Over 11,000 employees of grocery retailer Sainsbury‘s are to share a bonus pot of £26.5 million thanks to a rise in the company‘s share price over the last few years.
Two separate ‘Sharesave‘ schemes run by the trader, one three years and the other five years in length, recently matured with the firm‘s share price standing at £2.97, which means on average participating staff members saw a 29 per cent increase on their original investment.
Sainsbury‘s schemes work by setting a price at the start of the term at which colleagues can buy shares at the end of the term, with a 20 per cent market rate discount, and then employees can choose to either collect their savings plus a tax free bonus or invest it in Sainsbury‘s shares at the option price.
Any staff members with more than three months continuous service are invited to join one of Sainsbury‘s 63,000 Sharesave contracts, and there are currently about 26,000 employees saving between £5 and £250 a month on one of these schemes.
Gwyn Burr, Sainsbury‘s Customer Service and Colleague Director, commented: “This is great news for thousands of our colleagues, providing an extra reward for the vital role they play in delivering fantastic service to customers and driving our success.”
Of the two schemes which have matured, the one started in 2006 will see participating employees receive a tax free bonus of 5.5 times their monthly savings, while those who joined the 2008 scheme will receive a bonus of 2.4 times their monthly savings.
Employees of rival supermarket chain Waitrose were also celebrating a bonus yesterday as its owner the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) announced it full-year results.
Thanks to decent sales and profits all of JLP staff member, including those working at John Lewis department stores, were awarded 14 per cent of their annual salary as a bonus, although this was down on the 18 per cent received last year.
