Career structure and conditions of employment

The staff of the Bank are assigned to the managerial and operational career streams.

Employees in the managerial career stream - divided into the professional categories of Principal Director, Director, Advisor and Expert - perform managerial duties and coordinate units at various levels, and are responsible for guidance, coordination and control of activities and operational processes; they are consultants to the Governing Board; and they organize and manage the Bank's human, financial, logistic and technological resources.

The operational career stream is divided into two levels: 'Supervisory', which comprises Coadjutors, Principal Coadjutors, Section Chiefs and Workshop Managers and 'Operational', which comprises all remaining employees.

The tasks assigned to the Operational Area are differentiated according to the professional sector to which employees belong, for example:

  • employees in the administrative and technical streams manage the administrative, accounting, IT, banking and technical tasks necessary for the smooth running of the Bank's operational units, according to the instructions of the unit Managers, and cooperate with their colleagues in the Managerial Area;
  • employees in the technical-operational stream perform manual and production tasks in the production departments, according to their professional skillsets;
  • employees in the administrative support stream perform monitoring and security-related tasks and those connected with the functioning of the Bank's units.

Regulations

The specific rules governing conditions of employment are set out in:

  • Staff Regulations
  • Regulations on Pension Entitlements.

These Regulations, adopted by the Board of Directors, implement the contents of agreements signed with the trade union organizations represented in the Bank.

The Staff Regulations set out the rules governing recruitment, obligations and prohibitions, working hours, leave of absence, personnel grading, appraisal and promotion, and salaries and benefits.

The Regulations on Pension Entitlements describe the supplementary pension scheme for employees hired since 1993 and the pension plan in which the remainder of personnel are enrolled. The former can join the supplementary staff pension scheme for Banca d'Italia employees, run by the Bank itself, which pays out pensions based on each employee's total contributions.

Work-life balance

Since 2022, Banca d'Italia has introduced a hybrid work model that allows employees to alternate between on-site and remote working days, in order to promote a better balance between their professional and personal lives. More specifically, the number of remote working days depends on the activities carried out within each organizational unit: the standard is 10 days per month, with an annual cap of 100 days. The model is part of a broader framework that includes flexible working hours - both at the start of the day and during the lunch break - together with various leave options. The goal is to create the conditions for achieving the right balance between greater organizational well-being and a higher level of efficiency.

Working hours are based on a weekly schedule, normally consisting of 37 hours and 30 minutes, and these hours can be flexibly distributed throughout the week, provided that each working day consists of at least 6 hours and 30 minutes. Several forms of flexibility are available, including flexible start times (the window is between 7.30 and 9.30 am at the Rome Head Office and between 7.30 and 9.00 am in the branch network), a lunch break ranging from a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 2 hours, and the option to adopt a compressed working schedule that distributes working hours over 4 days.

The standard operating hours within which daily activities are carried out are:
• 7.30 am - 6.45 pm for the Rome Head Office, regional branches, and multiservice branches
• 7.30 am - 5.45 pm for branches specialized in cash handling services.

All employees can access an hour bank: hours worked beyond the weekly schedule can be accumulated and used at a later date as hourly or full‑day leave.

Employees can also choose to work part‑time, either over 5 days a week ('horizontal part‑time') or over 3 or 4 days ('vertical part‑time'). They can choose the duration of the part‑time arrangement (from 1 to 36 months) and different options in terms of weekly hours (from a minimum of 21 hours to a maximum of 32 hours and 30 minutes), in both the horizontal and vertical formats.

Employee Benefits

Banca d'Italia promotes organizational well‑being in all its dimensions. In addition to remote working and various forms of schedule flexibility, the Bank offers an employee benefits package that includes a wide range of services, tools, and initiatives designed to address socially relevant needs, support work-life balance, and accompany employees - and their families - through the different stages of life. It is a system that reflects a vision of work grounded in caring for, listening to, and showing appreciation for all the people working at the Bank.

This model integrates traditional benefits with innovative solutions and includes healthcare coverage, a supplementary pension fund, childcare and educational services, flexible benefits, life insurance, remote working, flexible schedules, and various types of leave to help achieve a successful work-life balance - along with many additional measures designed to meet employees' needs.

Career development

On 1 July 2016 a new system of grading personnel came into force along with the related personnel management mechanisms, which rewards merit and expertise and aims to increase the motivation and involvement of individual employees in their professional choices.

The reform takes account of the recent changes in the organization of work, now characterized by tasks with a higher level of professionalism, and on the basis of appraisals and merit-based criteria for professional skills in order to enhance the Bank's human capital.

The effects of the reform on the workforce differ: they are more radical and innovative for employees in the managerial career stream and more conservative than in the previous setup for employees in the operational career stream.

The incentive system adopted by the Bank is based on promotions and increases in pay grade within a professional area; the Operational Area has retained the system of making promotions from one grade to the next.

The incentive system for the Managerial Area is based on a decentralized model, in which managers are given greater responsibilities within predefined budgets. Financial incentives are based on individual performance, in terms of personal skillsets and the results achieved.

In order to guarantee objective managerial choices, at certain crucial career points (transfer to another Area or within the existing one), individual merit is not assessed by one person, but by a board made up of different people from those making the annual appraisals. These boards verify that individuals have the technical and professional requirements or assess candidates' professional profiles, and judge their suitability to move within their area or to progress to the next grade.

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