Corporate welfare helps productivity. 35,6% of small and medium-sized Italian enterprises active in this sector think so, a figure that rises to 63,5% for those classified as "very active". The data emerges from 2018 Welfare Index PMI report, promoted by Generali Italy with the participation of Confindustria, Confagricoltura, Confartigianato and Confprofessioni.
The analysis, now in its third edition and presented this morning in Rome, involved 4.014 SMEs this year, about double the number at the outset in 2016. Corporate welfare, established with the Budget Law passed at the end of 2015, is relatively young in Italy, but the companies that choose to implement initiatives to support workers continue to increase.
In particular, according to the Report, active companies (i.e. those that have launched plans in at least 4 of the 12 corporate welfare areas) were 25,5% of the sample two years ago, while in 2018 they reached 41,2%. The very active ones (at least 6 areas) instead doubled, going from 7,2 to 14,3%.
As far as the individual sectors are concerned, it is still the world that dominates integrative healthcare, with an activity rate that has grown to 42% from 32,2% in 2016. This is followed by the training of young people and support for social mobility (38%) and work-life balance initiatives, dominated by maternity aid (at 34,3%, more than double the 16,1% two years ago).
“Welfare makes businesses grow and is good for the country – commented Marco Sezana, managing director of Generali Italia – The well-being of employees and increased productivity are the results that the entrepreneur today declares with his commitment to corporate welfare. We will continue to support, together with the confederations, the diffusion of the culture of welfare in small and medium-sized enterprises with the Welfare Index Pmi, but also with our skills and our innovation in the insurance sector".
The sore point is the knowledge that companies have of corporate welfare legislation: just under one in four, 24,6 percent, is sufficient.
