The Group re-opened the YES (Your Employee Shares) programme in February 2015. This scheme, serviced by treasury shares, enables employees to acquire Prysmian shares at discounts of up to 25%. The scheme was launched in 27 countries during 2013 and communicated via the production of 17,000 information kits in 25 different languages.
The objective of the initiative is to increase the engagement, sense of belonging and business understanding of our employees, making them owners of a small part of the Group in which they work and strengthening the internal perception of the Prysmian Group as “One Company”(32% of employees has taken the opportunity to purchase Prysmian Group shares ).
Working in collaboration with the Human Foundation, active in the social innovation sector, in 2014 the Group promoted a competition among undergraduate dissertations entitled “Technology for human beings”, targeting the students of three and five-year degree courses at the engineering and physics faculties of Italian universities.
The competition involved student discussion of the applicability of new technologies to sustainable development, and analysis of the technical and applicability issues in developing contexts and emerging countries. In promoting this competition, the Group decided to spotlight innovative studies of sustainable technologies linked to fields of application relevant to its businesses, giving concrete economic and training opportunities to the most outstanding students.
The Prysmian Group organised its first multi-Stakeholder Engagement event on the subject of sustainability in Milan during December 2014. The objective of this initiative, which has opened a new phase in relations with our stakeholders, was to promote dialogue and discussion about sustainability matters and the social responsibility of the Group.
The event was a strong sign of Prysmian’s desire to enhance substantially our commitment to sustainability. We wanted to share and agree ideas, projects and future priorities, in order to pursue sustainable and lasting growth based on the maintenance of a stable balance between the interests and expectations of all parties with which the Group interacts.
The Prysmian Group was awarded a contract for cabling the basic infrastructure at the site hosting the services, buildings and pavilions for the Milan Universal Exposition - Expo 2015. The Group will provide special eco-friendly and fire-retardant cables. In addition to providing exhibition space for participant countries, this location next to the new Milan Trade Fair complex in Rho-Pero will also host the thematic pavilions and the structures needed for major events and services.
The contract envisages the supply of 50 km of medium voltage P-laser cables, a high performance ecological product made from recyclable raw materials, as well as 300 km of low voltage cables from the Afumex range. In the event of fire, these cables restrict propagation with very low emissions of irritant and corrosive gases.