Development

THE NEW SKILLS MODEL

Consistent with the Company’s strategic re-orientation, a new skills framework was established in the first half of the year that applies to all development systems (Recruiting, Performance Management, Evaluation of Potential, Job Mobility) and helps identify and reward people who best fulfil the characteristics based on the current organizational and business context.

Development Model

[G4-LA11] Through the integration of all the assessment processes the development model aims to ensure accurate knowledge of people in order to create individual development plans fine-tuned to the characteristics of each person and aimed at managerial and professional improvement and growth. The development model is based on the skills model and takes account of the Business Strategy objectives, in order to improve the contribution of people to the new business needs and challenges.

The model consists of the following processes

• Recruiting and selection: in February 2016 the new Recruitment and Selection procedure was issued, aimed at integrating the processes for the internal and external scouting of professional and managerial skills. Again as part of the re-engineering of the process, in March the Recruiting module was issued on the new HR platform, called PeoplePlace. Over time the platform will enable the management of all the selection, development and training processes of the People in the company.
• External Recruiting: during the first few months of 2016, the skills requirement determined by the 2015 Plan was satisfied by hiring 32 recent graduates/professional apprentices, selected from 330 candidates.
• Internal Recruiting: 42 professional profile searches were started and completed via job posting, for which 780 applications were submitted.
• Onboarding programme: these programmes are intended to provide new recruits with the tools to optimise their speed of response. In May, an onboarding training process was launched for 76 colleagues newly hired between late 2015 and May 2016, and in October a second modular onboarding process was launched for a further 27 colleagues.
• [G4-LA11] Performance Management: The process involves the evaluation of the goals and behaviour of the entire workforce (managers, professionals and employees) and is divided into four phases (assignment of objectives, evaluation, feedback, development plans). In the first four months of 2016 the 2015 Performance Management process was concluded which involved the entire Domestic Business Unit (around 50,000 people): [G4-LA11] 99.8% of the people were evaluated by their manager, 99% of the people said they had received feedback from their manager, 91.3% of the people entitled received a 2015 post-performance development plan (including the managers). On 14 September, the 2016 Performance Management process was launched with the assignment of objectives and was completed in December.
• Individual development plans: an analysis and data processing system was designed, the Playbook, which, based on the results of the performance management supports managers in defining an individual development plan for each collaborator comprised of training initiatives, in-the-field actions and job rotation. The development plant assignment process was launched in July and completed at the end of October. In total, 32,392 plans were assigned (out of a target of 35,552 potential recipients), including 1,057 managerial plans (out of a total of 1,387 potential managerial plan recipients).
• Managerial Development: consists of a series of processes and plans (assessment of potential; appointment to executive grade; succession planning; managerial leadership development plans) for identifying and rewarding the existing and future managerial assets of the Company. These processes and plans creates a leadership growth promoting an internal scouting rather than an external recruiting.

Furthermore, the design of two new development processes is nearing completion:

• Knowledge Review, with the dual aim of mapping the technical skills existing in the Company and identifying the “knowledge holders”, i.e. people with critical skills. Following this verification process, individual development plans will be drawn up to enhance professional leadership;
• Motivation Review, which measures individual motivation based on aspects that are less conditioned by external factors - related to the environment - and therefore more stable over time. It is based on ad-hoc tools validated by testing within the Group.

In Brazil

In 2016 four main programmes were implemented in TIM Brasil which had a great impact on people, in coherence with the organizational changes and the competitive positioning on the market:

• Skills Model: after having defined the new strategic plan, TIM Brasil adopted the same Skills Model as the Group, focused on a process of selecting the people most geared towards meeting the company requirements. This model will guide all HR processes
•  [G4-LA11] Performance Evaluation¹: in 2016, a change was made to the evaluation scale, which now consists of 7 points, as indicated by TIM. This should bring benefits including a standardisation of the curve and a better distribution of results (omissis)
• Career paths: the Career Workshop programme continued in 2016 to promote personal reflection and encourage involvement and commitment to Career Management, to raise awareness and promote a proactive attitude in individuals, with a view to building a career and an Individual Development Plan.
• Culture: in 2016, we undertook a number of actions with tier 2 subordinates involving group coaching sessions to deal with management issues that are consistent with the level of maturity of the team.

