PEOPLE • Article • July 30 2024
15 minutes: a coffee with everyone at Plenitude
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"Together for the Future": Innovation Arises from Collaboration
The Call for Innovation, which has already involved Plenitude employees worldwide in the past, will return with a new edition in October, once again focused on the future and active participation.
September 27th 2024
In Greek thought, "enthusiasm" has a slightly different meaning from its modern usage. It means being deeply inspired, full of creative energy, like poets or lovers.
Building on this creative energy and the enthusiasm for innovation and having an active role in shaping the company's future, Together for the Future was born, the Call for Innovation open to all Plenitude employees worldwide.
A kaleidoscope of Ideas
The initiative goes beyond the idea of a project contest to become a true ideas lab where change is built together, and where everyone, with their uniqueness and talents, can take an active role in the company's future.
On a voluntary basis, Plenitude employees can register and join multi-country, multi-business teams, where they can meet new people and create new connections. These groups form a mix of cultures, experiences, and skills, and this extraordinary diversity becomes the driving force of innovation.
Working in groups, through online sessions, relies on the design thinking methodology, which fosters collaboration and the exchange of ideas.
For example, in the 2022 edition, participants met in four sessions: one for onboarding, one for ice-breaking, and two group work sessions. Starting by sharing best practices and ideas on sustainability, they went on to create 20 original projects connected to the company’s operations. The finalist projects, once reviewed and selected by the technical jury, were voted on by Plenitude employees on the internal collaborative platform, Workplace.
Inspiration and transition
The first company-wide Call for Innovation came in 2018 and was aimed at the employees of the then Eni gas and light, a predominantly Italian company with around a thousand employees. The winning project was born from the desire of many to dedicate time to others and was called "Volunteering for a Day."
The 2018 pilot project, which offered one day of paid leave per year for those wishing to volunteer with Fondazione Banco Alimentare, received a great deal of participation and extremely positive feedback. Today, the “Volunteering Project” has become an integral part of Plenitude's DNA. The volunteering days have doubled, and the partnerships have also multiplied: today, the Volunteering Project is a permanent part of the CSR initiatives.
The second edition of the Call for Innovation came in 2022, in a very particular context. Eni Gas and light was transforming into Plenitude: a new identity that fully represents the changes taking place in the company. No longer just a retail company, but a unique business model that integrates the sale of electricity and gas with the production of renewable energy and the e-mobility world.
The company has chosen to evolve, placing at the heart of its mission the challenge of being a partner to its customers in the energy transition.
It is a profound, visionary, and ambitious transformation, with the goal of building a different and more sustainable future. Achieving this future is a challenge that requires the energy, enthusiasm, and direct contribution of all Plenitude employees, from different nationalities, companies, and business activities, who have been and will continue to be promoters of change.
The Call for Innovation also becomes an opportunity to foster team building, for the first time on an international scale, promoting cross-business and cross-country integration.
The response from the "new" Plenitude was again enthusiastic, with registrations coming in from all over the world: Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, United States, Australia, and Kazakhstan. Together for the Future not only talks about sustainability but also acts concretely on environmental impact, obtaining the ZeroCarbonTarget certification. This certification involves the quantification, by an accredited body, of the emissions produced in each online work session and the compensation of the related environmental impact. Plenitude has therefore chosen to support the “Betulia hydroelectric project in Honduras”, a small river hydroelectric plant project in the Colon department.
The Enthusiasm of the future: the ZustainabilitY Board
One of the proposals selected in the latest Together for the Future edition is already a reality. The proposal involved creating a working group made up of people from Generations Z and Y to address sustainability challenges, hence the name: ZustainabilitY Board.
The Board is an international working team composed of 14 members, renewed every year. It has two main goals: to support the creation of new sustainability projects for submission to the Plenitude Sustainability Committee and to help spread the culture of sustainability among all employees through the creation of “pills” (short content pieces to publish on the internal social network) and the establishment of partnerships with organizations active in sustainability to explore certain sustainability topics through webinars.
Beyond each individual mandate, however, the ZustainabilitY Board has an even more important task: reaffirming the importance of active listening, especially towards younger generations, to strengthen their engagement through direct participation in the innovation process and, at the same time, enhance their creative drive to the benefit of the entire company.
Always with a forward-looking vision, a characteristic that distinguishes Plenitude, the company is preparing for the next edition of Together for the Future, which will begin in October 2024, with new topics to be developed and an even more refined format.
In this way, the dialogue with all Plenitude employees continues, like a global brainstorming session where everyone becomes an active part of building the future.
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