Italy Complete Draft 3

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Italy's Human Resource Analysis:

International HR Paludi

Nick Salvatoriello

August, 2008

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The Country I selected to study was the country of Italy. My reasons

for choosing this country, outside of my Italian ancestry, is the fact

that I know so little about the management practices of this major

industrialized country. If my analysis on the labor market in the region

proves to be positive, I may one day consider expatriating to this

country for employment as well.

The Resources I am beginning my background study are as follows:

1.) European Industrial Relations Dictionary 2006: Human Resource

Management (HRM): ItalySupplied my M. Paludi, July 2008

2.) R. Sensi, U. Percivalle, Italian Labour Law Reform, (Article supplied

my M. Paludi, July 2008)

3.) G. Hofstede: Italy Analysis (Article supplied my M. Paludi, July

2008)

4.) P. Dowling, M. Festin, A. Engle, International Human Resource

Management: Managing people in a multinational context, (Thomson

Higher Education, Mason OH 2009)5.) Public Administration Reform and HRM System in Italy. (2000)

(Article supplied by M. Paludi, July 2008)

Italy is a country comprising roughly 58.2 million people. Located in

southern Europe, it includes the island of Sicily in the south and

stretches up to the Alps in the north. The primary language spoken by

its citizens is Italian. Italy is a republic and has functioned as a unifieddemocratic country since the end of the Second World War. Within its

borders is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church (Vatican City).

Although the country has no official religion, the majority of Italy's

citizens are Roman Catholic.

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Italy has strong sectors in fashion and banking (which was originally

invented in the city of Milan in the Renaissance period). Opportunities

that exist in Italy for foreign investment and multinational employers

operating in Italy can expect labor reform efforts to continue

significantly in the coming years. The strongest areas are in the

fashion and finance industry. The banking industry has recently been

revitalized and will fall under the frame of a Nation Labor Collective

agreement. Human Resources structures and labor reforms have been

slow to develop here and a series of laws and reforms passed in the

1990's promise to bring a more structured environment into the labor

market. In a general sense the state of Italy's economy is strong

as one of the largest in Europe along with many of the larger western

European countries. Since Italy is a part of the European Union (for

better or for worse) their national currency is the euro.

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PART TWO: Human Resource Management Functions of Italy

Overview/History:

In the late 1990s took steps to create specific human resource

management structures. The tasks of recruiting, hiring, retaining, and

providing competitive compensation structures were almost non-

existent in discussions on developing competitive international

corporations. Italian "personnel management departments" had, until

the 1960's, been almost non-existent even in large enterprises and

performed purely service related functions confined to the

interpretation of current regulatory provisions and tasks of an

"administrative and disciplinary nature.1

It was from this relatively late point that Italys HRM system began to

evolve. It began as mainly a supportive structure in the 1960s and

served the purpose of winning the commitment of employees to

company objectives. New management techniques were introduced

such as hiring selections based on testing, job evaluations and on-the-job training for professional and managerial staff. 2

This was not enough for many industries however and Italy

experienced a period in the 1970s of industrial actions by the unions in

that country known as the hot autumn. This revealed clearly how

critical the need was for more sophisticated and powerful human

resource management structures. As a result, both personnelmanagement functions and company-level bargaining structures were

1 Emire: Italy Human Resource Management (HRM), 2003

www.eurofound.europa/emire/Italy/HUMANRESOURCE MANGEMENTHRM/2 Emire: Italy Human Resource Management (HRM), 2003

www.eurofound.europa/emire/Italy/HUMANRESOURCE MANGEMENTHRM/

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developed. Personnel department managers were now entrusted with

the direct function of mediation between company management and

employee representatives.

The 1980s and 1990s saw changes in the global context surrounding

enterprises and the attitudes of the actors of industrial relations

themselves. This led to a redefinition of the roles, activities and

perspectives of the personnel management functions within Italian

enterprises.3

Though there still an ongoing debate in Italy on the proper role and

place for the personnel department in modern Italian companies,

human resource management techniques, laws, and structures

continue to become more sophisticated.

An overview of the anti-discrimination laws in Italy:

The Hoffstede Analysis for Italy concludes that in Italian culture, great

emphasis is placed on masculinity. Italy is a fairly macho-centeredsociety but is it prone to discriminatory policies? The Hofstede Analysis

found that power distance is ranked considerably lower there than

other Western European countries that its score are similar to, such as

Germany. Italys lower power distance score shows that the country is

working to de-emphasize the differences between its citizens power

and wealth4.

