This archive report was first published on 11 December 2019.
On December 11, 2019, St John Properties, a real estate company from Maryland in the US, made headlines after announcing a Sh1 billion bonus for its nearly 200 employees.
The generous bonus was a surprise to the lucky workers, who were handed red envelopes at a Christmas dinner revealing their share of the windfall.
Each staff member was set to net roughly Sh5 million, depending on their length of service with the company.
Chairman Edward St John, who founded the company, said the bonus was a way to celebrate the firm's achievement of meeting its targets and make a significant impact on the lives of its employees.
"To celebrate the achievement of our goal, we wanted to reward our employees in a big way that would make a significant impact on their lives," he said.
St John expressed his gratitude to the employees, saying, "I am thankful for every one of our employees, for their hard work and dedication. I may steer the boat, but they're the ones that run the boat. They are the ones that make the boat go. Without the team, we are nothing."
One employee described the moment as "magical" and "life-changing".
