Improving the horticultural workplace: Fringe benefit options in Germany

Difficulties in attracting, motivating, and retaining qualified employees call for improvement of workplaces in horticulture. Rising input costs combined with stagnating output prices constrain these endeavors. Therefore, cost neutral measures are preferential. One solution that has been discussed by the project-group 'Horticulture 2000' in Germany (Bitsch and Ludwig, 1992), is more flexible fringe benefit plans and innovative time arrangements. The objective of this study was to explore the possibilities for and interest in these innovative arrangements by both employers and employees in horticulture. Structured interviews and on-site simulations of fringe benefit choices were undertaken in 39 ornamental enterprises in Lower Saxony in Germany. Because flexible time arrangements and benefit systems are more common in retail than in producing industries and the objective of the study was to explore the potential of flexible arrangements in production enterprises, only enterprises with a minimum of 50% production and at least two fulltime non-family employees in ornamental production were included. Thirty-eight employers and 67 employees participated in the study. Results support the hypothesis that there is a large potential and demand for benefits change in horticultural workplaces. Few employees are well informed about their fringe benefits and possible time arrangements. Often even the employers are not fully aware of the benefits they offer, and in most cases are not able to estimate the respective costs. More than 60% of the employees showed interest in different benefits than they actually received; even more made a different choice in the simulation. Nearly all employers are also open to change, and more than half of them will consider offering optional benefit plans. Hence, individualized fringe benefits and work schedules can be considered as an opportunity for low cost improvement of horticultural workplaces.