Further sources on both the government and corporate side of Italy

3 Emire: Italy Human Resource Management (HRM), 2003

www.eurofound.europa/emire/Italy/HUMANRESOURCE MANGEMENTHRM/

4 G. Hofstede: Italy Analysis (Article supplied my M. Paludi, July 2008)

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show that the country is attempting to support a non-discriminatory

workplace. On March 6, 1998 Italy enacted Law No. 40 concerning the

immigration of non-European Union nationals. The law has been

supplemented with additional regulations since then. Further

regulations are needed however and comprehensive immigration laws

regarding both EU and non-EU nationals are being prepared5.

To understand how current anti-discrimination laws are taking effect

on the industrial side of the HRM system, I examined the hiring sites of

several major Italian companies. One of the companies I looked at was

Italy's flagship automobile manufacturer, the Fiat Group. The legal

notice posted on their hiring website states that Fiat Group companies

offer equal employment opportunities to male and female workers

without discriminating according to sex, pursuant to Law 903/77 and

Law 125/916. The citing of this law under the hiring practices of one of

Italy's largest companies is evidence that proper anti-discrimination

laws are in place and are taken into account in Italian corporations.

Data protection and sensitivity are clearly something Italy has been

focusing on in its HRM system. The individual's right to privacy is not

only acknowledged at Fiat, but on other corporate websites such as

Italy's famed gun maker, Beretta, as well. On Berettas website,

Article 7 of the Italian Data Protection Act is cited within the privacy

policy and so reads:

Subjects Rights: The subject to whom the personal data refer enjoys

5 R. Sensi, U. Percivalle, Italian Labour Law Reform, (Article supplied my M.

Paludi, July 2008)6 Legal Site, The Fiat-Group (http://www.job-fiat-careers.com/fe/tpl_fiat01.asp?newms=INFO2), Aug 2008

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the rights specified in art. 7 of the Italian Data Protection Act,

including the right to obtain erasure, anonymisation or blocking of

data that have been processed unlawfully, and to object, on legitimate

grounds, to the processing of personal data concerning him/her7.

Standard Hiring Practices in Italy

A review of my sources reveal some trends in the standard hiring

practices in both the private and public sector. The number of

modifications to Italian labor law occurred in the late nineties both

through new legislation and through court decisions that established

new precedents concerning employee-work environments. For

instance, the first National Labor Collective Agreement for employees

of temporary work agencies was signed. The NLCA covers issues that

are particular to the position of temporary employees such as union

representatives rights, levels of employees, hiring documents, and

probationary periods.8

Italy has also passed laws that protect the sensitive data of job

applicants during hiring procedures. In 2003 came Article 13 of

Legislative Decree 196/2003 "Personal Data Protection Code" which

required that all employers inform their applicants that all of the data

voluntarily provided by the candidates would be processed exclusively

for the purposes of hiring and evaluating personnel9.

7 Beretta.com (Aug 2008)8

R. Sensi, U. Percivalle, Italian Labour Law Reform, (Article supplied my M.

Paludi, July 2008)9 Hiring Site, The Fiat-Group (http://www.fiatgroup.com/en-us/joinfiat/),August 2008

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In 1998, the Corte di Cassazione (Italys highest court) made decisions

No. 3043 and No. 7012 which affected the supply of workmanship in

the country. These decisions held that the supply of mere working

activity falls under the strict prohibition of mediation and supply of

workmanship, even if provided by members of a co-operative

corporation and not by subordinate employees. These decisions are

important for researching Italys recruitment procedures because of

there are many co-operative corporations offering their services in the

Italian labor market10.

Guidelines for Job Sharing have been put in place as well. In 1998 the

Italian Ministry of Labour issued Circolare No. 43/98 which was a

guideline on job sharing which, up until that point, had not been

regulated in Italy. The regulation was not made binding nationally

however as the government chose to leave that position up to the

national collective or individual employment agreements in order to

regulate this subject instead11.

Companies are in fact choosing to implement job-sharing (whereby

two workers share the same position) into their standard hiring

practices. In October 2002, a new company agreement was signed by

trade unions and management at Italys leading confectionery

manufacturer, Ferrero. The agreement contains a number of

innovations, most notably the experimental introduction of job-

sharing, variable pay and the future establishment of new joint bodies.

