovate and remain close to our customers”.