Source: Confcommercio press office
Tuesday 23 November at 11 a.m., Sala Giunta, 5th floor, Confcommercio headquarters, via Venier 55.
Bringing the world of volunteering closer to the world of business in order to provide unemployed workers receiving benefits with opportunities for integration and retraining in the world of
work.
This is the aim of the agreement signed in February 2015 by EBiCom – Ente Bilaterale Territoriale della Provincia di Treviso and Volontarinsieme CSV Treviso, now CSV Belluno Treviso. The
project, initially launched with a memorandum of understanding, in over five years has become an active policy tool called ViPS (proximity, proximity, support) that has produced significant results
in terms of employment and social cohesion.
Six years after the implementation of ViPS, the employment and social impact of the project was assessed by a special survey commissioned by CSV Belluno Treviso to Giorgio Paladin, a
professional outplacement expert involved in innovative projects for social and active ageing.
Many criteria were used to assess a project that contains various distinctive elements, demonstrating in practice that it can be fully placed in the circular economy by combining profit and
non-profit, having made excellent use of bilateral funds for active policies.
Employment results
The beneficiaries of the project – a total of about 160 workers were involved – came 88.5% from the trade sector, 3.3% from the services sector and 8.2% from the tourism sector. Among the levels,
the majority (70.5%) were employed, only 3.3% had the level of cadre. After an initial start-up phase in 2015, the project stabilised in the three-year period 2017-2018-2019 to record a surge in
2020, in line with the fall in employment in the service sector determined by Covid.
Among the activities carried out in the world of volunteering – for a total of over 28,000 hours of service – 46% concerned educational and entertainment activities, 47% management support, 21%
social transport, and the remaining 20% other activities, underlining the broad versatility and usefulness of the commitment.
Results in “human capital
In terms of “personal enrichment” and “professional skills”, the survey presents eloquent data. Seven of the skills taken into consideration have improved: teamwork, organisational skills,
problemsolving, communication effectiveness, self-esteem, expressiveness, empathy, curiosity, various “transversal and professional” skills: communicating effectively with others (for 45.9%),
problem-solving skills (for 57.4%), organisational skills (for 52.5%), knowing how to work in a team (45.9%).
On the whole, the positive effects that push the evolution of volunteering by inserting the concept of regulated commitment, the contribution of skills from the profit world for an optimal
combination of experience and work energy, accelerating the time of relocation in the labour market, in many cases in the third sector, and giving back to the unemployed worker an economic
integration to the social shock absorber, appear evident.
In general, to temporarily unemployed workers, the volunteering experience produced evident “well-being” on a psychological level, producing four fundamental results: the rhythmic regulation of
time, the feeling of usefulness and contribution to the world, the visibility of identity and new opportunities for socialisation, so much so that 36.1% of workers, even after completing the
experience and finding a new job, continued to carry out voluntary work.
It is clear, – explains EBiCom President Adriano Bordignon, – that this “piece of the road” taken together has produced good, tangible results, two worlds that talk to each other
and help each other. Above all, it has shown that it is possible to implement active employment policies with clear benefits for companies, voluntary associations, workers and their families. The
professional and personal enrichment obtained by workers is the best prevention against psychological and social discomfort.
Less discomfort, faster re-employment, more skills, become growth factors for the economy and society as a whole. Unfortunately, we are not used to measuring well-being, and the GDP does not
take these projects into account. Today we have new indicators that can be used to transform this project from a territorial pilot experience into a stable and structured active policy.
For over six years – says Alberto Franceschini, President of CSV Belluno Treviso – the ViPS project has proven its usefulness in improving not only the economic but also the
psychosocial situation of many workers in the service sector who have experienced a temporary state of difficulty. These results, which were further confirmed during the difficult pandemic phase,
urge us to evolve in our thinking and acting, so that the collaboration between CSV and EBiCom can be a model for testing new agreements with bilateral bodies in other production sectors.
This is a good practice to be proposed in other territorial contexts. The hope is that, also thanks to this pilot project, company and territorial bargaining will spread with increasing
conviction and strength, made up of agreements that provide the possibility for workers to take paid leave to carry out voluntary work. Innovative, then, – continues Franceschini, –
could also be the launch of an experiment dedicated to those close to retirement, which regulates a progressive reduction in working hours, on the one hand to encourage the integration of young
people, and on the other to promote the performance of activities of collective interest, such as voluntary work.