10R. Sensi, U. Percivalle, Italian Labour Law Reform, (Article

supplied my M. Paludi, July 2008)

11 R. Sensi, U. Percivalle, Italian Labour Law Reform, (Article supplied my M.

Paludi, July 2008)

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The agreement confirms the hiring procedures applied at Ferrero which

generally proceed along the following stages:

1.) Fixed-term employment relationships on the basis of local

agreements

2.) 'Vertical part-time' open-ended employment relationships, on

the basis of local agreements (full-time work only during

certain periods of the week, month or year); and full-time

open-ended employment relationships 12.

Compensation Structures:

Salaries vary considerably for the same job in different regions of Italy.

Expatraites working in Milan and other northern cities are generally the

highest paid, primarily due to the high cost of living, particularly

accommodation. Salaries are generally similar to those in Britain, but

lower than those in the USA. In the managerial category, staff may

receive from 2,900 per month, office staff receive from around

1,300 per month, while manual workers receive from 1,100 and

agricultural workers around 1,600. A foreign executive may find that

his salary is much higher in Italy. Italian executive salaries were lower

than the international average in the 1970s and 1980s, but have since

caught up and even surpassed some of their competitors 13.

In 1993, Prime Minister Amato launched the idea of a social pact which

12 D. Paparella, V. Rinolfi,Job-sharing introduced at Ferrero, Eironline, 2003

(www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2002/12/inbrief/it0212103n.htm)

13 G. Chesters. Living and Working in Italy Survival Books Ltd. London, August, 2007

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mainly concerned income policy and the reform of collective

bargaining. The policys list of objectives included a new structure of

collective bargaining on two levels with the national level in charge of

the safeguard of real wages and the secondary company level which

would be in charge of fair distribution of wages by index and new

union representation structure in the workplace. This new social pact

was approved by 67% of workers in a referendum and officially signed

on July 22, 1993 in the Prime Ministers office. It created a new system

of income policy as well as a new system of union representation at

the workplace level14.

On the government-worker side, the Italian administration continues

to use polices encouraging performance based pay and places great

importance on it. An article I researched - Public Administration and

Reform and HRM System in Italy- states that, according to the

provisions of recent rules and collective agreements, public managers

are evaluated in respect to achieved goals and thus, their

remuneration partially depends on their performance.

Provisions for Integrating work and family roles:

Ferrero is one of the many good examples in the reading of how Italy

approaches work and family values. There are provisions in a couple

of organizations that define both their human capitals work and family

roles.

Job-sharing conducted at Ferrero plants show a respect for the needs

of their workers. For instance, their policy allows working mothers,

14 Social Pacts in Italy: July 22 1993. International Labour Organization. www.ilo.org

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hired on full-time open-ended contracts that have completed the

standard maternity leave that is provided nationally, to have an

additional time off until their child is three years old.

Ferreros job-sharing practice is further evidence of Italian provisions

for integrating work and family, as these new mothers who were

initially hired on full time open-ended contracts a allowed to job share

after giving birth and thus are allowed to start families without giving

up their right to work15.

5. Provisions For Italian Employees with Disabilities:

Although there was extensive coverage on anti-discrimination

legislation in the EU in general and many specific Italian initiatives

protecting racial/gender bias. The publications and companies I

researched lacked significant evidence of provisions within Italian labor

law for individuals with disabilities. The most encouraging evidence

was garnered from the EU monitoring and Advocacy Program,

eumap.org. This publication is run by The Open Society Institute. OSI

is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that implements a

range of initiatives to promote open society by shaping government

policy and supporting education, media, public health, and human and

women's rights, as well as social, legal, and economic reform 16.

An article on the site referenced EU Charter of Fundamental Right by

the European Council in Nice in December 2000 that called on all EU

member states to provide not just a single EU market, but also a

15 D. Paparella, V. Rinolfi,Job-sharing introduced at Ferrero, Eironline, 2003

(www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2002/12/inbrief/it0212103n.htm)16 The Open Society Institute: About OSI http://www.eumap.org/about/OSI (August,

2008)

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community of values 17. While this legislation does not reference

specific provisions for employees with disabilities in the Italian

workplace, it is evidence that Italy is part of a regional attitude shift

towards an accommodating atmosphere for the disabled.

