Italy’s measures towards future: young people of excellence, sharing of parenthood, rise of smart working

1. Bonus for young people of excellence: Social Contributions Relief

Since 1 January 2020, a social contributions relief (i.e. a reduction on the social contribu-tions due) has been dictated for the following categories:

• Citizens who obtained master’s degrees with scoring 110 cum laude and with a pondered average of at least 108/110, within the legal duration of their studies and before reach-ing the age of 30, in an Italian state university or non-state university, or in a foreign university recognised as equivalent.
   
• Citizens who obtained a PhD before reaching the age of 34, in an Italian state university or non-state university, or in a foreign university recognised as equivalent.The relief is applicable to all private employers who intend to employ people belonging to the categories above. It is applicable also in the case of transformation of an employment contract from fixed term to permanent, if the requirements mentioned above apply at the date of the transformation. The relief is also applicable for part-time employments, provid-ed they are on a permanent basis. In such a case, the upper limit of the incentive shall be reduced proportionately.
   

2. Paternity leave for employees

For calendar year 2020, Article 1 of Law 160/2019 (among the actions of the so-called “2020 family package”) has increased up to seven the number of days which may be used by male private employees as parental leave. On an experimental basis, the number of leave days has progressively increased, especially since 2016, within the scope of a better sharing of parenthood. Said leave can be used for births, adoptions and foster care, wheth-er national or international. The period to consider refers to the events occurring between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020. Leave days must be used within five months from when the child is born or from when the adopted child is welcomed by the family, in case of adoptions or foster care, and therefore during the mother’s maternity leave or even afterwards, but within the said limit. The stipulated days may be taken consecutively or non-consecutively.

3. The constant rise of ”smart working”

A study conducted by the smart working observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico of Milan reports that in Italy there are approximately 570,000 smart workers, 20% more compared to 2018. This increase has doubled in comparison to the previous years, and shows that there is an increasing interest in such modality. A directive of 2017 by the President of the Council of Ministers shows the willingness to extend smart working also to at least 10% of the applying public employees.

Working time is managed by the employee, provided the working hours stipulated in the contract are met. According to a survey carried out by Bocconi University, the advantages of this are the employee’s satisfaction and the improved work performance. In addition, the company benefits from reduced costs for rent, electricity, heating, meal vouchers and the company canteen