黑洞社区

Employers are starting to ape the 鈥減aternalistic鈥� practices of Victorian social reforming firms like Cadbury with a bigger emphasis on employees鈥� welfare, according to Great Portland Estates鈥� major projects boss James Pellatt.

In a video interview published on 黑洞社区.co.uk ahead of this magazine鈥檚 黑洞社区 Live conference next month, at which Pellatt (pictured) will be speaking, he said a greater focus on worker welfare amounted to
a 鈥渜uiet revolution鈥�.

He said: 鈥淭he biggest shifts in occupier demand over the last two years have definitely been towards the welfare of the workforce.

鈥淚n some respects we鈥檙e almost going back to Victorian paternalistic times - like Cadbury at Bournville [the chocolate-maker鈥檚 estate near Birmingham]. They want to look after their workforce but also their work-life balance as well.鈥�

Cadbury 鈥� controversially bought by US food giant Kraft six years ago 鈥� built a reputation in Victorian times for looking after its workers.

Pellatt also said office developers were having to provide more flexible schemes to cater for more part-time working and a wider age range in the workplace.

Commenting on the widening age range, he said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e at an interesting point in the market where people are going to be working into their 70s, but also you鈥檙e trying to cope for people in their 20s as well - so that鈥檚 a challenge.鈥