Further evidence of provisions for protecting the rights of employees

with disabilities in Italy is in the Amerterdam Treaty, signed and

applicable to all EU members, is a further legislation against

discrimination based on race, religion, disability, age and sexual

orientation.

The final provision protecting employees with Disabilities is Article 26

: Intergration of persons with disabilities in the Charter of

Fundamental Rights of the European Union signed by Italy in 2007. It

states:

The Union recognises and respects the right of persons with

disabilities to benefit from measures designed to ensure their

independence, social and occupational integration and participation inthe life of the community18.

This example joins many other being implemented by the European

Union, of which Italy is a founding member.

17 J. Swiebel. Gay and Lesbian Rights and EU Enlargement.http://www.eumap.org/

(August, 2008)18 Charter of Fundamental Rights: the Presidents of the Commission, European

Parliament and Council sign and solemnly proclaim the Charter in Strasbourg: Brussels,

12 December 2007

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_Fundamental_Rights_of_the_European_Union )

August, 2008

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6.) Recruiting Employees - Italian Style:

Italian labor law has become a major factor in attracting foreign

investors to Italy. Work employment relationships are regulated by the

Constitution, the Civil Code, the Workers Bill of Rights (Statuto dei

Lavoratori) and other Laws and Decrees. Terms and conditions of

employment are also periodically reviewed and updated by collective

labor agreements in different professional categories.

Decree 276/2003 introduced major changes to employment rules

increasing flexibility in the market to help reduce unemployment. In

my research, two major changes stand out:

1.)New types of contracts have been created to enable companies

to reduce labor costs significantly in periods of reduced output

2.)New provisions for independent contractors permit job

placement only where necessary for the performance of a

specific project.

Some of these new provisions are already in place and are being used

successfully by many companies19.

The public administrations recent initiatives also make for a great case

study in recruitment. When it comes to recruiting the top talent of

their country, Italy's public sector did not get high marks. However,

recently they have implemented some novel methods of boosting

productivity and competition among managers in the public sector by

19 Italian Trade Commission,Labor Market(2004-2007) National Agency for Inward

Investment and Enterprise Development & ICE

www.investinitaly.com/context_investmentguide/

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partnering with talent from the private sector.

A new law was adopted by the Italian Parliament in 2002 that aims to

reform the public management system. One of the aims of this reform

law was to create the new image of a more modern and attractive

public administration. The law applies to the recruiting procedures of

public managers and allows for the greater exchange of competencies

between public and private management and also encourages a higher

level of performance in both. In Italy, permanent managerial staff of

the State can be recruited now from two sources; the Senior school for

public administration and from professionals selected among private

managers. The Senior school recruiting procedure is typically done by

having a particular administration (or the school itself) host an open

competition and the managers selected during those competitions can

be appointed to public office.

The new private sector recruiting rule means administrations can now

also appoint managers that are currently in the private sector andengage their employment for a fixed period of time. The professionals

appointed in this way do not become part of the organizational chart,

but have related experience and seniority to lend to the administration

they are appointed to service.

The addition of a private sector recruiting procedure ruling serves two

purposes; to increase competition among managers and to experimentwith new methods in public organizations by introducing professionals

with different experience20.

20Public Administration Reform and HRM System in Italy. (2000)

(Article supplied by M. Paludi, July 2008)

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7.) Italy & EU Retention Strategies:

Italy and indeed the EU appear favorable in the benefits they offer to

high level executives in order to retain their service. Many companies

offer a range of benefits for executives and managers that may include

a company car (although rare in Italy), private health insurance and

health screening, all expenses-paid holidays, private school fees,

inexpensive or interest-free home and other loans, rent-free

accommodation, free or subsidised company restaurant, sports or

country club membership, non-contributory company pension, stock

options, bonuses and profit-sharing schemes, tickets for sports events

and shows, and business conferences in exotic places 21. Clearly, US

companies sending their next generation of top managers in Italy had

better be prepared to provide comparable benefits to their employees

lest they come off too cheap to provide an adequate benefits

package as lavish as those referenced above.

There are less excessive retention strategies being implemented inItaly as well to retain their workers and protect their jobs. One of

these is making their taxation system more employment friendly.

