Gender equality is not built with a statement of intent in the sustainability report. It is built, day after day, through concrete choices about how the company organises work, distributes opportunities and supports people through the complex phases of life. Corporate welfare, when designed thoughtfully, becomes the most powerful lever for closing that silent gap which still separates women’s careers from men’s. We are not talking about accessory perks, but structural policies affecting income, time, health and the real possibility of professional growth. In this article we look at which measures genuinely work, which are cosmetic, and how to integrate them into a management system consistent with UNI PdR 125:2022. The goal is to help you tell what moves the needle from what stays a headline on a website.
Why welfare is the real lever of gender equality
The gender gap almost never comes from explicitly discriminatory pay policies. It comes from the surrounding conditions that make it harder for women to stay, grow and progress in a company. Unpaid care work, rigid hours, the career penalty attached to maternity, the scarcity of personal support services: added together, these factors generate the familiar 5-15% pay gap found in most Italian sectors.
Corporate welfare acts precisely on these factors. Not through a one-off bonus, but by redesigning the pact between company and person. When a company offers flexible hours, equal leave, parental support and growth paths accessible to part-time workers, it is saying something precise: careers here do not depend on your willingness to give up everything else.
Did you know that according to Eurostat data Italian women spend an average of 5.5 hours a day on unpaid care work, against 2 hours for men? This gap feeds directly into female participation in the labour market, stuck at 51.1% against 70% for men.
UNI PdR 125:2022 understood this mechanism and built its indicator system around six areas, including culture and strategy, HR processes, growth opportunities, pay equity, parenting and work-life balance. Welfare cuts across at least four of those six areas, which is why it has become the defining element of any serious certification.
The ten welfare measures that genuinely close the gap
Not all welfare policies have the same impact on equality. Some are decisive, others marginal. Here are the ten measures which, in our experience auditing and supporting UNI PdR 125 certified companies, produce measurable results on the gender gap.
Extended paternity leave fully paid: beyond legal minimums, to rebalance care work from the child’s birth onwards
Structural remote working with a right to disconnect: not granted at a manager’s discretion, but governed by clear policies accessible to every function
Flexible start and finish times: wide arrival windows that make school runs and family commitments manageable
Part-time work without career penalty: with guaranteed development paths and proportionate appraisals
Company or partner nurseries: or direct reimbursement for childcare services
Support for caring for elderly or dependent relatives: care responsibilities span both generations
Return-to-work programmes after maternity and paternity leave: with mentoring, refresher training and redefined objectives
Management training on inclusive leadership: mandatory for anyone responsible for a team
Mentorship and sponsorship for women: to support women through critical career transitions
Supplementary health cover extended to female cancer screening and psychological support
Taken individually, each of these measures has limited impact. The real step change comes when the company integrates them into a coherent system, measured through KPIs and reviewed annually. That is exactly the logic UNI PdR 125 requires for certification.
Remote working and flexibility: opportunity or trap?
Remote working has been sold as the definitive answer to work-life balance. Reality is more complex and, if badly managed, flexible work can even widen the gap instead of closing it.
When remote working supports equality
Remote working becomes a lever for equality when it is structured, universal and accompanied by clear rules. It must be a right available for every compatible role, not a discretionary reward granted by a manager. It must include the right to disconnect, with protected hours when nobody answers emails or calls. And it must come with a review of appraisal tools, which have to measure results rather than hours logged on a platform.
When these conditions are met, flexible work lets women stay fully involved in growth paths even during periods of heavy family load. It cuts commuting time, which weighs most on whoever also manages family logistics. It makes it possible to take part in strategic meetings without heroic daily organisation.
The risks to avoid in managing flexible work
Remote working becomes a trap when it is offered only to women, or seen as a concession for working mothers. In that case it reinforces the stereotype that the home is women’s responsibility, and effectively excludes them from the informal moments where careers are decided. If only she works from home while male colleagues stay in the office, she is the one forgotten when it comes to choosing who to promote or who to put on the strategic project.
Another risk: remote working without rules turns the home into a 24/7 office. Women, who statistically carry more domestic responsibility, end up working in the evening after handling the children, accumulating stress and overload. This is why UNI PdR 125 asks companies to measure not only the availability of remote working but how it is actually used by different populations within the company.
Equal parental leave: the real accelerator
How a company handles parenthood is the litmus test of its genuine will to close the gap. If paternity leave stays at the legal minimum while maternity leave is topped up, the implicit message is clear: care is the mother’s business.
The most advanced companies are moving in the opposite direction. They extend paternity leave to three to six months, fully paid, and make it mandatory or strongly encouraged. The aim is not only to help fathers be present, but to normalise the idea that both parents step away from work when a child is born. That rebalances managers’ expectations when they assess a candidate in their thirties or forties.
Did you know that in the Nordic countries, where a significant share of paternity leave is mandatory, the gender pay gap has fallen below 10% and female labour participation exceeds 75%? That is no coincidence.
