The “People Caring Centre” is a team of qualified psychologists and counsellors external to Telecom Italia whose mission is to:
- help people deal with difficult and stressful situations associated with work by taking actions aimed at groups and individuals;
- support anti-discrimination policies;
- contribute to developing personal and professional resources;
- promote well-being within the organisation and a People Caring culture;
- support women during maternity and on their return to the company;
- guide people within Telecom Italia in finding solutions to organisational and informational requirements
The pool of qualified psychologists and counsellors is available 4 hours a day, three times a week, and operates flexibly depending on the requirements reported.
The first contact with the employee using the Centre's services is made through a dedicated member of staff, who arranges a telephone appointment with a psychologist at the Centre or, if the request is of an organisational nature, directs the employee to the relevant company departments.
The process takes place in successive steps (according to a stepped-care approach) which match the requirements identified with various different counselling options.
For each action taken there is feedback and a final report. The information and documents resulting from the meetings cannot be used as elements or tools to assess the individual and cannot be used in any way by the parties involved.
Alongside the People Caring Centre there is a Human Relations Centre, the purpose of which is to:
- disseminate culture in this field;
- study innovative trends and both national and international best practice regarding counselling and coaching;
- monitor and analyse statistical and qualitative data.
A Committee consisting of employees of Telecom Italia and external professionals monitors the overall progress of the requests received, on a statistical level only, and suggests any improvement and promotion action that might be taken by the company in the field of people caring.
The project is currently being tested in four regions (Lazio, Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sicily) for subsequent rollout to the rest of the country.
Between Monday 29 November 2010 and Monday 28 February 2011, around 79 people contacted the People Caring Centre using the dedicated freephone number or sending an email.
Of these:
- 23 called asking for information about the operation of the service;
- 8 expressed great interest in making an appointment with the CPC but did not use the service because they were Telecom employees from regions not included in the pilot phase or employees of companies in the Telecom group;
- 48 asked for an appointment with the Centre.
As regards the profile of the people using the service, an initial survey of the 34 people who continued until the 4th interview shows:
- an equal number of men and women (17:17)
- a majority of diploma holders (20) compared to graduates (10). 1 person has a middle school leaving certificate and 3 have different educational qualifications.
- there is a greater demand from people between the ages of 40 and 50 (18), followed by those between 30 and 40 (9) and finally those between 50 and 60 (7).