People
The Group’s human resources work in 16 production facilities and 24 commercial offices, most of which in Europe, Turkey and Russia.
In 2009, Indesit Company had a workforce of over 16,000 people, mostly on permanent contracts in line with its policy of stable, long-term relationships.
This choice also enables the planning of career development based on the gradual building of professional skills and refining of personal abilities.
Italy is still the country with the highest number of Group employees (30%).
Indesit Company sees human capital is an important intangible asset and a key element in an enterprise’s achievement of excellence. The Group has consolidated a strong international management structure by cultivating its internal resources and attracting people from the outside to enrich its know-how.
The “open innovation” model adopted by the Group generates constant dialogue between Indesit Company resources engaged in research and development and the outside world, especially centres of excellence in the fields of training and research, thus feeding exchange of knowledge and opportunities. Most of the Group’s people are in production and sales, while 3% (around 500 people) work in Research & Development.
An important development on the human resources front in 2009 was the obtaining of OHSAS 18001 multi-site certification of the workplace health and safety management system adopted by all the production facilities and main commercial offices in the Group.
Every year Indesit Company draws up an employment plan on which to base its process of recruiting and selection of new people with various levels of experience (new graduates, junior profiles, senior profiles). The search for candidates is mostly within the Group, as well as through relationships with universities to develop new talent and help young new graduate find jobs. One of the most frequently used recruiting methods is participation in job-meetings and recruiting-days in which students can meet company managers. The main objective of the selection process is to find people with potential and motivation looking for real career prospects based on continual training, experience abroad and job-rotation programmes.
A new development that has improved human capital management is “Join In”, Indesit Company’s online selection portal. Potential candidates are invited to choose among various ethical characteristics corresponding to Company values. The profile that emerges is stored and processed by Join In (together with CVs) so candidates can have rapid feed-back on their attitudinal characteristics.

Company officers and top management
Indesit Company has a corporate governance system substantially in line with both the principles of Borsa Italiana’s Code of Conduct for Listed Companies and international best practice.
Shareholders can assess the expertise of candidates to the board of directors before appointing them. The majority shareholder in any case shortlists candidates and makes sure they have all the relevant skills and professional standing for holding office and also sees that the Board has a sufficient number of independent directors.
The human resources committee makes an annual assessment of the Group’s performance in order to fix the remuneration due to Indesit Company’s top management. It also organizes a one-day human resources review with members of the top management to look at management development and succession plans and assess the adequacy of the Group’s human capital with respect to its present and future tasks.
Indesit Company adopts a “management by objectives” incentive plan to stimulate improvement of business results by encouraging beneficiaries to work towards objectives assigned to them on the basis of their roles. This type of incentive scheme is a particularly effective way to develop the potential of resources within the organization, a key factor, above all, in dealing with situations of market crisis. A new long-term incentive plan was launched in 2009 to ensure retention of certain managers within the Group.
A number of shareholders’ meetings in the past voted capital increases to serve stock option plans in favour of Group executives and middle managers. The board of directors periodically decide on the number of options to allocate and who the beneficiaries are to be, as recommended by the CEO. No options were exercised or allocated in 2009.
In addition to the directors (executive and non executive) and statutory auditors, the executives deemed to hold positions of strategic responsibility in management, planning and control are the marketing manager, the head of administration/finance and control, the technical officer and the supply chain officer. The gross annual remuneration of the aforesaid persons in 2009, including all the short- and long-term components, plus emoluments provided for but not disbursed (being tied to the achievement of long-term objectives) amounted to nearly €14 million overall (around €11 million in 2008).

Health and safety
Indesit Company considers workplace health & safety fundamental elements for the purpose of achieving excellence in performance. For this reason, the Company has implemented specific tools (policies, procedures and responsibility) to monitor employee workplace health & safety in all the regions in which the Group operates, while complying with the relevant local legislation.
In particular, since 2008 all the activities have been managed and monitored by the Health and Safety Division which is responsible for:
- the promotion of a sound sense of responsibility among employees vis-à-vis the aforementioned policies;
- the establishment of a centrally managed control system to guarantee compliance with national and international regulations in the matter of workplace health & safety;
- the control of a functional co-ordination of all entities involved in this context;
- the development of a system for the management of workplace health & safety issues;
- the development and implementation of environmental policies in strict collaboration with the Environment Department.
In June 2009 Indesit Company adopted a Workplace health & safety policy, setting out the guidelines that each Group company needs to comply with. This policy also represents a point of reference, a strong commitment by the top management that seeks to engage all employees and visitors who have access to Group sites.

Customers
Listening to and understanding customers, retailers and consumers provides the key to anticipating and meeting their needs and desires. Indesit Company is strongly focused on these categories of stakeholders in order to develop products and services that take their needs and expectations into account from the design stage.

