In these straitened times, when a company makes the news for its largesse, it is usually because the board has decided to pay itself a bonus of unconscionable proportions.
But news from Australia shows it needn’t be this way. The employees of a family-owned bus company, Grenda Corp., have been awarded a bonus after the company was sold to a rival for AU$400 million ($425 million).
On average, each employee will take home AU$8,300 ($8,800), with some of the longest-serving staff being rewarded for their loyalty to the tune of AU$30,000 ($31,800).
Managing director Ken Grenda says his philosophy is simple: "Look after your staff and they'll look after you. They work very hard. Bus drivers aren’t the highest paid in town. Some people have worked here all their working lives. We thought they deserved a decent reward.”
Grenda’s employees were said to ‘shocked’ and ‘overwhelmed’ by the management’s gesture of good will. The Australian media reported that some of the staff had even called their banks to confirm the extra zeros on their pay slips weren’t the result of a clerical error.