7
Prysmian Group Insight
FOCUS ON
But how will the plan impact on
perceptions of the Prysmian Group,
and not only among employees?
“First of all, we’re hoping employees
will embrace YES. After all, it’s a
great opportunity to own a piece of
the business for themselves – and
at a discounted rate of up to 25%
of the market price of our stock.”
He’s also hoping that
Prysmian
people “will be keen to take up
our offer, as it demonstrates
our commitment not only to
them, but to the future of our
industry, because it shows the
understanding we have of how
the performance of a company
can be affected by the attitudes
of the people working for it.”
On top of that, the CEO states that
he’s “a strong believer in sharing
skills and knowledge”, and points
out that, “By offering shares in
Preparations for the launch of the
YES programme began in June 2013
and involved almost all countries
where Prysmian Group is active,
as well as most of the functions of
the Group, under the co-ordination
of the Human Resources and
Communication Departments.
YES was, in fact, put together by
HR Director Fabrizio Rutschmann.
In developing and structuring
the plan, Prysmian Group was
assisted by specialist consulting
firms Hay Group and Ernst&Young,
while Interbrand supported the
communication activity and BNP
Paribas was involved in the financial
structure of the scheme.
A key element which contributed
to the success of the launch of
YES was the creation of special
Ambassadors, people selected at
local level, specially trained for the
purpose and devoted to explaining
and supporting the plan among
employees. In total, more than
200 Ambassadors were deployed
globally. In order to have all aspects
and benefits of the plan well
understood among employees in
each country, the Communication
Department deployed a full set of
information tools: from brochures
to leaflets, and from posters to
presentations to a video and
dedicated intranet site.
In particular, the posters gave
Prysmian people in every country
the opportunity to show their
enthusiasm for the project, featuring
their faces and allowing them
to become an active part of the
campaign and its success.
The communication activity and
key messages were implemented
into different formats for different
employees, in order to achieve the
goal of reaching every Prysmian
Group worker across the globe.
At its heart, the employee stock
ownership plan gives all employees
a chance to own a part of the
company they work for. So it was
vital for the success of YES to
demonstrate the commitment of
the Group to present the plan in
a suitable and meaningful way to
every one of them.
Key factor of success: people
the business to employees, we’re
giving them another reason to take
a deeper interest in the business as
a whole and hopefully even inspire
them to expand or diversify their
own skills from within the Group.”
When asked about the secret of
Prysmian Group’s success Mr.
Battista has no hesitation: “Always
staying one step ahead,” and the
YES programme is yet another
example of how to do so. “Our
mission,” explains the CEO, “is to
design, develop and implement
infrastructures that connect
communities around the world,
maximizing the visibility of our
success across the many countries
in which we operate. We have
such diversity in our people, the
industries we work with and our
operations, and yet still feel like part
of one very big family.”
