“Welfare Champion”, there is also agriculture, with the historic Barone Ricasoli winery, and more

Corporate welfare has reached a high level of maturity and awareness of the social role in Italian SMEs is growing: more than 68% of Italian small and medium-sized enterprises have passed the basic level of corporate welfare. Furthermore, the number of SMEs with a very high and high level doubled, rising from 10.3% in 2016 to 24.7% in 2022. This is stated by the “Pmi 2022 Welfare Index”, created by the insurance giant Generali Italia, in partnership with, among others, Confindustria, Confagricoltura, Confartigianato, and Confcommercio, which involved over 6,500 companies from all over Italy and of all sizes, and from all production sectors. Agriculture and wine also have their champions, among the 121 awarded with the “5W”, the “Welfare Champion” companies (which were 22 in 2017). Like the historic Barone Ricasoli, now run by Francesco Ricasoli, one of the most historic and prestigious wineries in Italy and in the Chianti Classico area, where Baron Bettino Ricasoli, in the 19th century, at Brolio Castle, perfected “the first recipe of Chianti wine”. But also the farm and e-commerce of organic products Natura Iblea-Paniere Bio of Ragusa, the C.B.M. - Cattle Breeding Management of Jesi, a breeding company that collaborates with the Fileni group, and again, for the increasingly felt theme of social agriculture, the Fattoria Solidale del Circeo - Social Cooperative of Production and Labor of Latina.
“Agricultural champions”, of a rapidly growing phenomenon. The proportion of companies with a high level of welfare is highest (70.7% in 2022 vs 64.1% in 2017) in companies with more than 250 employees and very significant (66.8% vs 59.8% in 2017) in SMEs with 101 to 250 employees. Micro-enterprises doubled (from 6 to 9 employees) with a high level of welfare, going from 7.7% in 2017 to 15.1% in 2022. The increase is largely due to the simplification of regulations and the public resources allocated for social protection, which encourages businesses, even small ones, to commit to supporting families. Furthermore, companies with a more developed welfare system achieve productivity results that are clearly above the average, as well as much faster growth in terms of economic results and employment. In 2021, the profit on turnover of companies with a very high level of welfare was double that of companies at the basic level: 6.7% versus 3.7%. Furthermore, the proportion of companies that see welfare as a strategic lever for long-term development has more than doubled, rising from 6.4% in 2016 to 14.1% in 2022. As many as 87.5% of these companies generate a high-level social impact, against a general average of 38%.
“Welfare is a driving force capable of increasing productivity - commented Marina Elvira Calderone, Minister of Labor and Social Policies - thanks to a better involvement of workers in company processes. Knowing and attending to the needs of employees demonstrates a clear and precise desire to expand the scope of work. An involvement that is almost always rewarded with a renewed commitment to the corporate mission capable of increasing efficiency and productivity. From this perspective, welfare becomes an opportunity for businesses and their employees, and vice versa”.
“Confagricoltura is proud to participate at the forefront of the Generali Italia initiative once again this year. Never, in fact, as in this delicate historical period - added the vice president of Confagricoltura, Sandro Gambuzza - is corporate welfare important. The uncertainty caused firstly by the pandemic and now the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but most notably the high cost of energy and the rise in production costs, weigh heavily on the household budget. It is therefore essential to provide them with assistance through corporate welfare. Confagricoltura has long been committed with its companies to paying attention to people, aware of the critical role that companies can play in supporting their employees and their families, thanks to their close relationship with the territory and the population”.