When several people define the company where they work as a “family”, it always merits exploration and reflection. It is easy just to write it in the “ABOUT US” section of a website: “…we are a family”. Easy, but not always true. And when it is true, it is easier to say and write, especially if the company consists of a small group of people who are very united and who physically work side by side. But in twenty years Alias has seen its workforce increase tenfold, with more than 160 employees currently active in various sectors. Here, the word family takes on an even more valuable meaning if this term is used by the men and women, people (rather than resources) who have been with the company since day one, but also those who also joined the workforce more recently.

Huge credit must be given to the women in Alias’s family.

In this latest episode of #alias20, we will meet some of them and discover how that first “warehouse” from 2002 took root – thanks to the fundamental contribution of women – and gave birth to an entire industrial district made up of ten buildings including administrative, productive and logistics departments.

The capital W stands for the Women of Alias, but especially their Winning abilities. And speaking of winning skills, it is our pleasure to introduce Giovanna Frigerio. Or rather, somebody we all know as “La Giò”, complete with the definite article in front of her name (as is common in Italian) and the emphasis on the o, a informal and open nickname that works even better from a phonetic point of view if pronounced as if it were one word: “Lagiò” [Lajo phonetically] Like “Laferrari”. She was the first to speak about the company as a family with conviction and sincere affection. General services, maintenance, security. These are the three areas in which she exercises her winning abilities every day. Why winning? Because these three different disciplines require a great deal of expertise (you have to master the tools of the trade) and skill, as her daily work load has grown significantly in her 12 years working at Alias; the administrative tasks, regulations and bureaucracy have increased dramatically, and she always has to be prepared to tackle new challenges and train new colleagues to make teams, even in adversity.

“Lagiò” joined Alias in 2010 and has learned different skills year after year thanks to the unparalleled support of her mentor, the now-retired Claudio Tagliaferri, an example for her and for many others who grew up in the company. Also the essential support of the accountant, Mr. Castaldi as well as the timely supervision of engineer, Mr. Maiori represent fixed points in the grounded training she received. And who knows if her smile and the extreme positivity that Lagiò transmits are part of the legacy of those who helped to forge it professionally or if they are innate characteristics. In fact, she smiles and it is also for this reason her relationships with colleagues are always respectful, productive, calm and relaxed. Moreover, one phrase that she has made her own is: “a problem shared is a problem halved”.

In a constantly growing company, there are countless management issues to be addressed and resolved quickly, every day. A forward-looking company – born in the era of the fax machine and arriving in the era of cloud services – must always be ready for new scenarios. One of Giovanna’s most recent achievements is the successful result of the painstaking task of document digitisation. This was a collective success made possible thanks to the commitment of the entire service department. An activity that is, in fact, in constant progress. During lockdown working remotely was almost essential, but today, that one beneficial side effect of Covid has accelerated the digitalisation process, making certain practices much smarter and more operable. There is still paper to be found in our various departments, but almost all of Alias’s analogue media has now been converted, saved and made digitally accessible.

The company is growing, evolving and people come and go – sometimes very quickly – from one department to another. Intuition and a good eye from those who organise staff allow them to assign the right tasks, including those that are the most challenging, to the right people. We need entrepreneurial vision and human sensitivity to reward merit at the right time. Sabrina Vernasca joined Alias at the age of nineteen in April 2003 through an agency. Moving from the switchboard, in other words, reception, to administration, then to the personnel department until joining production planning six years ago is a career path that many would see as anomalous today, at least on paper. But not at Alias. It may have seemed a gamble at the time, but expectations surrounding Sabrina’s abilities and qualities were well placed. Sabrina grew professionally at Alias, her professionalism and pragmatic approach have been with her through every department in which she has worked until achieving her current role of Planning Manager, a job that is the cornerstone of the entire chain of the Settima di Gossolengo “family”. Here the term “family” is used in a more semantic sense. Talking with Sabrina, mother of 4-year-old Nicole, we learn that, at Alias, over the years – along with figures, skills and facilities – personal, emotional and life relationships have also been created, matured and developed. A company legend says that many women who have worked on Alias’s reception desk have met their partner while working at the company, even going so far as to build a life and occasionally a family, traditional or otherwise. What matters is that in Alias bonds are also formed, as says Sabrina, with her and her partner bearing concrete testimony of this legend.

Other names, faces and roles, such as Silvia Fava and Cecilia Scolari, are known and appreciated to most (from customers to suppliers, to employees and colleagues) as back-office sales manager and communication manager respectively, as well several other women who hold strategic roles, Alias employees who have distinguished themselves and been rewarded for their efforts and who continue to be involved and committed in carrying out their mission. Women employed in various departments, each one an integral part of the company’s history. This episode of Alias20 is dedicated to all of them. Thank you.

Over the coming months, we will meet other key figures, sales, technicians and designers who have helped make Alias a leader in the “Made in Italy” security door sector. If you would like to follow us, it will be a great pleasure to share the story of our first 20 years!

Thank you all and we will see you soon with more episodes of “Alias20”.

#aliasblindate #alias #alias20