How the well-being of employees leads companies to success

The well-being of the company is inevitably linked to the well-being of its employees. In many companies, however, this balance is not taken seriously enough. However, the Austrian entrepreneur Josef Zotter attaches great importance to his employees and thus not only maximizes the humanity but also the success of his company.

A few days ago had the pleasure of the Summit of Young Business Austria to be able to visit in Granz. In addition to networking with many interesting young entrepreneurs, the highlight for me this time was the lecture by Joseph Zotter. Because he talked about how he does good for employees and his company at the same time.

Josef Zotter’s lecture was titled “The maximization of humanity is the greatest gain”. In it he presented his philosophy on how to deal with employees. His intention: if the employees are doing well, it helps the company and thus increases profits.

Balance between employee and company welfare

That might not sound particularly spectacular at first. But what he said not only made sense, but also showed that he has a very clear and authentic view of what employees mean to his company.

What particularly impressed me was that he did not explain, as is often the case, that the employees are the only true thing for the success of the company. Rather, he showed that there must be a balance between taking care of the employees and the economic (!) success of the company. In Zotter’s opinion, you can’t have one without the other.

Three examples of employee retention and profit growth

To illustrate this, Zotter presented three examples. From each of these examples it became clear that managers can do something good for their employees – and at the same time for the company.

1. Everyone sits at a table

The first example concerned lunch in the canteen. You often experience that the “normal” employees eat in the canteen and the management staff in a separate area. Sometimes there is other food.

That is not acceptable for Josef Zotter. With him, everyone eats together in the same room, without barriers to the management staff. It is absolutely clear to him what he intends to do with it. The employees get the feeling that everyone is on the same level.

At the same time, it speaks for the company that the managers and he himself can be approached by anyone at any time. Anyone can sit with him during the lunch break and he sits with everyone.

2. The company kindergarten

The Zotter company has set up a kindergarten for its employees. On the one hand, this was for the benefit of the employees, because even in Austria it is not always easy to get a place in kindergarten. Employees can thus enjoy affordable childcare that is, above all, very close by.

But the company also benefits. Because Josef Zotter explained that without this kindergarten, female employees in particular very often worry about their children if they go to a kindergarten somewhere else. Especially if it happens that a child has to be picked up earlier.

It was clear to him that employees who are worried about their children are not doing the job for the company that they could. The company kindergarten takes these worries away from the employees and thus brings better-performing employees to the company.

Here, too, it was again very authentic to experience that Josef Zotter was not only concerned with simply doing something good for the employees, but that this also resulted in an advantage for the company.

3. Shoes for employees

Now that was my favorite example: One day Josef Zotter had shoes made for all employees. It cost him 140 euros per employee. As he said himself, that was not a small amount of money.

But for him, this investment was worth it. On the one hand, he calculates that every hour worked by the employees is to be estimated at 40 euros. This means that all employees have already earned their shoes again after four hours.

On the other hand, this means that the employees can walk better and therefore faster in the shoes. And faster-moving employees promote the company’s success again.

Honesty is the best

What I loved about the above examples was the honesty. Because one hears very often that in a company the advantages that employees have in this company are always emphasized.

It would be more honest to say that there is a reason why you take care of the employees: ideally, they do more for the company because of this care. So both benefit from it – the employees and the company.

Well-being of the employees: My wish to German companies

I would wish that many more companies would choose a more honest presentation with regard to employee benefits. It is completely logical that a company always has the company’s well-being in mind. If both the employees and the company benefit from a measure, then this is something that should be communicated with pride.

I am glad that I was able to experience this with Josef Zotter and I hope that he will come up with many more ideas on how he can do something good for his employees and, as a result, his company. Because by maximizing the human factor, he is able to increase profits – for the people and for his company.

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