My ideas about work were influenced by Gurdjieff - that fulfilment does not come from making everything easy, but by doing a variety of things which stretch your abilities, including physical work. So jobs were rotated, from cleaning to dealing with the money, and I used to encourage responsibility by giving workers turns at managing the business with authority to sign cheques - often without even knowing their surnames, which shocked the bank manager.
After helping set up the wholefood shop and the bakery, I had ideas of starting more shops. I was not convinced that worker co-ops or any other set-up was ideal, but wanted to lay down some principles. Clare from the bakery helped me draft these 'Neal's Yard Trading Principles' (although not all have subsequently been adhered to by all the now independent businesses):
(1) All food must be prepared or at least packed on the premises.
(2) The ingredients must be 'wholefood', ie pure, without additives such as flavourings, colourings or preservatives. Highly refined ingredients must be avoided.
(3) Prices must be reasonable.
(5) The size and style of notices must be simple - not attention-seeking, enticing, image building or making use of any advertising or merchandising techniques.
(6) 'Point of sale aids' must not be used.
(7) Information about recipes, ingredients, quality and suppliers must be freely available.
(8) The neighbours must be given consideration and cooperation.
(9) All staff must be free to see accounts and attend meetings where they may freely express their views.
(10) Jobs should be rotated as far as possible, and in particular no one should be left with the unpopular jobs.
(11) Outside contractors should be avoided if the work can be done by the regular staff.
(12) In the event of the business growing, it should not expand or set up branches, but instead should assist and encourage some of its staff to split off and start another independent business.
What was behind these principles was my belief in direct feedback between the customer and the person producing the goods. Instead of separate experts doing each part of the process of manufacturing, packing, transporting and selling, the same person could do all those jobs with more satisfaction - for simple but important reasons such as feeling the customers' appreciation.
Although productivity was bound to be lower as measured by output in each individual job, this could be made up for by savings in packaging, transport and in far lower overheads, as administration often accounts for half the cost of production. Additionally, there were often advantages in being able to sell fresher products - and this was particularly relevant for wholefoods where no preservatives are used.
At the time particularly, I was against businesses expanding beyond about a dozen workers or setting up branches, because a small scale allows direct communication between people, without need for internal memos or a personnel department. In a small business people also feel more contact with the boss - it tends to be fairer whatever the business structure.
Nicholas Saunders, top floor, 14 Neal's Yard, London WC2H 9DP (tel 071 836 9404; fax 071 379 0135). A 60 page booklet 'The Neal's Yard Story' is available from the Institute for Social Inventions, 20 Heber Road, London NW2 6AA (tel 081 208 2853; fax 081 452 6434) for L1-95p incl. p&p.