Stakeholders and relationship capital
In Snam’s business model, the stakeholders “interpret” the industry environment and can influence, sometimes decisively, the conditions which determine the availability of the different capitals which the business needs in order to be able to operate. These close ties with the capitals, which develop around material issues of mutual interest, enable the stakeholders to benefit from the value which the business creates through its operations.
In order to develop our business activities, internal cohesion, image and reputation are also important. As a result, it is essential to manage our long-term relationships with stakeholders (social and relationship capital) by focusing on trust, listening, being universally open and transparent, and attempting to maintain and develop constructive dialogue both within and outside the Company.
With the “Partners’ Day 2017”, a special event on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of its foundation, Snam aimed to gather together for the first time all the subjects with whom it maintains relations, discussing issues of common interest such as the importance of infrastructures, dialogue with the territories and new uses of gas, and sharing strategies and perspectives for development with them.
Engagement of people
Through internal communication, Snam continues to promote the involvement of people with regard to events and activities which affect the company, with the aim of stimulating participation in the processes of change, especially from a cultural point of view.
The 360-degree communication strategy is supported by a large volume of activities, including frequent updates of the Easy company intranet, news and interviews with people for articles in the Energie corporate magazine with its in-depth analysis “Specials”, an intense production of video content and video interviews, and a rich programme of engagement events for the entire corporate population, with a very strong commitment from senior management.
Tools |
Description |
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“Easy” the intranet portal |
An informative and awareness-raising space aimed at all Snam people, but also a place for sharing knowledge, exchanging work documents and sharing opinions through the “let’s collaborate” space, designed to facilitate people working in teams. |
Main paper tools |
The magazine “Energie” continues to represent the corporate identity of Snam and the narrative voice of the main events. |
Management meeting |
Meeting of executives and meeting of managers to deepen the corporate strategic plan. |
Market reputation
Though Snam has a natural monopoly in regulated sectors, when dealing with its customers it adopts an approach based on a competitive market, in which it is essential to understand how the customer perceives value.
The challenges for the Italian and foreign gas market were the subject of debate at the “Partners’ Day 2017” which saw the participation of commercial stakeholders and also, for the first time, of external companies such as Eni, A2A, Shell Energy Europe and Edison.
In November 2017 a new online customer satisfaction survey was conducted, involving all Shippers and Traders with whom Snam collaborated in the recently concluded Thermal Year 2016-2017.The analysis, which on this occasion was also extended to the transport, storage and regasification sectors (as from September 2017 the commercial management of the 3 businesses merged within a single organisation), was concerned with surveying customer satisfaction with regard to the quality of the services offered, and to the additional features and services introduced during 2017, as well as in relation to the wishes expressed by their customers in previous occasions of comparison as well as regulatory developments.
The participation rate was 63% and about 93% of those interviewed showed great satisfaction with the Stakeholder Engagement activities which were developed by Snam to improve the services offered and consolidate an effective collaboration with its contacts. All the observations received represent the starting point for identifying actions aimed at making Snam’s operations more efficient, in line with the continuous improvement of the quality of the services offered.
During 2017, workshops were held which were aimed at a mutual comparison of the dynamics of balancing and of the market as well as at the collection of observations/wishes on the part of the operators. In particular, the meetings provided an opportunity to discuss innovations and the progress of balancing and transport, storage and regasification, as well as providing feedback on the process of renewing IT systems.
Relations with the Supply Chain
Snam carries out intense engagement activities with its suppliers to encourage growth and improvement of the supply chain and to create a common vision, sharing values, ideas, know-how, best practices and information.
As part of the “Partners’ Day 2017” Snam met 170 supplier companies with whom it shared the most important issues concerning the sustainable supply chain, together with a common culture around Snam’s values.
Continuous communication with suppliers takes place through the Supplier Portal, the web platform through which existing and potential suppliers come into contact with Snam. Active since 2013, the Portal contains documents, insights, best practices and updates on the processes and procedures which regulate qualification and procurement operations. All registered suppliers have at their disposal a special reserved area, containing information on the product sectors for which they are qualified, the activated contracts, the performance in terms of safety at work. At the end of 2017 there were over 1,900 suppliers registered to the portal (+5% compared to 2016). Starting from January 2018, Snam has provided a new feature dedicated to the certification of services which will allow suppliers to more easily and immediately learn the most suitable time for issuing invoices as a result of the services they provide to Snam.
