Bonuses for employees who get sick a little? This is a welfare policy that Italian companies struggle to adopt, preferring instead to focus on initiatives/benefits that nevertheless reward the employee by creating a feeling of affection towards the company organization in which one works, effectively redesigning ‘corporate welfare’. Because if health and rights must always be guaranteed, the incentive for production and quality is a priority target for companies that increasingly build staff loyalty. “To say no to absenteeism, companies can and must involve employees” clarifies to Adnkronos/Labitalia Lara Carrese, director of personnel with over twenty years of experience, who recently handed over the technical and professional organization of the Milan Cortina 2026 games and is Independent advisor on HR projects for large companies such as, most recently , 24 Hours Group.
“Let’s take De Agostini as an example: when I worked there (2004-2016) – he says – absenteeism was an issue under constant monitoring and for this reason performance bonuses were implemented which, necessarily agreed with the trade union representatives, accrued upon the occurrence of a series of parameters linked to the productivity and efficiency of the company. Among these there was, in fact, the parameter of absenteeism which, if it remained within a certain thresholdmatured the bonus which was therefore paid in the paycheck, in addition to the fixed part of the salary. We are talking about well-regulated and well-parameterized bargaining, negotiated with the unions and which tends to keep employee absences below a certain threshold, above which the company is presumed not to be efficient. At that time there was no talk of welfare as we talk about it today, that is, performance bonuses also represented by other types of benefits, such as for school expenses or recreational activities”.
“Rewarding employees who make few absences due to illness – Benedetta Cascio, general manager of Red Public, Excellence group, tells Adnkronos/Labitalia – is an area in which there are not yet many best practices. It is something that is being started to work to create a work environment that discourages the use of the institution of illness, which is clearly sacrosanct, but indiscriminate or perhaps prolonged longer than necessary. Surely, in Italy, illness is a very regulated institution as it is necessary to have ‘contact’ with a doctor who then proceeds to create an INPS protocol”.
“In general – he maintains – encouraging the reduction of absences due to illness also means focusing on increasing the so-called wellness in the working environment, ensuring that the employee can increasingly develop his own sense of belonging to his working environment. this way is not used in an exaggerated way and often perhaps takes longer than necessary the institution of the disease. Obviously there is no shortage of initiatives from Italian and international companies that have implemented measures to ‘reward’ workers who take fewer sick daysbut they can almost all be traced back to a few years ago.”
Yet there are those who ‘quietly’ take the first steps to discourage the use of their workers’ illnesses. “Attention to corporate welfare – Antonio Fontana, CEO of Gestaf, a facility management company, civil and industrial cleaning services and logistics, told Adnkronos/Labitalia – represents a fundamental added value for our success. Rewards for employees therefore, but not just focused on the few days of illnessbut rather on the general trend which depends on various constants. We also remunerate the hours of leave not used and accumulated by our resources throughout the year, recognizing the value of time and the importance of every single contribution. Remunerations range from 500 to 1,000 euros on the payroll.” “At Gestaf srl – he specifies – we firmly believe that good corporate welfare is the key to creating a positive and productive working environment. For this reason, we constantly invest in the training of our staff, convinced that the professional growth of each employee is essential for the overall growth of the company. We reward the achievement of set objectives with a remuneration policy that recognizes and enhances the results obtained. We are convinced that recognizing the efforts and skills of our team is essential to maintain high motivation and promote a calm and collaborative working climate.”
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