Beyond leave, return paths matter. Too often a woman comes back after maternity leave and finds her role changed, her team reorganised, her objectives redefined without consulting her. Serious companies build reintegration programmes with 30-60 days of mentoring, updates on product and market developments, and objectives recalibrated in proportion to time actually worked. Some also offer individual coaching to help manage the new complexity.
Another effective practice is keeping in touch during leave, obviously on a voluntary basis: invitations to strategic meetings, sharing of key material, optional participation in team-building moments. It is not pressure to return, it is care for the professional relationship.
Caring for the extended family: beyond children
Discussions of work-life balance almost always focus on small children. But Italian demographics tell a different story: the population is ageing, families are smaller, and more and more workers find themselves caring for elderly parents or dependent relatives. That load falls disproportionately on women, often mid-career, between 45 and 60, exactly when senior positions open up.
Welfare policies that acknowledge this reality make an enormous difference. We are talking about additional paid leave for caring for dependent relatives, advisory services for accessing healthcare and residential facilities, agreements with professional caregivers, and psychological support for those handling complex family situations.
The subject of children also needs to extend beyond early childhood. Teenagers require less logistics but more emotional presence, and the crises of those years can destabilise entire careers. Family counselling services, flexible hours during exam periods, short leave for health or school situations: these are low-cost measures that mean a great deal to the people who receive them.
UNI PdR 125 explicitly assesses the breadth of family welfare provision, not just its formal existence. A company offering three broad, well-used measures scores higher than one offering fifteen with no real access or internal communication.
Health, prevention and psychological support
Health is an area where the gender gap shows particularly clearly. Women experience specific conditions linked to menstruation, menopause and pregnancy that are rarely acknowledged in traditional welfare systems. Psychological support, meanwhile, remains taboo in many companies, even though it is a key factor for retention and productivity across the whole workforce.
Prevention and gender-specific healthcare
Advanced supplementary health policies cover female cancer prevention, include periodic gynaecological and mammography checks, and provide dedicated menopause support. Some companies have introduced menstrual leave, with additional days for those suffering severe dysmenorrhoea or endometriosis. Others offer specific support during assisted reproduction treatment, which now involves a growing share of couples.
Men also benefit from broader health policies: cardiovascular prevention, male cancer screening, support for health problems often neglected to avoid admitting vulnerability at work. Rich health welfare is by definition inclusive welfare, which does not divide populations but covers the real needs of each phase of life.
The role of workplace psychological support
A workplace counselling service, accessible confidentially and without hierarchical filters, is one of the highest-impact measures for equality. Women statistically carry a greater mental load linked to family management and are more exposed to invisible burnout. Men, for their part, are more reluctant to ask for help and more at risk of silent crises. Normalising psychological support, including it in standard benefits and communicating it regularly shifts the organisation’s cultural centre of gravity.
The most mature companies also provide training on emotional intelligence, stress management and burnout prevention. Not as a one-off course, but as an ongoing path involving managers in particular. A trained manager recognises the warning signs in their team and intervenes before they turn into resignations.
Professional growth and mentorship for women
Advanced welfare is not only about time and health, but also about growth opportunities. The glass ceiling breaks through structural policies that support women at critical career transitions.
Mentorship and sponsorship are two different but complementary tools. Mentorship offers advice and reflection, sponsorship offers visibility and concrete opportunities. On average, women receive more mentorship but less sponsorship than male colleagues. Structured programmes assigning senior sponsors to high-potential women are among the most effective ways to increase female presence in senior roles.
Other elements that make a difference:
Leadership programmes for women: not to segregate them, but to build confidence and specific skills in a safe setting
Transparency on promotion criteria: published, measurable and verifiable, so informal decisions do not penalise people outside the right circles
Balanced participation in strategic projects: gender balanced, to guarantee equal visibility
Technical and digital training open to all levels: to counter the STEM skills gap that still limits women’s careers in many sectors
Structured internal networking: cross-functional working groups, exchange sessions, internal community initiatives
UNI PdR 125 measures all these indicators through the promotion rate by gender, female participation in development programmes and female presence in decision-making roles. Declaring the intention is not enough: it has to be measured and improved over time.
How to integrate welfare into UNI PdR 125 certification
Gender equality certification under UNI PdR 125:2022 is not a badge, it is a management system. Corporate welfare is one of its load-bearing elements, but it must be structured coherently with the other areas of the practice.
The UNI PdR 125 areas where welfare is central
The practice identifies six areas of action and assigns each a specific weight in the final score. Welfare cuts in particular across:
Culture and strategy (weight 15%): welfare must be consistent with the vision and communicated widely
Governance (weight 15%): a steering committee must own welfare policies and verify their effectiveness
HR processes (weight 10%): welfare must be built into recruitment, appraisal and development
Growth opportunities and inclusion (weight 20%): mentorship, training and development must be equally accessible
Pay equity (weight 20%): welfare complements pay and must be monitored to ensure equal access
Parenting and work-life balance (weight 20%): the area where welfare plays the most direct role
A company seeking certification must be able to demonstrate, with data, that its welfare policies are designed, measured and improved over time, with a real impact on the female workforce.
