Il corporate welfare is gaining significant ground among the small businesses. Currently, 56,4% of the benefits offered to employees focus on reconciliation between private life and work. Health e assistance, pension, protection of rights, diversity e inclusion they follow closely, each with an adoption rate above 50%. Furthermore, companies' commitment to supporting families in raising their children is growing, with 10% of companies active in this sector.
This is what emerges from the Welfare Index PMI 2024 report by Generali Italia, which has the patronage of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and sees the participation of the main Italian Confederations. The report involved 7.000 companies with a number of employees between 6 and 1.000, tripled compared to the first edition and representing the multiplicity of the Italian entrepreneurial fabric. The report assigned the highest 5W rating to 142 Welfare Champion businesses, a significant increase compared to 22 in 2017.
In detail, 75% of Italian small and medium enterprises has passed the level middle finger of corporate welfare, offering services agreed with the unions that go beyond national contracts. The number of SMEs with high levels of corporate welfare is tripled from 2016 to 2024, going from 10,3% to 33,3%, an increase of 8% in the last two years. Companies with an average level of welfare also increased, going from 51% to 75%. On the contrary, companies that limit themselves to the minimum wage, i.e. the adoption of the measures provided for by collective agreements, have decreased from 48,9% eight years ago to 25,5%.
Increase in welfare benefits
Trends in corporate welfare are observed in all production sectors and in all dimensions corporate. Although large and medium-sized businesses benefit from the greater availability of resources and dedicated staff, even small businesses with fewer than ten employees achieve a high level of initiative in 20% of cases. The gap between North and South they are not as marked as in other economic and social areas.
The availability of professional skills dedicated to corporate welfare is a crucial element. Currently, only 30,7% of companies have these skills, but this percentage rises to 66,8% in companies with a high level of welfare.
Another determining factor is the ability of companies to involve workers to identify their needs and respond to their needs. 70,8% of companies with a high level of welfare organize collective or individual meetings with employees for this purpose, clearly distinguishing themselves from other companies.
In summary, despite their different sizes and resources, companies of all types are adopting corporate welfare initiatives, with positive effects on worker satisfaction and social cohesion.
The role of corporate welfare in Italy
In Italy, a significant part of grocery for welfare is supported directly by the families: 22% of health spending, 71% of child and elderly care spending, and 16% of education spending. In 2023, Italian families incurred social spending of 140 billion euros, equal to 5.600 euros per family unit. This individual system is inefficient, expensive and inequitable, placing a greater burden on less affluent families. In recent years, the most vulnerable groups have given up essential services for health, quality of life and education.
Traditionally, the family has been the main social protection network, promoting solidarity between genders and generations. However, the social transformations e demographic of recent decades, accelerated in recent years, have increased family responsibilities, overloading them with burdens. The instability and fragmentation of family units are among the main factors of this change, with a third of families made up of a single person and 10,7% of single parents with dependent children.
The population ageing it has destabilized the balance between generations. In fact, 67% of the work of caring for the elderly has remained the responsibility of family members, often without the support of adequate home care services. This imbalance accentuates the difficulties for families, already burdened by other responsibilities.
Another crucial challenge for Italy's future is the gap compared to European standards education. Families struggle to support their children's educational path, with high costs and limited access to educational services, worsening inequalities.
Il corporate welfare reduces the economic burden on families shifting part of spending to businesses, improving access to services and promoting social justice. Companies that offer corporate welfare help fill the gaps in the current system, making it more efficient and fair. An important role in the provision of targeted support services is played by SMEs due to their diffusion across the territory and their proximity to families: SMEs in fact reach 11,3 million families with employees, 44% of Italian families, belonging to all social groups, of which 3,2 million are at high or very high vulnerability.
The Third Sector as a new protagonist
Il Third Sector is taking on an increasingly important role significant in corporate welfare, contributing both as employer That like supplier of services, and showing above-average initiative rates in many key areas. With 125 thousand organizations registered in the Single Register of Third Sector Entities (Runts), non-profits involve 894 thousand employees and almost 4,7 million volunteers, representing 5% of GDP. Third Sector entities with a high or very high level of corporate welfare are 59,3%, compared to 33,3% of for-profit companies.
In almost all areas, i initiative rates of the Third Sector exceed the average of SMEs. In particular, they excel in social responsibility towards consumers and suppliers (87,2% against 27,2%) and in the protection of rights, diversity and inclusion (82,5% against 50,4%). In particular, they excel in social responsibility towards consumers and suppliers (87,2% against 27,2%) and in the protection of rights, diversity and inclusion (82,5% against 50,4%).
Furthermore, the Third Sector shows a strong propensity to collaboration with other entities. 66,7% collaborate with public bodies, 64,5% with other non-profit bodies, and 45,4% with foundations, while collaborations with private companies are less frequent (38,9%). 22,7% of Third Sector bodies provide welfare services, mainly directly to people (13,5%) or on behalf of public bodies (9,2%), while only 3,9% offer services to businesses.
Corporate welfare benefits
Corporate welfare not only increases worker satisfaction in a period in which the mismatch between job supply and demand is growing and companies are struggling to retain talent, but it also improves performance and institutional: turnover, productivity and profitability. Between 2019 and 2023, the profitability index of companies with a very high level of welfare doubled. Even at the level occupational, in 2023, 26% of SMEs hired new workers, while only 11% reduced their hiring. The balance is decidedly better among companies with a high level of welfare: 44,2% increased their workforce and only 8,7% reduced it, with a difference of 35,5 points.
Therefore, companies with advanced welfare not only contributed more than average to the stability of the country during the years of the health emergency, but they restarted more quickly and today contribute to a greater extent to growth. Their productivity it makes them more competitive and capable of increasing theoccupation.
Comments
Corporate welfare increasingly includes supplementary funds and policies. Second Giancarlo Fancel, country manager & CEO of Generali Italia, SMEs use welfare in a strategic way, extending benefits to employees' families and the community. “The Italian entrepreneurial fabric made up of small and medium-sized companies therefore takes on an important social role, becoming a point of reference in the area. Through a partnership between the public and private sectors that involves institutions, local authorities, families, businesses and the third sector, we can make an important contribution to renewing the country's welfare", said Fancel.
Giovanni Baroni, vice-president of Confindustria and president of Piccola Industria, underlined the importance of supplementary healthcare, which currently covers almost 16 million Italians and represents a fundamental component of corporate welfare policies. “In a country like ours, where public spending on health remains one of the lowest in Europe, around 6,5% of GDP, what companies can do to support the health protection of workers and family members is extraordinary” , concluded Baroni.
