Employee Welfare from The Beginning

An employee welfare programme that protects you is critical to the future success of your business so how do you control employee welfare standards?

Independent auditing safeguards employers, an audit prevents employees and contractors from having an operational free hand, reducing risk including catering subsidies and related costs!

Your business is nothing without its employees; a welfare programme is your 1st priority!

Employee welfare standards directly impact business accreditation; ISO 9000, ISO 14001 or OHSAS 18001 the first step is to ensure your employees are valued so they can operate efficiently...

Employment welfare: Consider your catering facilities in isolation.

If employees feel undervalued due to poor standards they don't perform effectively. Poor service standards result in lower patronage of facilities, meaning you pay a higher vending and catering subsidy.

So in conclusion if employees are not performing, poor employee performance and employee welfare risk means your business suffers. You also pay a higher catering subsidy due to lower usage; you are hit twice!

This is a very obvious but vicious circle!

The flip side being...

When catering standards improve employee patronage improves. Improved employee standards lead to improved employee performance and a reduced catering subsidy!

That means your catereing costs clearly come down and your business performance goes up... You win twice! 

Your employee assessment/ employee welfare programme

The clearer your picture the less likelihood you have of getting welfare management decisions wrong!

Improve your control over employee welfare related suppliers- including caterers, deep cleaners, pest control, Legionella, PAT Testing, vending, water dispenser suppliers. A below standard performance from any of them increases employee welfare risk; audit results ensure suppliers take full responsibility!

Removing weak/ poor employee welfare standards leads to improved conditions and employee performance.

Independently measured standards reduce related risk; E.coli, salmonella, Legionella, etc...

Improve management efficiency you save time and money directly impacting catering subsidy.

Alternatively see below for a "brief" insight into the history of employee welfare standards dating back to the early 1920s. An employee assessment helps you achieve accreditation; whether it's ISO 9000, ISO 14001 or OHSAS 18001 ensure your standards have been benchmarked.

'We stand on the threshold of a new era in which attention and interest are beginning to shift from things that are worked with, to the worker; from the machinery of industry, to the man who made, owns, or operates it.'

Robert Yerkes, Chairman of the Personnel Research Federation, National Research Council, 1922

In the early 1900s labour unions, social reformers, journalists, and photographers brought to national attention poor working conditions experienced by industrial workers. In the ensuing economic climate of the late 1920s and 1930s, many executives came to believe that the foundation of business and of a democratic society itself rested in part in affirming the role of the worker.

To inspire company loyalty, discourage high employee turnover and unionization, and present a good face to the public, corporate managers began to focus on the well-being of the employee through the practice of welfare capitalism.

In addition to pensions, sick pay, disability benefits, and stock purchase plans, Western Electric workers could participate in a range of recreational and educational programs from running meets, tennis games, and baseball leagues to lunchtime concerts, beauty pageants, and evening classes. The companies accident prevention programs included the introduction of safety shoes, eye goggles, and guards for heavy machinery. To better understand worker productivity and job satisfaction, Western Electric became increasingly interested in studies from the social, behavioural, and medical sciences.

The above information is taken from the Harvard Business school web site and is a good example of the early connection between employee benefits, welfare and rapid expansion of a number of extremely successful global brands and businesses.
It is hard to ignore what history is telling us; it's a fact that successful businesses adopt employee welfare programs!

When it comes to employee welfare it's not just about investing in high spec catering facilities it is about ensuring you have a welfare programme that adopts best practice....

As Robert Yerkes stated way back in 1922:
'Our interests must shift from our products to our employees.'