Case study: How Snam promotes gender diversity
Snam is one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure operators and one of the largest Italian listed companies in terms of capitalisation. Snam believes that diversity and plurality are values that contribute to creating an open and stimulating work environment Tweet This!, promoting perspectives and points of view that encourage new ideas and effective and virtuous behaviour. Accordingly, valuing diversity represents a vehicle for cultural transformation that will make Snam more competitive, innovative and focused on the growth of people.
This case study is based on the 2019 Sustainability Report by Snam published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Promoting and ensuring equal opportunities for all employees and safeguarding diversity (race, religion, culture, gender and age), promoting dialogue and collaboration initiatives, is a top priority for Snam. In order to promote gender diversity Snam took action to:
- participate in Valore D
- take part in the InspirinGirls project
- implement a job shadowing programme
- organise the “Women in Security” initiative
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Snam has identified;
- How Snam proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Snam to promote gender diversity
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Snam identified a range of material issues, such as economic performance and value creation, climate change, health and safety, business integrity, infrastructure reliability and business continuity. Among these, promoting gender diversity stands out as a key material issue for Snam.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Snam engages with:
Stakeholder Group |
People |
Investors and lenders |
Authority |
Suppliers |
Communities and territories |
Customers |
Business partners |
Media |
Institutions |
Other operators |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Snam conducted online surveys with all categories of stakeholders and specific workshops dedicated to employees, customers and suppliers.
What actions were taken by Snam to promote gender diversity?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Snam reports that it took the following actions for promoting gender diversity:
- Participating in Valore D
- Snam has been a Contributing Member of Valore D since 2017, to support the company’s international growth now and in the future through the increasingly strong presence of women and colleagues of other nationalities. This collaboration provided employees with the opportunity to take classes to enhance the gender, generational and cultural diversity, to develop an inclusive culture, a factor of innovation, competitiveness and growth for people and businesses. In 2019 Snam took part in the inter-company training and mentoring programmes offered by the association and 3 in-house workshops were organised on the following subjects: Unconscious Bias, Happiness in the Company and Organisational Leadership.
- Taking part in the InspirinGirls project
- This is an international campaign (promoted by Valore D) aiming to create awareness among young women of their talent, freeing them of the gender stereotypes that hold back their ambitions. The project involves female volunteers from different industries and professions sharing their professional and life experience with young girls in high school, building a practical bridge between school and the world of work. In 2019 Snam took part in the project with 70 female role models. Additionally, a leadership development route was created for 20 young women working at Snam to improve their self-effectiveness and self-management for a more effective communication with their teams and to enhance their leadership style.
- Implementing a job shadowing programme
- Snam continued its collaboration with the LUISS Business School through the Job Shadowing programme, which gives female students the opportunity to shadow a top Snam manager for an entire working day. The objective is to promote, support and improve the personal and professional development of women with a particular focus on joining the job market and promoting their own professional career. In 2019 7 Snam managers and 8 students were involved.
- Organising the “Women in Security” initiative
- Snam, together with the Associazione Italiana Professionisti Security Aziendale (AIPSA) (the Italian Association of Corporate Security Professionals) and Deloitte, organised the “Women in Security” initiative in Milan to promote gender diversity in the field of security. The event focused on comparing the human and professional experiences of women working in corporate and institutional security. During the initiative, two scholarships were awarded to young workers to attend a specialist course, organised by the University of Salento, about the security and the protection of critical infrastructures.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 405-1 Diversity of governance bodies and employees
Disclosure 405-1 Diversity of governance bodies and employees corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.1, 5.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.5
78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Snam, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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