Employee Recreation
By Aslam Hussain
Over thirty years from the end of the First World War, the experience of work in England was increasingly shaped by a concern for industrial welfare. This manifested itself in various forms. As the urban working class began to develop, sport had a variety of purposes, used by local communities and trade unions to factory owners.
Large-scale employers, in both the manufacturing and service sectors, often saw the provision of sports and recreational facilities as an important aspect of their commitment to industrial welfare and as a way of maintaining harmonious industrial relations. Sport, along with various recreational activities, increasingly provided a way of encouraging workers to identify with their employer; it was as important in this respect as the company outings or the annual gathering.
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The firm Ilford Ltd., which makes photographic materials, was founded in 1879 by Alfred H. Harman, a professional photographer of Peckham (London) who, like many others, appears to have been a good employer. This is evident in him building, at his own expense, a hall in Ilford Lane which remained in use as a clubroom until 1973. As seen in Figure 1. This not only provided a place to eat their breakfast and lunches but also room to make tea and recreational activities in the evenings, including billiards and amateur dramatics.
The Britannia Works Institute. Courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage
Facilities were also provided for games, including tennis and bowls. The company also encouraged inter-site/departmental athletics meetings, like football and cricket.
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​During the project we interviewed David Alcock, an employee of Ilford Limited from 1957-1985, who told us about his experiences of taking part in social activities at Ilford Limited:
On the Ilford site we had departmental cricket. There was, I don’t know if you know this, but we had a sports ground in Gordon Road Ilford. Think it was Gordon Road, it runs from the green, Green Gate through to Barkingside and we had our own sports ground with cricket pitch, football pitch, tennis courts, lovely pavilion. Erm, I used to play for the work side, I used to play for Ilford cricket, but we also played interdepartmentally so erm… the Rodenside lab… erm would join in Home Sales, Home Sales department, the account department, erm… central engineering… the Ilford lab, we would play each other in 50 overs, well it wasn’t 50 overs actually because we wouldn’t have been out at the time, it was 20 overs each way. Nowadays of course they call it 20/20, but that’s what we did. Erm, we’d do that in that in the evenings, have a league in the evenings and I used to play for the er… Ilford Limited side on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays.”
Company cricket team, South Park.
I believe that this is an interesting topic in social history of Ilford Limited as well as in a wider context. These types of activities for workers are crucial, because when employees participate in an activity for fun they to get to know each other better. It is hoped that if team members are more relaxed and comfortable with each other this will improve interaction and communication at work.
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Recently many American Tech companies have picked-up on this engagement by offering recreation facilities to employees. These activities meet their physical and psychological needs which in-turn reduces the rate of absenteeism, sick leave and recruitment-cycles. Ultimately this helps to boost productivity, health benefits in the workforce and shape the culture of a company.