Aviva says ‘thank you’ with £1k shares to staff

Over the past years, several businesses have handed out bonuses to their staff to thank them for their hard work.

Among those include supermarket chain LEGO and home retailer Dunelm. Now, insurer Aviva has done the same.

The business revealed that it is handing almost £5bn to shareholders giving £1000 in shares to its 22,000 staff members.

These are among the latest moves by the firm’s CEO Amanda Blanc, who aims to shake up the insurer.

Commenting on the decisions, Blanc said: “In the last 20 months we have moved apace. Aviva is now a much simple business. We have rebuilt our financial strength and returned capital to shareholders.”

She added that “people have been central to our success” as she unveiled the £1000 in shares to staff as a “thank you” for all their efforts during such difficult times throughout the pandemic.

Employers say ‘thank you’

Retailer Dunelm announced last year that it would offer colleagues an ‘Extra Special Thank you’ payment for all their hard work.

Dunelm continued: “This time last week we paid these colleagues an Extra Special Thank You. It’s been another difficult year and we appreciate everything our colleagues have done to make it a success. To every Dunelm colleague thank you, you are all awesome!”

Similarly, LEGO awarded its employees with a special bonus as well as three extra days of holiday last year.

“2021 has been an extraordinary year for the Lego group and our colleagues have worked incredibly hard to bring Lego play to more families around the world,” the toymaker said in a statement.

Lego explained that “all employees, including those who work in our retail stores, manufacturing sites and offices, are part of the annual incentive programme and will receive the extra payment”.

Elsewhere, earlier this year a recruitment business announced it would be thanking its employees with an all paid-for trip to Tenerife.

Cardiff based firm Yolk Recruitment shared that 55 employees in total would benefit from the four-day break, which would cost more than £100,000.

The company said: “We might be one of the first Cardiff based companies for such a company-wide (not just target hitters), all expenses paid employee holiday and that’s only possible because we strive to be #Bright #Bold #Better in everything we do, internally and externally.”

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