there is a great chance to change Italy, starting from work and training – Corriere.it

A very rapid evolution. To the point that the normal training course is unable to respond to the needs of the labor market because, over time, those needs have already changed.

«We are facing a structural and not a cyclical evolution – explains Francesco Baroni, responsible for the Italian market of Gi Group – from which there will be no turning back. The dynamics of turnovercombined with the impact of the demographic decline, mean that the transitions underway, capable of deeply affecting the skills market, represent a great challenge for the world of training, for all our client companies and also for us at Gi Group”.

Founded in Milan in 1988 by Stefano Colli-Lanzi, still today the sole shareholder of the group, Gi Group is today a reality with over 6,500 direct employees and a turnover (data at the end of 2021) of 3.3 billion euros, which generated a gross profit of 420 million euros, up 10 percent on 2020 with more than 20,000 business customers.

Francesco Baroni is responsible for the Italian market, the most important for the group, even though about half of the turnover is generated outside the domestic borders. The adoption of digital technologies, which during the years of the pandemic have undergone a significant acceleration, combined with a profound change in the approach to the world of work, have changed the reference landscape.

«We have registered a paradigm shift – says Baroni -: more and more frequently it is the candidate who chooses, while the company encounters objective difficulties in acquiring the talents it needs for its own development. We are in the middle, increasingly involved in the role of enablersof enablers capable of bridging the gap of candidates’ skills. Ours is a role in which the use of digital technologies is increasingly decisive, but where the human, training and human touch continue to make the difference”. Continuous change has also changed the profession of Gi Group, born as a supplier of temporary work (temporary staffing) and today more and more engaged in research and training, in the improvement of work skills, in the reskillingThis is also because the average age of workers is rapidly moving upwards.

Variations

“The change underway – continues Baroni – has also created an incredible opportunity to move that gigantic world of inactive people and above all the so-called NEET, or those who are not engaged in study, work or training. A growing number, which for Italy can represent a real great resource. But about the universe NEET it is advisable to leave the clichés: it is not the comforts acquired, perhaps in the family of origin, that determine inactivity, but rather the mismatch between skills and demand, the fear of facing an increasingly complex job market and also the fact that, sometimes, the meeting between supply and demand has been disappointing. Not always, but it also happens that candidates are paid little, while other times some companies, faced with a limited income proposal, are ready to invest in training, which means giving the worker perspective and future».

In a moment of wide discontinuity, the change in the executive is only one of the aspects that can condition the near future of the country. «We ask the government – continues Baroni – to adopt a non-ideological approach to the labor market and a greater openness to reality than in the past, both for the management of flexibility, active policies and professional training. Apprenticeship and dual training are underused formulas in Italy, but they are fundamental for the country’s development and growth. As well as a very important aspect is the strengthening of the ITS, the higher technical institutes. Politics has recognized its importance, now we hope we will be able to ground what has, up to now, only been hypothesized ».

New profiles

Another important issue is the participation of women in the world of work. A contribution that could be more massive.

«With the development of the plan Industry 4.0 there has been an extremely vertical development of the labor market and a very coherent offer has been formed with the new professions. These transitions make many new roles coherent with the female world and in this, in the ability of women to cover new roles, we at Gi Group have played an important, facilitating function. I am thinking of industries such as ICT, mechanics, logistics, which today offer great employment and career opportunities to the female universe. Our typical customer, a large company that experiences the issue of its own competitiveness through the development of teams that are a distinctive element for the worker, has understood this and is taking advantage of it».

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