People

In 2024, we conducted our double materiality assessment by means of a dedicated survey, engaging 257 stakeholders, including workers, suppliers, customers, financial institutions, universities, social partners, the Workers’ Council and the Top Management. The feedback received enabled us to identify the most material matters for Markas and to steer our strategic targets. In the light of regulatory developments, Markas is committed to updating its double materiality assessment to ensure it complies with official guidelines and offers an ever more comprehensive and detailed vision of the company and its context.

We have been recognised as “Italy's Best Employers for Women 2024” in a study by the Istituto Tedesco ITQF, in conjunction with La Repubblica Affari & Finanza newspaper.

The study was based on an independent survey involving about 10,000 employees of 1,750 Italian companies with a workforce of over 300. It positioned us among the best Italian companies in terms of: the employment of women, a company culture with a particular focus on sustainability, the provision of professional and managerial training, and policies on the family and equal opportunities.

Markas Austria was named Top Female Workplace 2024 by SHEconomy. This recognition, based on independent research and genuine feedback collected anonymously on platforms such as kununu, highlights the company’s commitment to fostering a corporate culture that actively values and supports women. It is also further evidence of the high professional standards for which the company is recognised.

Following the first satisfaction survey, the need emerged to enhance relations and dialogue between Markas facilities and contractors. For this reason, we designed the Markas People For You programme, aimed at further developing and valuing our contracted employees who deliver Markas services everyday. The programme entails a series of monthly appointments on the contractor’s premises, during which employees from one of our facilities provide useful information, such as how to read pay packets, managing the employment relationship, workplace health and safety and welfare. Between 2022 and 2024, we met with more than 4,300 employees from about 70 different contractors and in 30 cities.

In 2024, we also introduced a dedicated telephone advisory service for our contracted personnel, available Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 12:30pm and 1pm to 5pm, to support them with any needs or requests.

In 2025, we aim to take a further step: the initiative will become multi-channel and will be accompanied by the launch of a dedicated app for our people.

In 2024, we launched our second in-house contest Markas Lab Ideas, which involved over 120 employees from Italy, Austria and Germany, collecting 151 suggestions on aspects such as sustainable mobility, saving water, digitalisation and environmental protection. This initiative is a practical means of encouraging our workers’ direct participation, inviting them to suggest innovative ideas on material aspects for the company. It has strengthened their sense of belonging and generated meaningful proposals for future company actions, promoting a culture that focuses ever more on sustainability and participation.

For us, satisfaction surveys are an essential tool for listening attentively to our people. For example, Markas Austria regularly conducts employee surveys to collect opinions, requirements and suggestions for improvement, integrating them into strategic decision-making. The most recent survey was in October 2024 and involved around 700 people.

At Markas Italy, the surveys are conducted every two years, the last one being in 2024. There were over 1,300 participants, a number that has grown since the first survey.

This was an important indication for us: it meant that an increasing number of our employees want to make their voice heard.

The survey provided a variety of important feedback, a starting point for continually improving the Markas work environment:

• Occupational safety: 88.7% of employees say they received the information and protective equipment required;
• Greater awareness of benefits: 72.3% of employees know about company benefits (+37.7% compared to 2022). This is the result of work aimed at improving internal communication and familiarising people with programmes like Markas People For You and Markas Lab Ideas, useful tools like the Corporate Benefits company discount platform, and the launch of agreements with Alperia on energy supplies;
• Enhanced relationships with managers: 84.6% of respondents said their manager is available and easy to contact. A positive sign and the result in part of training on leadership that we have extended to plant managers and service managers;
• Equity and inclusion: 86.1% of employees believe that all workers at Markas are treated fairly, regardless of gender, age, background, orientation or other personal attributes. This demonstrates our commitment to a welcoming and inclusive work environment, already recognised by the Gender Equality and Diversity & Inclusion Certifications.
• 80.1% said they are proud to work at Markas.

Wishing to actively contribute to a fairer and more responsible growth model, we have decided to promote inclusion along our value chain with an initiative that combines environmental sustainability with support for the workplace integration of people with disabilities, whether physical or mental.

Markas Austria, for example, has set up a broad and structured diversity and inclusion (D&I) programme, which envisages the appointment of a D&I manager to oversee the implementation of appropriate measures as well as recruitment policies focused on diversity, including by working with other companies, such as NEBA and MyAbility.

In 2024, we began working with Libera Terra, out of which came a supply agreement in 2025. Libera Terra recovers assets freed from the Mafia, developing them to create high quality products, ensuring respect for human dignity and the environment by using the land to grow organic crops. Libera Terra’s mission is to promote autonomous and independent cooperatives that can have a positive impact and feed a virtuous economic system. For Markas Italy, this collaboration is far more than a simple supply agreement: it is a tangible commitment to an ethical and sustainable model that creates value for people and for the community.

In 2024, for the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, we introduced a multilingual digitised questionnaire in order to extend engagement in customer satisfaction surveys to users whose mother tongue is not Italian. The initiative was a real step towards greater inclusivity and accessibility, enabling a broader audience of users to give their opinion on the service received, especially within a multi-ethnic context.

The introduction of a digitised system improved the effectiveness of user involvement, ensuring its continuity. This measure not only contributes to continuously improving services by analysing responses, but also to pursuing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10, on reducing inequalities.