An article on employement in the European Union wrote that over the

last 15 years the development of taxation systems as well as social

security contributions have been unfavourable to employee retention in

most Member States. The implicit tax rate on employed labour has

increased steadily from 35% in 1980 to over 42% in 1996, onaverage, in the Member States. In response, Italy is carrying out tax

reforms by shifting the financing of the national health system from

payroll taxes and contributions towards the general taxation system,

21 G. Chesters. Living and Working in Italy Survival Books Ltd.

London, August, 2007

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respectively through a program called Imposta Regionale sulle Attivit

Produttive (IRAP) 22. The goal of Italys program and those like it from

other Member States is a gradual reduction in the fiscal pressure on

labor and non-wage labor costs, particularly for the relatively unskilled

and low-paid workers in the country, without jeparodising their

government benefits.

Both of these examples show the range of public and private efforts

throughout Italy to provide HRM strategies for retaining both the

management and line-level employee.

Health and Safety in the Italian Workplace:

According to the Italian Department of Trade, employers must adopt

all necessary measures needed to preserve the physical and mental

safety of employees at their given place of work. This means that, by

law, Italian employers must carry out dedicated risk assessments and

organize prevention and protection systems. Employees and theirrepresentatives have the right to check the implementation of health

and safety standards. The ITC also claims the countrys labor

proceedings are faster than ordinary proceedings thanks to special

provisions in the Italian Code of Civil Procedure that require allegations

and evidence be submitted with the first statement of defense23.

Moreover, insurance against accidents at work is compulsory.Compulsory insurance provides employee coverage in the event of

22 Working Document: Analysis of the National Action Plans on Employment 12/05/1998

(http://europa.eu/rapid/) August 200823 Italian Trade Commission,Labor Market(2004-2007) National Agency for Inward

Investment and Enterprise Development & ICE www.investinitaly.com/context

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damages incurred between the employees home and the workplace or

between different work places24.

This policy is overseen by the INAIL The Workers Compensation

Authority and designed specifically to protect workers involved in risky

activities and to reintegrate those workers injured on the job back into

the labor market as well as their social life. An overview of the

mandatory policy on the INAILs website states:

The safeguard of workers is now more than ever an integrated

protection system - as a result also of recent innovative provisions of

law-ranging from prevention on the workplace to health and economic

benefits, medical treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration in the

social and working life of victims of physical damage consequent to a

work related accident or professional disease25.

In closing with regard to the human resource management functions

of Italy, the agreements and decisions on the part of public and privateorganizations within the past twenty years have created stable and

recognized rules and provisions in the countrys HRM system. Social

dialogue, innovative practices by major corporations, and government

action all demonstrate that Italy is working hard to catch up and

provide workers the support and protection shared by other leading

global economies.

THIRD SECTION: Lessons Learned

24 Italian Trade Commission,Labor Market(2004-2007) National Agency for Inward

Investment and Enterprise Development & ICE www.investinitaly.com/context25 INAIL: Workers Compensation Authority (Updated to April 2001) www.inail.it

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Human resource practices in Italy that intrigued me:

I was intrigued to find that the practice of human resources neglected

for so long as a serious strategic part of companies operating in Italy

and indeed in the national economy. I was also intrigued to learn how

incompatible Italys business structure was with the rest of the EU in

terms of bureaucracy and government centralization before the 1990s.

Research into articles published by the Italian Ministry of Economy and

Finance admit that Italy had to undergo its profound legal reforms in

the public and administrative sector in order to be on par with the rest

of Europe. This was a requirement in order to become part of the

European monetary union. Were it not for these requirements agreed

upon in the EU, Italys economy may still be mired in cumbersome and

ultimately uncompetitive business regulations and practices.

Italy also has a much more extensive welfare state to support than I

initially realized. Italys government size is bloated and fiscal freedom

is hampered by such a large percentage of pensioners in thepopulation to support in the population. As a result, tax revenues

equal 40 percent of their GDP, and government expenditures equal

nearly half of GDP26. Though I have documented reforms in the

government, an inefficient bureaucracy still remains a barrier to

outside investment.

Lessons that the United States can learn from Italys HRreforms:

26 Index of Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation, 2008

(http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/country.cfm?ID=Italy)

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If the United States could take one thing to learn from Italys HR

experience, it would be the countrys extraordinary efforts to integrate

themselves with the new economic order.