Relations with retailers and final customers
Indesit Company believes that it is only possible to fully meet customer needs and requirements if all the components of the value chain are oriented towards understanding them. For this reason the Group is fully committed to developing collaborative projects with retailers, who represent the primary interface between the company and its customers.
Indesit Company pursues a transparent commercial policy with retailers, oriented towards the establishment of long term relations, prompt problem solving and top-class professionalism. In addition to maintaining contacts with distributors at the major trade fairs, the Group organises events dedicated to retailers in the markets in which it operates. Relations with distributors mainly include meetings for the presentation of new products, training activities and dissemination of the results achieved by the Group, as well as future development plans.
In the UK, Indesit Company is particularly committed to providing support to independent retailers, who account for approximately one fourth of the British market and actively enhance sales and after-sales activities with their expertise and professionalism. In this respect, the Group provides a series of specific training activities both at the point of sale and at the Peterborough Training Academy. In 2009 Indesit Company also developed a partnership with the Energy Saving Trust for the purpose of developing a training pack for retailers so they can effectively advice customers on how to save energy through the intelligent use of Indesit Company products. In addition to providing retailers with the promotional material required for products presentation and a streamlined and user-friendly online order entry system, Indesit Company also offers independent retailers the possibility of selling a range of products on an exclusive basis, thus supporting their efforts to gain a competitive edge in the market by enhancing their product offering and organising additional marketing campaigns to encourage customers to buy the products from independent retailers.
The quality of relations with the retailers doing business in all the countries in which the Group operates is a key element in the identification and solution of potential risks for the end user. To this end the Group has implemented specific measures to recall defective products from the market. In fact, each item can be traced back to a specific production batch, permitting prompt and effective action if problems arise.
Indesit Company comes in direct contact with all end users of its products through various channels, including the internet, call centers and service centres. In this context, the Group has adopted a customer service management system that guarantees a direct link between the company and consumers.
Indesit Company communicates with its customers through product information material (stickers, manuals, instructions for use), providing useful information for correct use, preventive measures and advice on how to achieve the best performance. In order to assist customers in choosing the right product, all home appliances carry an energy class label, which also includes other information that helps customers evaluate the product before making a purchase.
In addition to product information material, customers can also directly contact the call centers to ask for information or advice on problems. In 2009, Indesit Company added an additional section in its website dedicated to contacts with the top management. This new section confirms the Group’s constant focus on consumers. Any comment made is in fact considered an opportunity for continuous improvement of corporate flows and processes.
Customer Service provides problem solving on first contact with customers, on the phone, by e-mail or by letter. Complaint management is integrated in the continuous process of quality improvement and envisages the implementation of specific procedures to promptly route all claim reports to the competent corporate division.
Call center service quality is measured on the basis of specific parameters that gauge the number of inbound calls, the average response time and the ability to solve any technical problem or incorrect product usage in real time. Call avoidance strategies, based on specific, ongoing operator training, provide end users with a service whose quality is constantly improving. In 2009 this led to a 20% reduction in the number of technical interventions in Italy and in the UK.
In addition to the call centers, the Group also provides customer service. This is an extremely important service which proved successful thanks to Indesit Company’s continuous effort to provide training to technicians, organise its presence in the territory and use advanced trouble-shooting and problem solving tools.
In 2009 Indesit Company also upgraded its website, giving it increased visibility and completing information contained in the Market Service area and carried out a Consumer Satisfaction survey on after-sales activities, whose findings were extremely encouraging.
Electronic components, present in increasing amounts in home appliances, have also been included in the Customer Service section. Group technicians are provided with laptops that enable them to make accurate diagnoses and identify the most suitable corrective actions. Thanks to these tools, technicians can also verify the availability of spare parts in real time. In the near future we expect home appliances to be able to signal any malfunctioning directly to customer service, including an indication of the defect and a request for a targeted intervention before actually stopping operation.
In 2009 Indesit Company carried out a massive restyling operation, giving its web infrastructure a total makeover. Specifically, the corporate website was redesigned to be more user-friendly and accessible. The quick and easy to use portal now includes information and news to meet the needs of all stakeholders involved, with a section for each stakeholder category.

Suppliers
Indesit Company’s purchase policy is based on the development of local suppliers, which are strategically located close to the Group’s production units.
The Group’s policy for the identification and development of suppliers close to the factories is intended to create a significant and consolidated base on which to rely for future development plans.
2009 supplies were worth euro 1,255 million and supplier composition reflects the Group’s re-balancing approach in recent years. In particular, in 2009 the impact of Western European suppliers decreased while that of suppliers operating in countries where production rose (eg. Poland and Turkey) increased.


Supplier selection criteria also include the supplier’s social and environmental responsibility policies. In line with its Corporate Governance, the Group’s only establishes relations with suppliers that comply with the governance standards envisaged in the relevant document, particularly with reference to the rules governing relations with the public administration, confidentiality and the ILO (International Labour Organization) conventions. Suppliers are also bound to comply with specific quality standards that the Group monitors by means of periodic controls performed by the Group’s Quality Division.
All newly certified and existing suppliers are monitored by applying certified procedures, including the use of a check-list comprising issues that not only refer to quality but also to adherence to specific technical, environmental, ethical and workplace safety issues. Each individual supplier is requested to fill out the check-list and by underwriting it, it confirms compliance with the aforementioned rules. In 2009 all new suppliers were requested to fill out a self-assessment form, while existing suppliers are gradually being asked to follow suit. Consistently with the enforcement of the REACH regulation, the European legislation in the matter of chemical substances, Indesit Company has established a work team and an action plan for the purpose of performing a complete assessment of the substances used and implementing an information exchange system with suppliers.
Lastly, in 2009 no criticalities were identified in relation to non-compliance with human rights standards during new supplier selection audits. Under its international framework agreement, the Group is committed to obliging its suppliers to adopt the same principles. In this respect, Indesit Company continues to send its Code to all new suppliers, requesting that it be underwritten for acceptance.