WASHINGTON — There’s nothing like a grateful boss who puts his money where his mouth is.
Henry Engelhardt, the retiring CEO of United Kingdom-based Admiral Group plc, and his wife, Diane, are so grateful to the company’s estimated 8,000 employees, they are giving each one with over a year of service a surprise bonus of 1,000 British pounds (or $1,448 U.S. dollars).
Even recent employees will get to share in the spoils — each worker with less than a year will get 500 pounds (about $723).
This includes about 500 people in the Richmond, Va., area who work for Admiral’s Elephant Insurance Services, and another 55 who work for the company’s Compare.com.
“It was a complete surprise,” Louisa Scadden, head of people services for Elephant Insurance, told the Richmond Times Dispatch. “Henry only announced it yesterday to everybody.”
The paper said that the total gift is worth $10.6 million in U.S. dollars and will show up in one of May’s paychecks.
“People are quite emotional about it,” Scadden said. Engelhardt said in a statement Friday that the gift is a token of appreciation for the “hard work and team spirit” of employees.
“Saying thank you to all the Admiral staff who work so hard every day to make Admiral great is the most important thing we can do,” he said. “I am proud to have been part of the team of thousands who have created such a great business and great place to work. My wife and I just want to say a very sincere thank you to everyone at Admiral.”
Engelhardt plans to retire from Admiral in May after 24 years leading the company.
