Survey: Jamaica work culture on par with wider Campari Group
Published:Wednesday | April 20, 2016 | 12:00 AMSteven Jackson
The Campari Group, after more than three years of ownership, has finally included local subsidiary J. Wray & Nephew Limited (JWN) in a special global survey of work conditions.
It found that JWN's work culture now largely reflects that of the wider group, and Campari wants to use the findings to improve motivation and well-being.
The Italian spirits company employs nearly 4,200 globally, a big chunk of which would be in Jamaica. At the time that Campari took over JWN, then called Lascelles deMercado and Company, the Jamaican conglomerate had roughly 2,000 workers, inclusive of its sugarcane operations.
"This represented an important step to integrating Jamaica into the company, which started with the One Company programme," said Campari. The survey questionnaire was filled out by 50 per cent of the company's working population in Jamaica.
The local operations acquired in September 2012 was excluded from the global questionnaire in previous years. After consolidating the data from Jamaica into the group survey, global participation was estimated at 80 per cent and there was little variation in the scores for the various themes, the company said. The data was analysed by the Research Division of Bocconi University in Milan.
Campari carried out a business climate survey in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 using a questionnaire to monitor the job satisfaction of its workers, whom it calls 'Camparistas'. The group added that a special version of the survey was used in 2015, involving Camparistas in Jamaica for the first time. This extended and supplemented the survey already carried out in 2014 for all other permanent Camparistas.
The main themes in the questionnaire were the active involvement in the life of the group and adherence to key values.
"The results of the research in Jamaica confirmed the results of the global survey, with scores in line with the group's objectives," the company said, adding that the Camparistas confirmed that they felt like an integral part of the group's working life, assigning an average score of 5.5, on a scale of one to 7.
VALUES OF PASSION
The measurement parameters included satisfaction in carrying out one's work, confidence in the future, and a sense of belonging. The Camparistas were also in line with the corporate values of passion with a top score of 6.2, pragmatism and integrity, with the same average value of 5.5, in line with the 2014 score.
These results are more than satisfactory for both areas of analysis, in comparison with the preset target of 5.0.
The survey also produced a positive result at 5.11 for the Camparistas' perception of the corporate responsibility policies implemented by the group, with the culture of sustainability also disseminated uniformly in Jamaica, which reported an average score of 5.3. The survey will be repeated in 2016 throughout the roughly 24 countries spanning 50 nationalities in which Campari operates.
In 2014, while it excluded Jamaica in its global survey, Campari chose to create an extraordinary survey to address the special conditions of the Jamaican workforce.
JWN spent €10 million roughly J$1.35 billion at average yearly exchange rates on upgrades during its 2015 financial year, according to its parent company.
Campari indicated that it expended €3.3 million for environmental recovery work and €6.7 million for the refurbishment of premises, production facilities and the head office in Kingston.
The planned capital budget for JWN in 2016 was not disclosed.
"JWN continues to invest in plant and equipment with the primary objectives being to improve productivity; achieve greater efficiencies and environmental management," said Chairman Clement 'Jimmy' Lawrence in response to Wednesday Business queries.
"We are, however, unable to disclose the 2016 planned capital expenditure budget," he said.
The value of the Campari assets in JWN's rum portfolio was €119 million at the end of 2015, compared to €112 million a year earlier, the financials indicated.