Employer awards staff with 5K Covid bonus

While many businesses have made losses over the coronavirus pandemic due to site closures and furlough, others have seen profits rise as consumer habits shift.

One employer who has reaped these benefits is the retailer Games Workshop. Thanks to a surge in sales, the firm is set to reward its staff with a £5,000 bonus each.

The company, which is based in Nottingham, is recognised for selling popular fantasy gaming equipment and Warhammer figurines and is said to have benefited from tabletop gamers escaping lockdown by playing such games, reported the Guardian.

As a result, the business is handing its shop workers, model makers, designers and support staff the bonus.

The firm added that its 2,600 ordinary workers would split a £10.6m special bonus on top of a £2.6m profit share.

Senior managers will also share an extra £1.1m bonus pot, up from £300,000 the year before, after sales spiked by just over a third to £361m and pretax profits peaked by almost 70% to £151m.

Commenting on the decision, Kevin Rountree, the chief executive of Games Workshop, stated that the bonuses were a reward for employees’ “exceptional performance in helping to increase our profitability significantly”.

“After a tough year we are delighted that the Warhammer hobby and Games Workshop are in great shape,” he continued.

Employers splash out

Games Workshop isn’t the only employer to reward staff over the last year. Back in March, BT offered its employees a £1,500 Covid-19 bonus to thank them for their hard work throughout the lockdown.

In addition, supermarket chain Lidl granted its staff a £200 bonus to each of its 23,000 front line staff to say thank you for their “hard work and ongoing dedication” during the pandemic.

Elsewhere, Sainsbury’s and Argos workers were told earlier this year that they would receive a third pandemic bonus and a pay increase of more than two percent to match the real living wage outside of London.