TRAINING

[G4-LA10] Since it was launched in the first half of 2016, the TIM Academy (corporate university) has consolidated its role, developing an innovative approach to learning and sharing know-how, supporting the digital transformation process and the changes taking place in the company.

In summary, the TIM Academy offers programmes, courses and training, in classroom settings, online or on-the-job; it promotes the sharing of know-how and skills through communities, workshops, seminars and think tanks, with qualified national and international teachers and endorsers; it designs and delivers new digital learning formats: web-based training, videos, webinars, virtual learning, and a multidevice catalogue of training solutions that are always available and accessible.

The training activities are split into four macro-categories:

• management education;
• development of role-based and specialized skills, and new capabilities;
• development and empowerment;
• institutional and corporate culture.

For each of the above mentioned areas the main activities carried out in 2016 are set out below.

Management education

Managerial training is essential for determining the corporate strategy and technological and organisational change processes. There are two strands to this training:

• “SALP - Social Action Learning Program”: a training path that targets learning, collaboration and the generation of ideas. In 2016, it involved around 400 managers who, subdivided into competing teams, held discussions on the challenges faced the business, using digital and social working methods, with the aim of proposing innovative project to implement in the Company;
• “Online library”: which allows all managers to benefit from videos, webinars and materials from national and international speakers on business, finance, technology and leadership topics. In 2016, around 1,400 managers made use of the training content in the online Library.

Development of role-based and specialized skills, and new capabilities

[G4-LA10] Training to develop role-based and specialized skills as well as new capabilities is essential for the implementation of the strategic drivers, and therefore occupies a central role in the Group’s training investments plan.

These are the initiatives for 2016.

• “Single Front End”: the training accompanied the complex transformation of the Front End in the Network context, ensuring the operating effectiveness of people also by measuring the effectiveness of the training itself;
• “Skill improvement of Open Access On-Field Engineers”: the Skill Assessment project, aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the work force, was launched as a pilot in September 2015, involving the whole population of around 9,000 on-field engineers from January to June 2016. The plan was implemented in 8 campaigns of 3 days each, at 59 sites across the whole country. Participants took a test on the technical knowledge required for their role. The level of participation was 99.3%. In 2017, blended training will be provided to remedy the problems identified during the evaluation;
• “Line Digital Educator”: the project, arising from Open Access’ need to train 92 line trainers to improve the skills of the in-the-field technicians was also extended to other departments involving Technology and Health, Safety & Environment colleagues;
• “Induction training”: induction programme for people coming from the external market or from companies of the Group;
• “Maintenance and Development of corporate Certifications”: measures to enable participation in tenders and contracts in the private, Central and Local Public Administration sectors;
• “Fixed and Mobile Telecommunications”: 200 induction training colleagues, plus 30 from the specialised “TIM Personal Consultant” JobCenter path, benefited from an online course on network architectures and the latest TLC technologies, provided with the help of video, animations and exercises;
• “Evolution of mobile networks towards LTE-A and 5G”: a blended training path for around 50 Technology colleagues, designed and implemented entirely by the TIM Academy Faculty, with the aim of enhancing and sharing the Group’s distinctive skills in the field of mobile radio technologies;
• “Digital BSS consumer business and caring”: commercial training plans intended to ensure the continuous updating specialised skills needed for the post held, with a particular focus on the technical knowledge required by the business and consumer offer, customer management processes and evolutionary sales channel and digital marketing models.

