Company housing assistance schemes with particular reference to those for lower income employees

Conclusion

Employers and employer bodies are well positioned to provide appropriate forms of housing assistance to their staff. There is also little doubt that employers are already experiencing increasing pressure from the trade unions to assist with housing. If this is so, employers can only be urged to meet these pressures in a fair and reasonable way. At all times employers would be advised to appreciate the very real housing problems which employees are facing and to consider carefully the benefits to their employees (and thus the company as a whole) of having an effective housing scheme. This not only requires schemes to be structured where none exist, but also requires employers to critically evaluate the performance of existing schemes. Employers need to have realistic perceptions about the success of their schemes and recognise that it is only by sustained and committed effort that housing schemes can achieve their objectives. Finally, company employees would be urged to recognise that the employer is limited in his ability to render assistance and therefore demands and expectations need to be contained within reasonable limits.