The Group's strategy in relation to the Covid-19 emergency
Since 23 February 2020, the Group has taken immediate action both to implement all the preventive measures necessary to protect the health of employees and collaborators, in accordance with the provisions of the Ministry of Health and in collaboration with the competent medical officer, to limit the impact of the health emergency on operations and the performance of business areas.
These interventions have been integrated with a continuous activity of monitoring and communication of the developments of the situation, also in order to guarantee the entire company population real-time access to information essential for the safe performance of work activities.
In particular, the Mondadori Group:
- has set up a cross-functional Crisis Committee including workers’ representatives, which has been given the task of proposing the necessary urgent measures and coordinating interventions taking into account the specificity of the individual company areas;
- has promptly allowed the use of smart working, enabling almost all workers to carry out their work remotely and leaving only those in charge of supervising them in the offices;
- has published and made available to the entire company population a Company Protocol, containing the principles and rules adopted and to be adopted;
- has equipped itself with the necessary individual and company protection devices and has provided for the distribution to the company population of masks and disinfectant gel and installed spray dispensers inside the offices. It has provided for sanitation interventions in the workplace in coordination with the competent medical officier, the relevant authorities, Safety Managers and Workers’ Trade Union Representatives;
- has launched a new intranet platform accessible from all devices, which has allowed employees and collaborators a continuous contact with the company even from a distance;
- carried out, through workshops and online webinars, training on how to behave safely and remotely;
- introduced new services for employees and collaborators, including a website always accessible with all the necessary information, a dedicated email to ask specific questions and requests and psychological counseling online and at the company;
- offered employees the opportunity to take advantage, during the period of social distancing, of a series of initiatives carried out by the Group’s publishing houses, bookshops and brands, including a year’s free digital subscription to the Group’s periodicals and a temporary service that allows employees to purchase books from home at the same conditions applied by the company bookstore;
- assessed the adequacy of the measures adopted and their compliance with the principles of privacy regulations.
The Group has started an analysis of the organization models and processes to enhance current experiences and make them functional to achieve permanent benefits in terms of efficiency of some adopted and planned solutions (e.g. digitization, computerization and smart working activities first of all).
In addition to the actions indicated, the Group has implemented a series of interventions aimed at containing the impacts on its results deriving from the health emergency (and its containment interventions) and at safeguarding its economic-financial profile:
- has started an action to contain and reduce operating costs also through the renegotiation of contracts and the revision of tariffs, with an overall saving estimated, for the entire year, at 13 million Euro;
- implemented an action to reduce labour costs, estimated, for the entire year, at approximately 15 million Euro, through the use of past vacations and social shock absorbers, as well as deciding on the reduction of the management’s variable remuneration for 2020;
- has placed a targeted and timely attention to the optimization of the Group’s working capital (with specific actions on customers and suppliers);
- has implemented a policy of deferred payments in favour of book chains, independent bookshops and franchised bookshops in the Retail area aimed at preserving the vitality of the distribution channels and supporting the sector in which the Group operates.
In addition, with respect to the various business activities:
- in the Trade area, a reshaping of the editorial programs was carried out, with a plan to eliminate “minor” titles;
- in the Education area, the necessary actions were taken to contain or eliminate the costs relating to the blocking and cancellation of museum and archaeological park activities;
- in the Media area, a careful policy of reduction of production costs has been activated.