Maersk rewards employees for stellar year

Danish-headquartered shipping company Maersk, which is ranked 297 on the 2021 Fortune list, has decided to offer a $1,000 bonus to its 80,000 global employees, excluding its top 400 managers.

This will come in either their December or January paychecks and is response to expected profits of $17 billion in 2021 – the highest in its own 117-year history, as well as a record for any Danish business.

In an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, CEO Soren Skou wrote: ““In a massive team effort our colleagues across the globe have risen beyond the call of duty to respond to our customers’ needs.

“And this has not been easy given the unknowns and disruptions that we had to deal with, the impacted supply chains, congestions, and capacity shortages.”

Maersk paid a similar $1,000 bonus to employees in 2020 despite reporting only $2.9 billion.

Other employers offering holiday bonuses

Maersk’s move comes in the context of many employers starting to increase their benefits offerings, while others are turning to bonuses, in light of the highly competitive war for talent.

It is clear that the key to success in the ‘Great Resignation’ is employee experience, and rewarding employees for their hard work in the pandemic and beyond.

Maersk’s approach has been particularly popular with other large employers.

For instance, back in early November, Ikea announced it would give its global colleagues a $128 million one-time financial gift to be paid in January. $17 million of this will go to US employees.

Ikea US CEO and CSO Javier Quinones commented: “Looking back over the past 18 months, at a time when life at home was never more important, our co-workers came together, supported each other, and continued to help us deliver on our vision to create a better everyday life for the many people.

“I’m tremendously proud to work with this team, and today we take a moment to say thank you to all of our co-workers for their extraordinary efforts during the pandemic.”

Along a similar vein, Veeva announced in September that it was going to increase the wages of its 5,000 employees by 5%. The only employees that were exempted were those earning more than $300,000.

Employers take note and remember that while 2021 has been less disruptive than 2020, employee wellbeing and satisfaction has still taken a dive.