Italy: Vodafone, first in line to access the State “New Skills” fund, will carry out 300,000 hours of training over 3 months for its entire staff

On 07 December an agreement between Vodafone Italia and the trade unions for staff vocational retraining received the green light to benefit from the ‘Nuove Competenze’ (New Skills) fund set up by the Ministry of Labor and managed by the employment agency ANPAL. The €730 million fund aims to promote vocational retraining and improve employees' digital skills, conditional on a specific collective agreement and an adjustment of working hours so as to provide the training during working hours. Vodafone is the first to benefit from the fund, and is closely followed by its competitor TIM, which is planning 100 training courses for its 37,500 employees.