The operational route to certification
The route starts with a positioning analysis, an objective snapshot of where the company stands against the KPIs of the practice. Next comes an improvement plan with measurable objectives and defined timelines. Then implementation, touching policies, information systems and internal communication. Finally, the certification audit by an accredited body.
With a structured, digital approach, certification timelines shorten noticeably compared with traditional routes. Complaion supports the company with dedicated auditors, operational templates and a platform that centralises data, evidence and KPIs, drastically simplifying both preparation and maintenance of the certification in later years.
Mistakes to avoid when designing welfare
Not everything called welfare produces impact. In our audit work we see a few typical mistakes recur that risk making policies cosmetic rather than transformative.
Menu welfare with no needs analysis: standard packages identical for everyone, without ever asking people what they actually need
Weak communication: benefits that exist but are unknown to most employees, with very low take-up
Discretionary access: measures formally available but granted at a manager’s discretion, with systematic differences between functions and sites
No KPIs: no measurement of who uses what, how often, and with what effect on turnover or satisfaction
Focusing only on mothers: welfare perceived as a women’s issue, which reinforces stereotypes instead of challenging them
Blurring welfare and pay: using welfare as a substitute for pay rises, which ends up penalising those who need it least
Policies imposed from above: no involvement of people in the design, resulting in measures poorly matched to daily reality
Avoiding these mistakes takes method. You need a needs analysis by population, continuous communication, clear governance and a system for measuring results. Goodwill in the HR department is not enough: it takes strategic commitment from leadership.
Frequently asked questions about corporate welfare and gender equality
Is corporate welfare required by law?
No, corporate welfare policies are not required by law in general terms. There are, however, specific obligations on parental leave, workplace safety and training. If a company decides to certify to UNI PdR 125 or to bid for public calls requiring equality standards, then a structured welfare system becomes effectively necessary to meet the requirements.
Which welfare measures are most effective at closing the gender gap?
The most effective are those acting on the structure of work, not on accessory perks. In order of impact: extended paid paternity leave, structural remote working, flexible hours, part-time work without career penalty, return-to-work programmes and sponsorship for women. Alone they are not enough: they must be integrated into a coherent system and measured over time.
Does remote working widen or close the gender gap?
It depends how it is designed. If it is universal, regulated and paired with a right to disconnect, it closes the gap because it lets people with care responsibilities stay fully involved. If it is offered only to women or managed at discretion, it risks widening the gap because it effectively excludes them from informal career dynamics. UNI PdR 125 measures both aspects.
How do you measure the effectiveness of welfare policies?
Through specific KPIs: take-up rate by gender and function, satisfaction index, turnover before and after introducing a measure, return rate after maternity leave, pay difference between those who use a measure and those who do not, and participation in career paths. It requires systematic data collection, which a certification support platform can automate.
Is UNI PdR 125 certification worthwhile for SMEs?
Yes, increasingly so. Beyond reputational benefits, certification gives access to social contribution relief, scoring points in public calls and tenders, and preferential criteria in large buyers’ purchasing. For an SME the journey can be more agile than for a large company, because structures are leaner and decisions faster. With an experienced partner timelines shorten further.
Should welfare be communicated only internally or externally too?
It must be communicated in both directions, with different aims. Internally it ensures people know about and use the measures available, reducing any sense of unfairness. Externally it strengthens employer branding, attracts talent and supports positioning on social sustainability, which increasingly drives supplier and investor choices.
Which data should you collect to monitor gender equality?
The key data are: workforce composition by gender and level, average pay by gender and role, promotion rate by gender, participation in development programmes, return rate after maternity leave, use of remote working and other flexibility measures, and turnover rate by gender. UNI PdR 125 provides a structured list of indicators with reference thresholds.
How long does it take to implement an equality-oriented welfare system?
It depends on the starting point. A company starting from scratch may need 6-12 months to design, communicate and launch the first structural measures. With a guided path and digital support tools, timelines compress significantly. What matters is planning by priority: some measures have immediate effect, others require a cultural shift that matures over time.
Turn your welfare into a competitive advantage
Intelligently designed corporate welfare is today the most concrete way to close the gender gap, retain talent and build a solid market reputation. But good intentions are not enough: it takes structural measures, KPIs, governance and a continuous improvement system that gives substance to declared commitments. UNI PdR 125 certification is the tool that makes all of this verifiable and recognisable externally, opening access to public calls, incentives and commercial opportunities. Complaion supports your company at every stage, from the positioning analysis to the final audit, with dedicated auditors and a digital platform that shortens timelines noticeably compared with traditional routes. Request a consultation and a tailored quote: let’s build a welfare system that genuinely makes a difference, for your people and for your business.
