Frank Greenall: Sleepyhead's workers' village - When wasn't enhancing the health and wealth of your workforce not great for business?

Craig Turner, director of the country's leading bed-maker, The Comfort Group, has confirmed plans to create a unique manufacturing hub and community in Ohinewai. Photo / Supplied

Not many New Zealanders wouldn't at some point have set sail for the Land of Nod on a Sleepyhead mattress.

Like rust, it seems that sleep never sleeps, and the industry's all go.

With about 500 Auckland employees at sites in Otahuhu, Avondale and Glen Innes, Sleepyhead wants to expand, but it can't find a suitably large local site.

Solution: It wants to relocate to a 176ha rural site just north of Huntly.

Here, the company will triple its manufacturing space to 100,000sqm, creating up to 1500 new jobs. But that's only part of the master plan.

Over the next decade, it also intends to develop a mixed-use community with 1100 new homes for their employees and families – a projected community of about 3000.

But hold on to your hats - here's what Sleepyhead director Craig Turner has to say about the whole project: "Our dream is to provide an opportunity for people who work for us and others in the community to be able to get into their own home, to have equity in something as they work. Currently that is incredibly hard to do - if not impossible."

Gee, that's got a familiar ring about it – it's enough to make you want to tear up.

Now what makes it seem so deja vu? I know! It's what we used to think New Zealand was all about – cutting a good deal for Kiwis and their families, especially your employees.

Yet the concept's even older.

Way back in 1887, Lever Brothers – of Sunlight Soap renown – acquired 23ha in Cheshire, England, for factory expansion and the construction of a model village to house their employees.

Modern-day international commercial leviathans like Amazon and Uber have forged their mega-billion-dollar empires on the backs of bottom-rung employees on slave wages having to sleep in their cars or parks. What went wrong, writes Frank Greenall. Photo / Getty Images

During the next 15 years, 800 houses were built, with allotments, public buildings, art gallery, hospital, schools, concert hall, swimming pool, church and (temperance) hotel.

Employee facilities for art, literature, science, recreation and music were also encouraged.

In similar vein, in 1893, the Cadbury family – of chocolate fame – acquired land to set up a model workers' village at Bourneville, Birmingham, to help "alleviate the evils of modern, more cramped living conditions".

Workers' health and fitness were deemed essential, and all manner of recreation and sporting activity was encouraged. The Bourneville village became a template for many others.

Cut to the likes of current international commercial leviathans like Amazon and Uber, who have forged their mega billion dollar empires on the backs of bottom-rung employees having to sleep in their cars or nearby parks because their slave wages can't cover accommodation or commuting costs.

Especially galling for Uber drivers was seeing Uber co-founder Garrett Camp recently move into his new NZ$109 million Beverly Hills mansion at a time when they're battling on rock-bottom wages and conditions.

It's reminiscent of the Californian farm workers' struggle to be treated somewhat better than medieval serfs.

Under Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, they organised, struck, marched, boycotted, and eventually prevailed.

Living wage protests - like this one in Auckland - have become common in New Zealand as workers struggle with the cost of living. Photo / Dean Purcell

It could be similarly effective for 10,000 Uber drivers to simultaneously drop into Mr Camp's new pad for a quiet chat with the man himself.

And wouldn't Amazon's 700,000 employees be an army to be reckoned with if they got together.

Closer to home, we've only just recently binned zero-hours contracts at places like McDonald's, where employees were required to be permanently on call, but with no guaranteed hours, for minimal stipends.

Debate still swirls around introduction of a universal living wage, as if anything less is somehow a viable long-term proposition.

Times have changed from when the cost of a dwelling was only thrice the average wage, and company superannuation schemes helped ease the financial constraints of retirement.

Frank Greenall

Times have changed from when the cost of a dwelling was only thrice the average wage, and company superannuation schemes helped ease the financial constraints of retirement.

Both the original Lever Bros and Cadbury villages were great successes, but where are their successors?

At least Sleepyhead is stepping up. May they shame the gouging executives of other major companies into like-mindedness.

After all, when wasn't enhancing the health and wealth of your workforce not great for business?