Reduction of fiscal pressure and tax rate on corporate tax

Following rapid reduction of the public deficit in the 1990s to ensure

Italian entry to European Monetary Union, the fundamental drive of

Italys financial policy has focused on the decrease of pressure by the

government tax system on companies. The government seems to

have chosen to do this through the lowering of corporate taxes in

particular, in order to foster an increase in internal demand and

provide fresh resources for investment. The current level of fiscal

pressure (which the Italian Ministry of Finance and Economics defines

as tax revenues in relation to GDP after capital taxes) has therefore

dropped from 42.9% in 1999 to 41.3% in 2003. During the same

period, corporate tax has decreased from 2.7% to 2.2%27.

These efforts and others show that Italy has made significant changesand sacrifices to be a part of the new global economy on equal terms,

not just its own. The United States, whose citizens are harboring a

great deal of anxiety facing a rapidly changing world of work, must

work hard not to turn inwards. Make integration a national priority

and peoples attitudes will adjust to the necessary and difficult

changes.

Another thing the US can learn from Italys HR practice is how some of

their corporations have address those young workers who are early

school-leavers and at risk youth. Since 1998, one of Italys leading

27 Ministry of Economics and Finance, 2008(http://businessitalia.finanze.it/inglese/background/background)

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domestic electrical appliance manufacturers, Indesit, has been running

a project which offers employment to young people who are mainly

kids who left high school before graduation and also young offenders.

The Jonathan project, as it is called, is named after a local non-profit

which provides Italian young offenders with an alternative to prison.

Indesit employs the young people on a fixed-term employment

contract to start with and then follows with a process in which they

may continue the usual route adopted by other workers who are on

open-ended contracts28.

The author documenting this great example found on the European

Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working conditions

writes, The key elements for the projects success lie within the

commitment of the non-profit organization in selecting the right

people to place at work, the companys willingness to hire people

considered difficult and the workers representatives in appraising the

ethical aspects of the initiative among Indesits workforce29.

I found this to be a unique example that the US could learn from

considering our over crowded prison system and the vicious circle of

crime it can send many of our nations youth into. Here, Italy has

used an innovative HR strategy to instead give their early-leavers a

chance.

Five Recommendations for US expats working in Italy:28

D. Dazzi,Indesit, Italy: Integration into the labour Markey of people at risk of

exclusion early school-leavers. Foundazione Istituto per il Lavoro, Bologna, 2007

(http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/qualityofwork/betterjobs/cases/ito3indesit.htm)29 D. Dazzi,Indesit, Italy: Integration into the labour Markey of people at risk of

exclusion early school-leavers. Foundazione Istituto per il Lavoro, Bologna, 2007

(http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/qualityofwork/betterjobs/cases/ito3indesit.htm)

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In addition to the lessons learned from Italys HR experience, there

are several things US expatriates should consider when preparing for

living and working in Italy.

1.) First of all, all future expats should prepare early, as this process

will take time. As Americans who are not part of the EU, we do not

have the right to simply work in Italy. One of the easiest ways to work

in Italy would be to have citizenship in one of the EU countries. With

that, expatriates, their wives and children have the right to leagally

work there. One would still have to deal with paperwork and

bureaucracy but a visa would not be required and would thus save all

parties a great deal of time and stress.

2.) Should an American employee not have EU citizenship, than I

recommend they start at their local Italian consulate to apply for their

visa, then be prepared to work progressively towards the local Italian

municipality you will be working in. Italy has just recentlydecentralized a great deal of its government functions to reflect the

local needs and experience of public administrators working there.

However, to get a work visa, the expatriates company hiring them

should supply the many documents needed to get started.

3.) In preparing for Italys unique culture, one should review the test

results about how Italian cultures behave be mindful of lower powerdistances but a more macho centered society. Advisory websites and

blogs set up for expatriates living and working in Italy reveal some of

the finer points from a first hand perspective as well and should be

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well read both by the expatriate and those HR staff at their company

who will be supporting them.

Information posted here can be very insightful. A simple example

would be shopping for fresh vegetables. Heres an example mentioned

from ExpatsinItaly.com: When purchasing veggies at supermarkets,

you will need to first put on a glove (provided next to the bags) and

then bag and weigh each item. When you weigh them you will have a

machine and you will need to select the correct item from the screen.

