The Palazzina Creativa Welfare Plan

The adoption of a welfare plan as an opportunity to reflect on and improve the working method in the agency.

In recent years many elements, such as globalisation and the economic crisis, have underlined the complexity of the environment in which companies operate and the multiple issues they have to face. Organisations are no longer evaluated solely for their economic and financial results, but also for the environmental and social impact they generate. The issue of social responsibility, therefore, is becoming increasingly important.

Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept in which companies integrate environmental and social interests in their actions and interactions with different stakeholder groups on a voluntary basis. CSR initiatives are undertaken with the conviction that the role of companies in society is not only to generate profits for capital investors but, rather, that the interests of all those who come into contact with the company must be considered.

Companies that operate in a socially responsible manner are evaluated according to a ‘triple bottom line approach’: for the economic impact they generate (understood as profit), for their social impact (the benefits they bring to the community and the territory) and for their environmental impact (understood as the use of resources in a way that deprives future generations of the possibility of using them).

Social responsibility, not necessarily implying large investments, is not the prerogative of large companies. What is needed instead is a change of mind-set on the part of decision-makers to start this process. Indeed, every company, regardless of size, can contribute to the improvement and well-being of the ecosystem in which it operates. Integrating social responsibility actions into the strategy is also an economic benefit for the company itself.

The model designed for PalazzinaCreativa

At PalazzinaCreativa , we have believed from the very beginning in the importance of taking care of the individual for the well-being of the whole team, in the conviction that happy and serene employees make an even more valuable contribution.

We therefore structured awelfare plan that was an opportunity to improve employee satisfaction, to empower employees and give them decision-making power to improve collaboration and communication. In order to do this, we devised anad hoc model in which obtaining benefits and everyone’s ways of working and planning were closely linked.

The starting point of each new project is a team brief in which the customer’s requirements and objectives are reported to the resources that are to take care of them. Subsequently, the team members involved evaluate and propose estimates of the working hours that the project requires.

These estimates are the benchmark against which the employees’ performance will be evaluated. In service companies, where theoutput of work is not a physical object, it is extremely difficult to identify objective parameters against which performance can be assessed. With this system, it is possible to set targets which – being set by the employees themselves – are perceived as really achievable.

At the end of the project, the hours actually spent are compared with the initial estimates developed in the brief and, based on the margin of error, a score is assigned to each. In this way, employees become more aware of the different activities each project requires and the hours needed to complete them.

The margin of error is calculated both positively (when employees put in more hours than estimated) and negatively (when the hours put in are less than estimated). In addition, the awarding of points is linked to the entire project: if the margin of error with respect to the forecast is greater than the set number of hours, no points will be awarded to any team member. Conversely, if the project achieves awards of excellence (such as category awards), the team is rewarded with extra points.

In this way, employees are motivated to cooperate and support each other in the implementation of the project to achieve more results.

There is the possibility of earning extra points through training hours: in this way, each employee is incentivised to keep up to date, increasing his or her knowledge and skills.

At the end of each quarter, a total ranking is drawn up and the welfare amount is distributed proportionally to each employee.

The management of the entire re-distribution process is entrusted to an online platform that supports the company on the administrative aspect of the various services such as education, healthcare, leisure assistance or fringe benefits, both for the employee and his or her family.