LimaCorporate: Phase 2 COVID Plans Announced

LimaCorporate, based in Udine, Italy, has announced the Phase 2 plan to address the coronavirus pandemic emergency. The company indicates that salaries will be integrated to 100% for all employees on “social shock absorbers” as more employees return to the company.

Commenting on “social shock absorbers,” Luigi Ferrari told OTW, “Social shock absorbers are an instrument used by different governments to manage job crises, such as the one caused by COVID-19, which benefits from a wage guarantee fund. This fund guarantees an income—though one lower than the standard wage—for workers in firms undergoing severe difficulties. Usually, this instrument is applied when companies face crises and risk bankruptcy, but the Italian government decided to extend it to healthy companies, such as LimaCorporate, who faced a work reduction caused by the coronavirus emergency. Similar instruments were used in other European countries. Thanks to EQT (EQT Private Capital) intervention, all employees on social shock absorbers at a worldwide level will have their wages integrated and will not have to face the inconvenience of salary reduction.”

During the pandemic, LimaCorporate has continued manufacturing and distribution from its facilities in Italy, while all other employees have been working from home

According to the company, “…LimaCorporate announced the continuation of the social shock absorbers for another nine weeks for Italy, while for subsidiaries worldwide, the company will use the local forms of social shock absorbers, where available. But there will be a very important difference, with the support of the Shareholders and Advisory Board, it has been decided to integrate the salary of all employees to 100% for the following weeks, even those who have access to the different forms of social shock absorbers.”

During Phase 2, LimaCorporate employees will gradually return in small groups under constant monitoring. The company also indicates that it will be exploring a new incentive system with adjusted targets for 2020.

“We are slowly seeing a recovery for our business, and we do expect increasing turnover over the coming months. We must be ready to restart with energy and enthusiasm, fundamental elements to properly handle the recovery,” concludes Mr. Ferrari.

As for the difficulties in working from home, Ferrari told OTW, “There are many challenges initially when working from home, such as brainstorming with colleagues or reviewing a new prototype. Fortunately, digital transformation has already started within LimaCorporate for some time, and we are continuing to invest heavily in digital solutions, both customer-facing and internally. We have a worldwide platform used between all colleagues, making it easy to ‘see’ each other and share documents. We have also used this tool for the essential pauses during the day for Italians, virtual coffees with colleagues, and ensured that all countries were sharing best practices while managing through this emergency.”

“Before lockdown, the LimaCorporate IT department implemented servers and remote work tools to allow all employees to work from home as if they were in the office. We significantly improved at Smart Working through lockdown in Italy and around the world. However, now that the government restrictions have eased up, most of the Italian workforce is still working from home and will continue to do so until mid-July, out of safety.”

Asked if new product development has been difficult from home, Ferrari told OTW, “Yes and no. Product development faces similar challenges as many other functions. We have continued to advance product development and registration activities at a fast pace. The only part really missing is the close interaction with our surgeon developers and the ability to do labs with them. We have found creative and new ways to interact with our surgeons and share prototypes, which has enabled us to move forward with the many development projects in LimaCorporate.”