Development and empowerment

This type of Education allows people to enhance their capacities in relation to the evolution of the skills required by the business and by the organizational context:

• “English@TIM”: language training guidelines were revised in 2016. Digital technologies have allowed English language courses to be made available to all employees. The online language learning platform allows a personalised English course to be put together, using the many items of content available: video, audio and articles about business and general topics in English; exercises, tests and in-depth study sections for each of the items of content used. The platform also provides opportunities to take part in virtual classes, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with teachers connected by video. For proven business requirements, individual blended training paths have also been activated for different levels of knowledge of the English language;
• “Leadership and Performance Management Model”: course intended for everyone in the Group and organised into different activities aimed at developing the culture needed to guide the behaviour of the Group’s employees. The courses have involved around 35,000 people;
• “Smart Working”: training course aimed at strengthening people’s awareness of the change process generated by the Smart Working project as well as developing the skills based on new cultural models and new working methods;
• “Talent In Action”: development and training project aimed at a specific segment of the population of about 1,000 people, which provides for the definition of individual action plans, based on an articulated training offer including around 80 different initiatives, designed according to the needs of the individual.

Institutional and corporate culture

This training aims at supporting the transformation of the organization culture in line with the evolution of the social, environmental and economic context and at disseminating knowledge of the contents required by the legal formalities.

The training initiatives promoted by the following functions and departments are included as part of this activity : Compliance (aimed at increasing knowledge and respect for the Group’s value, improving the skills in processes and procedures, as well as in the methodologies and the tools used), Health, Safety & Environment (aimed at ensuring compliance with the reference regulations on Safety in the workplace), and Regulatory and Equivalence ²(for topics relating to the Antitrust and Equivalence).

Moreover, the following activities were carried out:

• “Compliance Day”: the Compliance department has organized study days on Compliance issues for specific company departments.
• “Inside Information - Rights Management Services Training”: digital module regarding the handling of inside information. The course explains how to use the “Microsoft - Rights Management Services” application and illustrates the “Compliance requirements for the processing of inside information” procedure;
• “Antitrust”: a blended course, online and in the classroom, has been created with the aim of making employees aware of the correct application of the Antitrust regulations in the different operational departments of the company to ensure the maximum dissemination and awareness of the penalty and compensation risks above all for the departments that carry out sensitive activities. As the availability of the online module ended in 2015, around 50 classroom sessions were held in 2016 involving approximately 3,100 people. Using the mock cases³ participants gain awareness of all the parties involved in anti-trust issues, the Code of Ethics and Conduct, and the Code of Anti-trust Conduct adopted by the Company. At the end of the process, once the learning assessment test has been passed with 100% of answers correct, each participant is awarded an “open badge” to certify the knowledge gained;
• “The New Equivalence Model”: the training aims to raise awareness of the need to pay greater attention to equal treatment, the central importance of Wholesale customers, focus on process knowledge and on respect for operational procedures. Work has been done in particular on the Delivery and Assurance core processes and a “digital” training path has been implemented, aimed in particular at Open Access on-field and online engineers, to support change, with the intention of strengthening the culture of equivalence and testing operational conduct that is in keeping with the new processes, with full symmetry between Wholesale and Retail;
• “Safety”: as regards the obligations involved in the implementation of company prevention and protection measures deriving from current regulations, a series of training paths were provided in keeping with previous years aimed at ensuring the protection of all professionals that make use of the workplaces of the Group. All employees were involved in the compulsory safety modules.  

The Job Centre

[G4-LA10] In accordance with the company’s decision to enhance and develop internal skills to respond to the constant challenges imposed by business transformation, the Job Center was created to:

• reassign people currently involved in support activities to activities with a direct impact on the business and customers;
• professionally qualify people to be re-employed in activities previously entrusted to outside companies and now brought back in-house, while ensuring the protection of employment;
• support people through the diversification process, involving them in specialised training processes defined in the context of the TIM Academy⁴.

The Job Center is a professional opportunity which allows the Company to open up to the market more effectively and efficiently, with energy, skills and professionalism, while also allowing people to keep their professional profile constantly updated.