Then a tape will be printed with the items name, the weight, per kilo

price and the total amount. Stick this to the bag and continue on...

As this entry shows, even the familiar Western experience of grocery

shopping can be a little bit different in Italy.

4.) Communication training and preparation are also very important

for expatriates seeking to succeed in Italy. Hoffstedes analysis on

communication cautions against discussing WWII, religion, and

politics. Shelteroffshore.com, a blog for expatriates in Europe addsthat Italy is very much a country built on networking and that the

expat will hear of opening and opportunities in the local caf or bar

before they are ever advertised elsewhere. Another good piece of

advice offered is if the employees profession has a trade body or trade

press, then one should find whether there is an Italian equivalent or

whether they have ties with any companies or bodies in Italy. This

could be good advice for the relatively unconnected American to beginassociating with Italians in their field.

5.) Ultimately, Americans doing business in Italy must bear in mind

that while this Southern European nation is one of the worlds top ten

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economies, it is not on the exact same page with the US business

wise. Its companies may bear well-known brands such as Ferrari,

Prada, and Beretta, but they are all mostly medium in size and lacking

the breadth and flexibility and expansiveness of the largest American

corporations. Familiarity with Italian business names should not be

mistaken for familiarity with how Italians do business.

Over the last few years, the Italian labor market has evolved with the

emergence of new attitudes of workers to different forms of

work/types of contracts and a progressive diminution of long term

contracts in favor of temporary relationships and more streamlined

relationships, as well as greater mobility of the workforce from one

firm to another and from one economic sector to another.

Recommendations for training US expatriates returning to the

United States are:

If the expatriate assignment is going to be a successful one, a properre-entry training program and communication strategy are essential

for all stakeholders involved.

1.) To begin, I would make sure that the repatriation process is well

planned out in order for returning executives to properly reintegrate

themselves with the home office and are given proper opportunity to

share their learning and experiences.

2.) Secondly, if one was not assigned to them already, the returning

expat should be assigned a mentor who hopefully has had experience

working in Italy. This mentor can supplement the lines of

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communication between the company and the returning executive

during the repatriation training process.

3.) Obviously, work-related communication exchanges are a vital part

of expatriate assignments. Communication from the home country

throughout to assignment in Italy should have been filled with task-

oriented information that include changes in office staff, power politics,

strategic objectives developed back home and lighter, less work-

related information. These communications between mentors, HR

staff, and other contacts back home should reach a crescendo in the

weeks immediately prior to the expats return30.

4.) In order to make sure the returning expatriate feels at home and

connected with the greater office team, rituals or ceremonies should

be practiced within the company so that the employee is recognized

for their service and allowed to share their experience. If done

properly, such rituals show the returning employee and his home

country peers that the company values assignments such as these andthe integrated global perspective they provide.

5.) Companies should also have a career development plan in place

for the returning managers from Italy so that they know their place

and career trajectory within the organization. The data in our

textbook on the percentage of expatriates who complete an

assignment and then leave the company is disturbing. The GMACGlobal Relocation Services, LLC global surveys provide data on

30P. Dowling, M. Festin, A. Engle, International Human ResourceManagement: Managing people in a multinational context,(Thomson Higher Education, Mason OH 2009)

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repatriate turnover. Firms in the 2006 survey indicated that 23% of

repatriates left the company within the first year. The 2006 survey

notes that, for surveyed firms, retaining expatriate talents remains a

considerable challenge31.

In conclusion, I was very intrigued about the challenges and changes

Italy has taken on in the formation and integration of their HR system

in the past thirty years. While Italy has had to enact reforms to

further develop and modernize their HR practices, I have a new

respect for the culture of the country and the role in plays in shaping

the way we work. Italian history has played a crucial role in the

modern business world. As I said in the beginning, their contributions

range from banking to fashion, to even double entry bookkeeping32.

The Hoffstede analysis, corporate case studies, and international trade

publication confirm that Italy is a country that is not unlike its Western

European neighbors in terms of quality of life, economic structures,

and legal frameworks. However, my study has instilled in me a deeprespect and intrigue about the possibility of living and working in this

fascinating country someday.

31P. Dowling, M. Festin, A. Engle, International Human ResourceManagement: Managing people in a multinational context,(Thomson Higher Education, Mason OH 2009)

32G. Hofstede: Italy Analysis (Article supplied my M. Paludi, July2008)

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