Radiotopia.

From PRX.

From PRX's Radiotopia, this is Radio Diaries.

I'm Joe Richmond.

Since the pandemic, a lot of people have been looking at work differently, not just where

they work or what they do, but how they're treated.

In September, the World Health Organization released a report, the first of

its kind for the organization, calling on employers to promote mental health in the workplace.

They looked at how factors like poor pay, long hours, and lack of health care are risks to an

employee's ability to thrive in the workplace. Of course, the happy employee, happy company link isn't new.

A hundred years ago, it was called welfare capitalism,

and one of the earliest and biggest promoters was a shoe manufacturer named George F. Johnson.

Johnson owned the Endicott Johnson Shoe Company in upstate New York.

At the time, it was the biggest

shoe factory in the world. It produced 52 million pairs of shoes a year and supplied boots to the

U.S. Army in both World Wars. Johnson was the first in the shoe business to limit the workday to eight

hours. He also built libraries and parks for his employees and offered them free medical care.

It was a prime example of welfare capitalism, but Johnson had a different name for it.

Today on the podcast, The Square Deal.

My name is Sal Poliziano, and I worked for the Indicott Johnson Corporation for close to 40 years.

When I first came up here, I looked around, I said, well, look at this.

People are so friendly, and they sit on their porches, and they're listening to band concerts,

...