The profound changes that are affecting the world of work revolve around two fires: people and technologies. The talk ‘Human intelligence: people first’ by Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia was dedicated to these themes and the relationship between them, and is part of the broader context of the third edition of ‘Johnson & Johnson Week, Together towards the medicine of the future’ taking place in Milan.
“I like to say that we are a 138-year-old start-up – says Mario Sturion, managing director of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia – because, despite being a large multinational, we are organized into operating units close to the customer and the market, with a certain autonomy. Looking at the two divisions of ‘Innovative medicine’ and ‘Med tech’, I am convinced that robotics, artificial intelligence and technology are the main drivers of the future and Johnson & Johnson is a leader in this field. Science and technology have advanced in recent years and it will not only be a drug that will make the difference but also technologies and medicinal processes, I am thinking for example of cellular therapies”. The role played by technology in the medical sector is certainly crucial, but for Sturion “human intelligence will have to be preserved in the future too, that is why we are here today”. People are in fact also at the center of the statement that guides the pharmaceutical company’s activity: “the first point says that our first responsibility is towards patients, the second – adds the managing director – says that employees must feel good when they do their work and the third that we are committed to promoting the development of the country and the territory in which we operate. Furthermore, to encourage listening to the voice of patients, too often unheard, we have launched the Patient Association Academy in Italy, involving a large number of patient associations”.
According to Giuseppe Morici, vice president of the Feltrinelli Group, “the most intelligent organizations” are “asking themselves about the meaning of their actions, which is perhaps the question we should all start from again. Not only the work model but the entire production system must be rethought, so that all generations, and not just the new ones, can find themselves in a renewed way of understanding work. In the last 30 years, technology has made possible a speed of processes and analyses that was previously unthinkable. But the emotional and social intelligence of humans needs a different time, we must decide with the right time”.
In his speech, Cosimo De Nigris, HR director of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia, referring to the new headquarters, observed that to build it “we started by listening to our people because we are convinced that even in a moment of great technological advancement, people are irreplaceable because they are equipped with empathy and human intelligence, which cannot be replicated. In fact, people are at the center of our entire corporate strategy”. Johnson and Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia’s commitment to people finds concrete expression in various projects, including Johnson and Johnson Learn, “an open training platform – explains De Nigris – Everyone can access all the training that the company can offer at any time. I also like to talk about our policy of attention to the community, as we try to do with these days in which we bring something outside the company”.
Angela Paparone, HR director of Microsoft Italy, also offered her point of view: “When everything changes, how do you stay strong? By investing in what doesn’t change and makes us make a difference, that is, culture, which is a set of ways of seeing, of doing, of enriching ourselves in order to be successful, we work to enable that mindset that allows us to embrace all this and this is also transmitted in the way of working, of managing resources and of speaking with customers”.
The demands and needs of the new generations of workers were addressed by Luca Di Benedetto, HR director of the Research Centre – Humanitas Research Hospital and HR Director of Humanitas University, who underlined how “talking about work-life balance in healthcare may not always be easy, but it is one of the elements that the new generations look at the most, together with inclusion and environmental issues”. In this regard, Valeria Sterpos, partner Bain & Company and chair Woman at Bain Emea Council, specifies: “The main challenges that organizations face in managing talent and people are four: the first is the change in values and priorities of the new generations, the second transformation is linked to technology and the speeding up and simplification of a series of processes. The third element is the macroeconomic context of uncertainty, which requires a series of skills to be able to deal with it. The last theme is linked to the pandemic, which is over, but its impacts and effects have become structural with regard to smart working, virtual and hybrid collaborations and, therefore, the day by day of the employee”.
On psychological well-being, Francesco Foffa, head of B2B at Unobravo, recalled that “one reason why Unobravo created the B2B dimension is to carry forward this mission within companies too, to build a path that passes through communication and storytelling, to create a culture and help companies create a value system that includes among its various elements the importance of taking care of oneself”.
Companies “have been moving quite massively lately to enhance the value of their staff – explains Alessandro Zollo, CEO of Great Place to Work Institute Italia – in 2024 in the United States there was a +15% of investments related to HR and HR tools and the same trend is also emerging in Italy. Pre-pandemic we worked with 200 companies in Italy and today there are 450, which shows that demand and attention are growing. Although these data seem encouraging, according to a recently concluded and not yet published research, the data on the trust of Italian employees towards their bosses and their organizations are very low and in Europe we are in last place out of 21 countries”.
Gratitude, passion and patience are the 3 words that psychologist and psychotherapist Nicoletta Cinotti focused on, concluding the talk with a reflection. “Kindness is the first act of empowerment that can be done within a company,” she warns. “Mistakes are and will be inevitable, even though there are systems to prevent them. If we can understand that mistakes are not a lack of ability or talent, we can create workplaces where people feel good. What makes the difference in the expression of people’s potential inside and outside organizations is the attractiveness of the latter, and for it to be attractive, she concludes, it must be consistent with the values it represents and know how to create a community.”
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