Bumper Christmas bonus for JCB employees
Company rounds off a strong year with its biggest Christmas bonus for more than a decade
JCB today delivered some festive cheer to thousands of UK employees – the company’s biggest Christmas bonus for more than a decade.
Around 7,200 employees at JCB’s 11 plants across Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham will receive an extra £1,000 in their pay packets. The last time a Christmas bonus of that magnitude was awarded was in 2007.
The record-equalling Christmas bonus comes in a year in which JCB machine production reached a 73-year high and in which an additional 1,500 people were recruited. This includes the awarding of permanent JCB contracts to around 550 agency employees.
JCB chairman Lord Bamford said today: ‘JCB have had a very successful year and I am delighted that we are able to award a substantial Christmas bonus to thank our employees for their contribution.
‘There are many parallels between JCB and the British economy at the moment: both are doing very well indeed and both have record levels of employment. What’s more, the signs remain extremely encouraging for 2019, with many reasons to remain positive for the future, both for our business, and the UK, which, after all, is the world’s fifth largest economy.’
JCB’s chief executive officer, Graeme Macdonald, said: ‘JCB have had an exceptional year and we are gearing up for a strong 2019. The whole JCB team has every reason to be proud of what has been achieved and we are looking forward to building on our success next year.’
Commenting on the bonus, Lee Turnock (pictured third from left), who joined JCB at the start of the year and works in JCB Group Transport and Logistics at JCB’s World HQ, said: ‘It’s a great reward for all the hard work we have put in through the year. I’ve never got a bonus like this before, so I don’t know what to spend it on. I might treat myself, maybe to a holiday around Easter time.’
During 2018 JCB have also launched their brand-new range of X-Series excavators to industry acclaim and began work on a new £50 million UK factory in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, to build cabs for their machines. The company also unveiled its first electric digger – a 1.8-tonne mini-excavator that can be charged by plugging it into a 230V domestic supply.