As of 31 December 2016, over 1,000 people were involved, around 72% of whom took part in and completed the crossover training course dedicated to gaining digital skills.

[G4-HR2], [G4-HR4], [G4-HR5], [G4-HR6], [G4-HR7] Finally, once again in 2016, all BU Domestic employees had access to the online course on respecting Human Rights, linked to the publication of the Group’s Human Rights Policy; the same course is currently being extended to employees of the Brazil BU in their local language. In 2016, in Brazil, the training mainly concerned compliance with the Code of Ethics and 231 Organisational Model, rules relating to health and safety at work and privacy matters.

TIM confirms its commitment to the cultural transformation process, launching training paths on the themes of Diversity (see dedicated paragraph in the People Caring section of this chapter). In Brazil all new recruits are required to attend training courses on company-wide issues, such as ethics, sustainability and environmental policies.

In 2016 as well, basic training and refresher courses were also carried out dedicated to Sales and Call Centre staff.                                  

[G4-LA9] The tables below show Group training hours by professional category. A comparative focus of training by gender is given in the Appendix.                         

[G4-LA9] In 2016, the Group spent 15 euro million, amounting to a cost of 236.12 euro pro capita, on training courses. As well as supporting improved future financial performance for TIM, there is an additional personal human capital gain for those personnel receiving training. The 15 euro million represents a lower-end estimate as it only reflects course costs rather than the value of the training.

[G4-HR2] Training linked to respect for Human Rights mainly related to the dissemination of the Group’s Human Rights Policy, compliance with the Code of Ethics and 231 Organisational Model (see Being sustainable in TIM), and the rules relating to Health and Safety at work and Privacy matters.

Number of hours of training on Human Rights6

Percentage of employees trained on Human Right6

[G4-HR7] All personnel operating in the Security Department of TIM are trained and updated on national and European Community legislation and regulations governing company safety, and go about their duties in complete compliance with all current company procedures and policies in force. More specifically, in order to protect the Company’s human, tangible and intangible resources and infrastructures, Security staff analyse risks and reports of safety incidents, preventing loss and limiting damages, interfacing with the Civil Protection Department and the other institutional entities responsible for managing emergencies or major events involving the various company assets. Security personnel do not perform crowd control duties nor escort people or values, which is instead a task institutionally assigned to the police force.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

[G4-LA10] In 2016 the deployment of Group’s Knowledge Management Model, which was launched in the early months of 2015 was strengthened and improved. The application of the knowledge management model during the pilot phase last year has allowed a culture of sharing to be promoted and disseminated, internal and external relationship networks to be created, knowledge to be exchanged and ideas to be generated, with the aim of fostering the Group’s innovation processes.

The model guided the creation of a platform that ensures and supports:

• capitalization, the transmission and development of people knowledge,
• research and innovation,
• competitiveness on the markets.

In particular, the model consists of a learning matrix, a governance system, a support team and a set of social and in-person cooperation tools, which make it easier to acquire new knowledge, disseminate best practices, share experiences and learning.

Moreover, at the same time as the launch of the TIM Academy’s technological platform, a social collaboration area was opened for training courses that allowteachers and participants of the individual courses to share knowledge generated in the classrooms: materials, content and conversations on the topics covered in the training. This space will include interaction with participants external to the company who make up part of the ecosystem of business processes (e.g. retail partners, external contact centres, PhD students, etc.).

Since June 2016, working with the Internal Identity department, TIM Smart Corners have been launched. These short informal meetings take place in the company and allow expert colleagues voluntarily to share their professional knowledge, with the aim of sharing and disseminating knowledge about the business, trying new forms of learning and fostering networking in the company.

