Staff Members Get Surprise Five-Figure Bonus Checks

In this difficult economic climate, it's tough to know if you'll still have a job at the end of the year, let alone a generous Christmas bonus. But recently, the employees of Illinois-based ball bearings company Peer Bearing Co. got a big surprise when they opened their end-of-year-bonus envelopes: instead of their usual gifts of several hundred dollars, the staff members had each been given five-figure checks.

The company was founded by the Spungen family in 1941, and has stayed within the family ever since. They've come to think of their employees as part of the family, too--many of their staff members have provided decades of loyal service.

So when the business was purchased by a Swedish company earlier this year, the Spungens decided to use their payoff to show their staff how important they were to them, distributing $6.6 million in profits from the sale between their 230 employees. The bonuses were based on time served with the company, and some of the most loyal staff members went home with checks as high as $35,000.

Read the full story here

-OR-

Read about other bonuses in the news:

::Goldman Sachs Chiefs Give Up Bonuses: Last Year Blankfein Took $70 Million
::Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank Of America Bonuses To Shrivel

Comments

[Jacqattack]

Wall street should take some lessons from this company

[Troubledwawa]

Good for them...

[imusintheevening]

Wow, decency and respect for employees. What a strange concept.

[fictioneer]

This company is a model citizen. Well-done, guys. Well-done. That's how it should be.

[lawrencelugar]

God that's one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

[tchristin]

Bravo!! Congratulations!

[wendynyc]

Great! When workers are happy the company does better -

except on Wall Street - where they are thieves!

[08politicaljunkie]

Now that's decent.

[NoSillyName]

Surprise!!! "Surprise" has an "r".

Oh, I see its correct here, but not on the front page.

[Cybersquirt]

Good for them. Our company works like that but we're not doing so good this year.

[inthedesert]

Well..um..maybe the company is planning on folding in a few months and thought they would soften the blow.....of learning you're going to unemployed for most of 09................LOL.

[spinns17]

lol they got to get the money before obama takes over.

[Vyvjala]

The owner must be a democrat who appreciates his employees....................

[mjb5406]

You know, of course, that redistributing the wealth like this is considered by some to be Socialism! GASP

[darthdarcy]

Corporate American has separated itself from the American people and those who committed their lives to building these companies and made them grow and succeed...

This story is refreshing that their are still some family owned businesses who think of their employees as family and also honor them as an asset...

People like Norquist, Kristol and Bush who never really worked a job in their lives, have no concept of this...

[BillMelater]

Great comment. Thank you.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com

[makeanimpact]

Refreshing. Too bad the company was sold in the first place though. I hope the new owners treat existing employees well.