Quality of the traineeship and training received by participants in EURES job mobility projects, a possibility that the trainee’s path may lead to an employment contract, the willingness to host trainees from vulnerable groups, work-life balance facilities, as well as the recognition of the activities and skills acquired during the traineeship: these are just some of the quality criteria established to obtain the TEmpL.

The EURES Top Employer Label (TEmpL) is an initiative originated within Your first EURES Job 6.0 project which ended in April 2021, and continues today with the EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme project (EURES-TMS). The idea of the EURES National Coordination Office (NCO) Italy – ANPAL, which manages the above-mentioned mobility projects, is to enhance the value of quality traineeship, carried out accordingly with the EURES vision in a context of voluntary and circular mobility. In 2020, among the employers who obtained the quality label, we find Gabriele Mannello: here is his story, through his own words.

Gabriele Mannello is the founder of RicreAzione, a craft company started in Ancona in 2015 and was one of the first TEmpL winners. We reached Gabriele on the phone and asked him to tell us how his business was born and how he found out about the YfEj project. “I started RicreAzione, a carpentry and craft business in Ancona, which I have been running for six years now.” The use of recycled woods and the great attention Gabriele pays to the selection of materials used in the construction of furniture, place his company in sustainability pursuit, a theme that is increasingly promoted by the EU.

Thanks to his meeting with Davis, Gabriele Mannello met the EURES world and enthusiastically agreed to hire Davis as a trainee and to take advantage of the benefits and services offered by the Your first EURES job project. Supported by Sabina Riatti, the EURES Adviser for the Marche Region, who carefully followed the traineeship start-up process and assisted Gabriele in writing and publishing the job vacancy and in drafting and editing the integration program, and helped Davis in applying for benefits.

During the interview, Gabriele Mannello told us about the young trainee’s passion for wood, an element with a strong natural and cultural bond to his country, Latvia.
The tree and forest industry is part of Davis’s studies, “who came to Italy with the aim of learning and entering the world of woodworking and, consequently, of furniture and design.”

Gabriele tells us that a particular feature of his company is to work mainly with solid wood, the inner wood of a trunk, called duramen or heartwood, which is usually of deeper color and harder than the external part. “Davis always thought that this particular craft that we use at RicreAzione would be interesting for his professional growth”. And right from this particular interest of his, was born the encounter between RicreAzione and YfEj world.

We asked Gabriele to tell us why it is important to offer a high-quality traineeship that promotes European mobility. “As a craftsman, in my profession it is important to explain and describe everything I do to a single person, to dedicate as much time as possible to the individual trainee so that, after 3 or 6 months, he (or she) leaves my workshop with a wealth of real knowledge and skills. The process is complex, there are so many nuances to learn, beginning with the knowledge of wood and customer management to the design and making of the furniture itself. Anyone who works in my workshop needs to be able to leave saying, ‘Yes, I learned something’. Moreover, Gabriele says, talking about the different nationalities and the mobility, “the geographical and cultural difference leads to a fairer exchange: you gain and learn from each other, not only at the work level, but also at the human and cultural level.”

Finally, we ask Gabriele Mannello, what inspired his company to undertake this experience with a European trainee and what is the added value of the services offered by YfEj.
Gabriele tells us that he had trainees in the past, with different geographical and cultural backgrounds. The language factor was never a real obstacle and even with Davis, the linguistic understanding at a work was excellent in a short period of time.

The new EURES TMS project provides additional support for both employers and those looking for a job, traineeship or apprenticeship experience in Europe, Norway, and Iceland. The services offered by EURES TMS include the possibility of receiving financial support for language courses, which will be already available in the pre-selection stage. This is an advantage for both EURES TMS target groups.

During his traineeship, Davis benefited of a subsistence allowance for trainees, a measure which supports the trainee with an amount equal to the difference between the salary of an employee and the remuneration of the trainee (to be paid by the employer according to the respective national legislation).“This benefit, together with the constant and helpful presence of the EURES Adviser Sabina Riatti was the added value that convinced me to follow this path with EURES”.

We asked Gabriele to comment on the recognition he received during the Your first EURES Job project: “I was very happy to receive the TEmpL, we were proud to be among the first ones. It was a recognition of the efforts we put into making the traineeship a real educational experience”.

We say goodbye to Gabriele inviting him to join the new EURES TMS, and we wish Gabriele to get the recognition this year too (TEmpL 2021)!
We are ready to award more quality employers and tell you the stories of the future winners of the EURES TMS.

I happily accepted this particular experience. I consider it a very important and positive investment that I would gladly repeat. I recommend to the other employers in my field to try it.