The New Capabilities Observatory is currently being set up to identify emerging trends and new skills with a high business potential, benefiting from the contribution of various “observation hubs”, both within the Group and outside, such as partnerships with universities, research organisations and internal innovation centres. Both are privileged stakeholders of the Observatory, which acts as an integrator and point of contact within the wider knowledge ecosystem. In this context, the Pioneers Community was set up in October 2016, consisting of colleagues identified as knowledge “pioneers” in their field of expertise: a social media space for discussion and in-depth analysis dedicated to scouting for new skills and updating the specialised know-how of jobs and professions. The Community also acts as transmission belt for new know-how within the TIM Academy, to ensure innovative training that reflects the emerging challenges of new business activities and facilitate the constant renewal of professional profiles. 

COLLABORATIONS WITH SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

In 2016, the Company renewed its relationship model with the main stakeholders in the academic world, schools and institutional and social organisations, with the aim of further facilitating innovation and disseminating digital culture. Partnerships were therefore established and consolidated to generate value in the short to medium term, making its know-how available for the development and training of young people.

These partnerships were established through the following main initiatives:

• cooperation with secondary schools, as part of the Network Scuola Impresa project, set up in 2009 with the aim of creating a structured relationship with secondary schools, particularly in order to make the most of internal skills, get in touch with young people across the country and promote the company’s image. Particularly in the context of work-related learning, TIM has signed up to an experimental project run by Assolombarda called Alternanza Licei – Imprese TLC, which aims to test a model that combines the objectives of schools with those of companies;
• financing of scholarships to help young engineering and economics graduates achieve a postgraduate qualification: from 2011 to 2016, 166 doctorate scholarships (PhD) have been assigned for the development of specific research projects of interest to the company, the subjects of which range from cloud computing to geomarketing, from big data to e-health, from LTE to robotics, including issues related to web law and economics. For the three- year period 2017-2019 a further 6 doctorate scholarships (23rd cycle) are currently being activated;
• participation in the “PHD ITalents” pilot project managed by Fondazione CRUI⁷ on the instructions of the Ministry of Education and in partnership with Confindustria for the placement of research doctors in companies;
• funding of 10 scholarships for deserving engineering degree students, primarily from southern Italy, for each of the two-year programmes delivered by CONSEL- Consorzio Elis to develop ICT skills;
• collaboration in post-university study courses through 4 master’s programmes related to our business;
• the sponsorship of the “TIM Chair in Market Innovation”, at Milan’s Bocconi University, concluded in 2016;
• initiatives to disseminate sources of cutting-edge knowledge on the topic of digital transformation with the purpose of transferring knowledge aimed at supporting digital transformation and evolution, fostering the monitoring of new capabilities through participation and sharing events, think tanks with other companies, meetings with experts, and the dissemination of research on the topic. A significant agreement was reached with the POLIMI Business School for use of the cutting-edge content on the subject of digital transformation available on the Osservatori.net website of the MIP;
• involvement in the drafting of the “Osservatorio Università-Imprese” Report on dialogue and cooperation between Universities and Businesses, organised by the Fondazione CRUI, an important player in our ecosystem.

The partnerships activated act in synergy with the Employer Branding activities, contributing to positioning the Group among the Top 20 Best Employers of Choice in Italy (14th place). During the year, TIM also participated in 20 meetings at Universities and Schools, meeting over 5,000 students, degree students and recent graduates and getting some of the over 200 Employer Brand Ambassadors, young colleagues, involved with the staff. 35 training apprenticeships were launched from the beginning of 2016 onwards.

¹ In Brazil, assessment campaigns are repeated each year, involving all employees who have worked at least 149 days in the company. In 2016 the assessment process was completed with 91% coverage.

² For further information about the concept of Equivalence, see the “Undertakings regarding the access network” section under “The TIM Group”.

³ Casi ipotetici

⁴ Maggiori informazioni sulla TIM Academy sono contenute nel paragrafo “Formazione” di questo capitolo

⁵ As stated in the 2014 and 2015 Sustainability Report, the disclosure of this information in the Brazilian BU started in 2015.

⁶ CRUI acronym: Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane [Conference of Italian University Rectors]