This year we have decided to carry on with a new edition of Cultural Meetings at the Arco Felice Plant: Cultivating the Community, a series of conferences aimed at our plant’s employees. We are working together in order to increase the awareness and sense of personal and relational well-being of each and every one with an eye both inside and outside the Company.
Cultivating Community: Enhancing Well-being at Arco Felice Plant
Exploring three different landscapes of living in community, we have discussed on our origins and how the background affects our daily actions. Furthermore, we have talked about the stereotypes to investigate how they influence us, to conclude by reflecting on identifying and distinguishing what violence is and how to recognize these attitudes. This path has allowed us enforce people's ability to deeply connect with their own and others' emotions in order to make effective decisions (at work and in life in general) and face daily challenges with awareness. It is the quality of the relationships we experience that structures our specificity, our mind and profoundly influences what we do and what we manage to achieve.
We have started the Conferences path with the educator Emily Mignanelli considering “Childhood as the Root of Authenticity”: following last year’s successful event, Emily returns to delve into the crucial role of childhood in shaping our authenticity.
The second meeting is about “Unmasking Clichés – Stories of Men and Women Beyond Stereotypes”, with writers Sabrina Efionayi and Massimiliano Virgilio. Through their personal and professional stories, the Neapolitan authors have offered considerations and recommendations to help us recognize and overcome the stereotypes still rooted in our society, paving the way for a more free and respectful culture of diversity.
We decided to conclude the Cultural meetings with the contribution of Cathy La Torre, lawyer and author, on Gender Violence and the Role of the Educating Community: this meeting has focused on the importance of a conscious community capable of educating towards gender equality. Cathy has leaded us in reflecting on how we can support on preventing and intervening against gender violence providing support and raising awareness within our community.
“After the success of 2023, in 2024, the Arco Felice Plant has decided to plan a second edition of Wellbeing/DE&I events. The goal was to involve our people not only on issues related to the Factory, but on those concerned personal and relational well-being in order to increase their awareness not only within the Plant but also in daily life. This year, as in the past edition, during the meetings organized on three different topics, the involvement and participation have been very high thanks to the experts who have managed subjects with huge passion and great communication skills. This has facilitated the debate among our people involved who have 'opened' themselves to the discussion by putting themselves completely on the line. I must say that thanks to these meetings, I have perceived even more the desire that our people have to be involved in their Company and to feel part of a community in which it is possible to connect not only with one's 'operational' skills, but also and above all with one's emotions: this aptitude let us improve interpersonal relationships in a Factory, where knowing how to be together is the key to achieving the goals we face every day.”
GALLO MARIO
Arco Felice Plant Director
“This year with the people of Arco Felice we have addressed challenging topics: how we build our identity by freeing ourselves from the cages of expectations and from the history of those who preceded us; how to recognize stereotypes by relying on literature and stories; where gender violence comes from and how we can move away from the idea of owning the other and why this cultural change must start by talking to our children. I think that these meetings are not important for the answers they give but for the questions and reactions they arouse. The feedback from the people who have participated tells us how valuable this initiative is: it let everyone share problems not necessarily related to the professional tasks of the plant but also to whole life. Awareness, emotions, participation: as Feltrinelli Education we are happy to lead Prysmian in this initiative.”
LUDOVICA PICCARDO
Feltrinelli Education
“It is always a pleasure to see how initiatives that intend to involve people in aspects that go beyond purely professional life are met with high participation. Thanks to the positive collaboration with Feltrinelli, we have managed to re-propose a path in Arco Felice Plant that has aimed to touch on issues concerning interpersonal relationships and how the individual brings his or her skills into play within the community. Because this is our main driver: the Community. The final goal is to foster a work environment in which a person feels able to express to the fullest, to build positive relationships, to exchange thoughts, information and emotions. The goodness of those relationships depends on who we are and the relationships we put in place. Wellbeing in our daily professional and personal activities depends on this: let's start from the person! A special thanks to the Director of the Plant, HR colleagues and RSU because they believe in this project and support us with constructive ideas and organization. And a warmer thanks to all the people who have participated by dedicating, in many cases, their time before or at the end of their work shift. Let's keep building together.”
MARIA DONATA ANNOVI
Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager
