The Big Book of HR, Revised and Updated Edition

21

Employee Benefits

In her history of the Cadbury family’s chocolate business, Deborah Cadbury describes the innovative practices its founders implemented:

Should anyone fall ill, a doctor was hired in 1902 for the staff. The medical department expanded over time to include four nurses and a dentist, who were available to all employees free of charge. Free vitamin supplements were provided for those lacking stamina, and a convalescent home...was built for staff in need of a rest. These amenities may seem quaintly paternalistic by modern standards, but at a time when employees could be subjected to unhealthy or even dangerous working environments, it is small wonder that workers were queuing up to join Bournville.¹

Employee benefits are an integral ...