The 65,598 SAP documents uploaded during the year (+16% compared to the previous year) attest that the Supplier Portal is a live website which is being used more and more.
Relations with the territory
Snam is present, through its infrastructure, in almost all the country’s regions, in areas and communities which are varied in terms of culture, traditions, and economic, social and environmental conditions.
In creating new infrastructures and managing existing ones, Snam adopts a rigorous, transparent, collaborative and constructive approach to ensure the environmental compatibility of the settlements and to favour their acceptance by the stakeholders.
Environmental impact assessments cover all phases of the life cycle of the work, location, design, construction, operation and disposal. These assessments are carried out as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures, at the end of which the administrations in charge, both at central and local level, issue the authorisations required by current legislation.
Snam also evaluates, in relation to the performance of the most important works (compression systems or large natural gas pipelines), the direct and indirect economic and social impact on the territory and on the local communities with “Social Impact Assessment” tools and methods.
Over time Snam has built a network of relationships with regional branches of Confindustria and other local associations to discuss issues of energy, economic and environmental policy affecting the territory. At local and national level, the Company collaborates with the authorities and takes part in the work of numerous associations and committees, providing its commitment and skills to participate in the processes of social innovation and sustainable development.
To that end, the Company collaborates with local and national authorities to best lay out its plans for carrying out the work to both the authorities and the affected communities. During the year and in the transport sector alone, to lay out the plans for carrying out work, 106 meetings were held with local administrations and local associations. Together with the latter, two agreements were signed regarding constraints.
In 2017, around €249 thousand were allocated to the territory for donations and sponsorships and about €5.6 million for environmental compensation.
Initiative |
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Young Energy from Snam, to bring young people closer to work |
Snam has decided to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the school-work alternation – part of the “Good School” Law no. 107 of 2015 – to get closer to young secondary students, strengthen relations with the territory, strengthen employer branding and encourage the recruitment process. We did this by making the company’s knowledge available to the students and offering tools for navigating the world of work. The training programme, defined in the contents and in the procedures together with the schools involved, has provided classroom training aimed at acquiring soft skills and orientation to the world of work, project work on issues related to the business and company visits at the Snam offices. Traineeships also take place at various operational sites to make the company’s business more easily understandable. |
Snam Foundation |
"Welfare che Impresa!", promoted by the Snam Foundation, together with other important Italian foundations, has collected the ideas of young people under 35 for projects on community welfare, able to promote social cohesion, development and networking. |
Sustainable Paths, A Garden in the Network |
The most beautiful and representative images of the initiative “Un Orto nella Rete”, promoted by Snam in Terranuova Bracciolini (Arezzo) and developed by the Social Cooperative Onlus Betadue, to produce vegetables locally whilst favouring the inclusion of socially disadvantaged people, were collected in a book which tells of a project born to support, through Snam’s assets, the economic and social development of the territories crossed by its infrastructures. The book, which is part of the Sustainable Paths series promoted by Snam to raise awareness of the company’s commitment to environmental protection and sustainability, was presented at the Turin International Book Fair. |
The value of brand identity
Again in 2017, Snam continued to improve its presence on the web and in the use of digital communication tools, aimed at supporting the development of activities also in terms of sustainability. In this sense, during the year several special projects were carried out; for example, the launch of a section dedicated to natural gas to support the broader corporate strategy of decarbonising the energy mix.
Snam’s digital communication is based on quality content and on the active involvement of users. Thanks to its presence on the main social media sites (Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin, Google+, Flickr, Instagram, Slideshare, Facebook), this year Snam has received important recognition with first place in Webranking Italy, with the highest score ever registered and first place in Lundquist’s online CSR awards.
On the main media an increase in the number of articles in particular linked to trends such as sustainable mobility and energy decarbonisation has been observed through the use of new sources (for example biomethane), and on the role of Snam in the country system, along with its drive towards innovation.
Furthermore, during 2017 the press office aimed to highlight the company’s positions and its willingness to carry out dialogue in the territories (such as Abruzzo and Puglia) featuring the presence of resistance to some projects.