In case you missed our report and hadn’t heard the news elsewhere, in mid-July Italian manufacturer Idrobase Group lost one of its warehouses along with products worth over 1million Euros, during a serious fire at its premises. You can read the story here

 

Whereas management in many organisations would - quite naturally under the circumstances, be wringing its collective hands in despair and, perhaps, laying-off staff, with Idrobase it was a case of ‘all hands on deck’ as employers and staff worked together to ensure that the fire didn’t continue to cause damage to the company’s business and its employees’ welfare, with everyone who could be involved, taking part in the clean-up. 

 

While I thought things might be up and running again within a month or so, the last thing I’d expected to learn yesterday was that it had taken just three weeks and that all employees were to receive a bonus to boot. Not a one-off ‘thank you for your help in the clean-up’ bonus either, but a nine-month, 100 Euros/month bonus to help the workforce deal with the rapidly rising cost of living and show them that the company had confidence in its future! And should the inflation continue, this bonus is highly likely to be continued! 

 

In the announcement, which you can read below, management recognised that much of its success – not only in dealing with the aftermath of the fire but also generally and particularly in its recent sales growth, was down to its people, their commitment to the company and the energy they bring to it. I couldn’t help thinking that part of this would be down to the way the employees were being treated, since loyalty and commitment has to be a two-way thing, don’t you think? And the Idrobase management, Bruno Ferrarese and Bruno Gazzignato, clearly haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be employees rather than employers, and are treating their workforce in the way they would have wished to be treated themselves. 

 

A good lesson for many organisations, I feel…