We must confess that, from time to time, many of us drift into daydreams and wonder what it must be like to work for Ferrari. But surely the reality can't be all that good, right? No, no...it is. This according to the Great Place to Work Institute, which named the company Best Place to Work in Europe for 2007.

The decoration comes as the result of a corporate initiative called "Formula Uomo", which sought to better the working conditions and lives of the company's considerable workforce. As part of the initiative, over the past decade Ferrari has spent considerable sums of money on new facilities, employee training and family benefits. Just the revitalization of the facilities in and around the factory – the building of Maranello Village serves as just one example – has totaled some ?200 million. Employee perks also include staff education, extensive medical coverage and company events.

Ferrari can add this to the Best Place to Work in Italy award which it received in 2003, along with all the race trophies and road-car accolades that the company has won over its sixty-year history.

And here we thought, after watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, that those Oompa-Loompas had it pretty sweet. If anyone from Maranello is reading this, would you happen to be in need of any bloggers?

Press release after the jump.

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[Source: Ferrari]

Press Release

Ferrari voted best place to work in Europe 2007

Ferrari is proud to announce that it has been voted Best Place to Work in Europe 2007 by the Great Place to Work Institute, having already won the Italian title. This award is a powerful endorsement of the enormous organisational and financial commitment made by the company in recent years to providing its employees with the best possible working conditions and to encouraging personal and professional growth.

Over a thousand companies throughout Europe participated in the survey which measures the degree of satisfaction of employees with their place of work and picks out the best working environments. This alone makes Ferrari's achievement particularly impressive. In 2003, the then Ferrari Maserati Group was voted the Best Place to Work in Italy but this latest award is the ultimate acknowledgement of the company's ongoing commitment to the personal growth of its staff.

At the end of the 1990s President Luca di Montezemolo launched a major project known as "Formula Uomo" in Ferrari. The project took its inspiration from the company's Formula 1 ambitions and successes. It covers three basic areas: workplaces and structures, professional training and international growth, and personal and family benefits. The principle underpinning of the programme sees human beings as the fulcrum of the company's work system and aims to enhance staff's abilities and stimulate their creativity by placing importance on the contribution each individual has to make.

Much has been achieved in terms of company structures since then: the Renzo Piano – designed Wind Tunnel was built in 1997, the Marco Visconti's New Mechanical Machining Department in 2001, the new GeS Logistics Area in 2002, the Massimiliano Fuksas' designed Product Development Centre and Marco Visconti's New Paint Shop in 2004, and the Maranello Village in 2006. The new Company Restaurant, also the work of Visconti, and Jean Nouvel's large Production Line building are both nearing completion too.

The company renovation programme involved a total investment in the region of 200 million euro.

Training is one of Ferrari's main focuses and this commitment to education has resulted in agreements with both Italian and international universities, specialist training programmes and work experience stints abroad. In 2006, 2,376 individuals (or 88.5% of our employees) availed of the company training courses which cover both managerial and professional skill-building.

Other Formula Uomo initiatives, however, centre more on personal wellbeing and social involvement. These include: medical check-ups for employees and their children, specialist preventative medicine programmes, participation in company events such as the "Finali Mondiali" and the unveilings of new cars, company stands at the various Grand Prix, sports groups and discounts in various commercial and service outlets.