These Leaders Take Employee Appreciation to the Next Level
From cruises to cars, here are three bosses going above and beyond to motivate their teams.
By Rose Leadem •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
This article is included in Entrepreneur Voices on Strategic Management, a new book containing insights from more than 20 contributors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders.
Forget about office perks -- today, many bosses motivate their employees with vacations and holidays gifts. That's right, bosses are dropping big bucks on things such as cruises, cars, even weddings. It's no wonder these companies are surpassing their sales goals.
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From the small-town boss who is taking his 800 employees on a caribbean cruise to the CEO who pays for his employees' weddings and children's college tuitions, check out these three bosses who take employee appreciation to the next level.
Iowa boss takes 800 employees on a cruise.
With freezing temperatures approaching, employees at Waterloo, Iowa-based Bertch Cabinet won't have to worry -- they're headed to the Caribbean. After meeting their sales goal this year, the company's president Gary Bertch promised to take his 800 employees on a week-long cruise down south.
This isn't the first time Bertch has offered vacation incentives. In 1989, the organization began taking company-wide cruises, but that perk vanished after 2005 when sales began to stagger.
Related: How Startups Are Building Strong Office Cultures
"We just tried to get all of our people pumped up a little more to achieve the various goals, both customer-oriented goals and financial goals," Bertch told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
CEO promises to pay for employee weddings.
Major life events don't cheap. That's why this CEO wants to alleviate at least one financial stress from his employees: weddings. Upon his discovery that one of his employees was working double shifts with an ill mother at home just to cover upcoming wedding expenses, online grocery store Boxed CEO Chieh Huang decided this was no way to live.
He not only offered to pay for this employee's wedding, but announced to all of his employees in his Edison, N.J., warehouse that he will pay for all employees' future weddings. Huang is no stranger to helping out his employees, whom he considers family. Last year, Huang announced that he will pay for his employees' children's college tuitions too.
Founder gifts employees apartments, cars and jewelry.
Jewelry tycoon and owner of Hare Krishna Exports Savji Dholakia wants to make sure all employees are taken care of. That's why he has gifted 1,260 cars and 400 apartments to his employees as Diwali gifts (the Hindu festival of lights) in October 2016.
"Our aim is that each employee must have his own home and car in the next five years," he said.
Related: 5 Bonuses Employees Love No Matter What the Time of Year
The cars and apartments come in recognition of great performance and dedication from employees over the past five years. And this isn't the first time Dholakia has made an effort to provide employees with homes and transportation -- in fact, he's been awarding employees like this since 2012.
