“Different geniuses – stories and business footprints”: 17 companies from Salerno share good practices in the field of gender equality
On July 7, 2022, at the headquarters of Confindustria Salerno, the presentation of the editorial project “Different geniuses – stories and business footprints,” curated by Francesca and Giuliana Saccà, took place.
The volume, starting from the experiences of Salerno entrepreneurs, testifies how gender equality is a founding element of doing business in our province. These stories are a starting point to spread this culture even more within companies and to show that gender equality is often synonymous with innovative organizational models, performance improvement and, ultimately, greater competitiveness of the company.
The volume tells the stories and good practices regarding gender equality of seventeen companies in the Salerno area: Agrioil spa in Roccadaspide; Bioplast srl of Fisciano; Diellemme srl of Salerno; Fmts group of Pontecagnano Faiano; Antonio Sada & figli s.p.a. of Pontecagnano Faiano; Incoerenze srl of Pellezzano; Maf srl of Pontecagnano Faiano; Michele Autuori srl of Salerno; O.m.p.m. officina meridionale di precisione meccanica srl di Angri; Pauciulo Strategie s.a.s. di Nocera Inferiore; Al.to srls di Battipaglia; Re ad s.r.l. di Salerno; Rinaldi group srl di Giffoni Valle Piana; Tekla s.r.l. di Sarno; Playgarden s.r.r.l. – Tenuta dei Normanni di Salerno; Wade world network italia s.r.l. di Salerno; R.p.n. s.r.l. of Nocera Inferiore
The initiative is part of the activities promoted by the Plural Women’s Committee of Confindustria Salerno as part of the European Horizon 2020 project “R&I Peers” aimed at investigating the role of gender diversity as an engine of innovation and change in companies. Starting from a survey to measure the degree of maturity in terms of gender opportunity in member companies, we tried to evaluate the contribution of women in terms of improving business performance.
From data of the sample of the 42 companies that participated in the Survey that measures the spread of policies to support equal opportunities in companies, it emerges that:
• over 90% of companies have widely adopted life-private/work balance policies reserved for women to safeguard maternity and breastfeeding, guaranteeing particular flexibility for women for permits related to family care, integrating them with “retention” policies to reduce the risk of resignation and loss of know-how and professionalism in the company
• more than 80% of companies promote product or process innovations and patents that are generated by women
• in 80% of the companies surveyed there is a high presence of women in the highest paid roles in the company. So women hold top leadership roles and participate in meaningful business decisions.
The opportunity to hear from the hands-free voice of female entrepreneurs their very personal way of doing business and interpreting their leadership: all this is Geni Diversi – stories and business imprints, with the aim of recreating real snapshots by grasping strengths and areas of improvement of the business realities of the Salerno area.
Stories and business footprints that revealed the stories of their beginnings, passing through the crucial stages experienced, also focusing attention on the theme of innovation and their personal approach to it, networking skills, relational skills, problem solving, decision making are just some of the distinctive features of these companies that opened their doors, facilitating a storytelling that had the ambition to bring out the personal-professional experiences of their protagonists. It is the theme of gender equality that dominates, crossing stories with the desire to insist on gender policies, work and life balance strategies and the ability of companies to address the delicate issue of smartworking, flexibility and more generally the work-home interface.
The underlying goal of the entire project has been very concrete: to enhance the female talents present in our industrial fabric, but not exclusively.
The broader intent is to demonstrate what and how consistent are the social, economic and socio-organizational returns of gender diversity in companies, through the story of some “best practices” collected in the volume, with the hope that it can contribute to the evolution of the debate on these issues for a more balanced and healthy society in the relationship between life and work between men and women.