The chief executive of car insurance company Admiral Insurance is retiring in May, but before Henry Engelhardt leaves the company, he will give every full-time employee in the company £1,000 as a personal thank you gift.
The announcement was first made in a letter to staff, where he wrote, "Saying Thank You to all the staff who work so hard every day to make Admiral great is the most important thing we can do. We are making this gift in recognition of the hard work and team spirit that has underpinned Admiral's success as we've grown from a startup with value of £0 to a FTSE 100 company with a value of £5 billion today."
Engelhardt will allocate his personal money to give £1,000 to every full-time employee who have worked for the company for more than a year. Other employees will still receive cash gift of £500. In total, it costs Mr Engelhardt and his wife Diane more than £7 million for the gifts, as reported by BBC.
Admiral, who also owns the Bell, Elephant and Confused brands, employs more than 6,000 in the UK. In total, Admiral's employees reach 8,375 staff in its Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Halifax, Spain, Italy, France, Canada, U.S., and India offices. Engelhardt's position will be held by co-founder David Stevens, currently serving as the company's chief operating officer.
According to Management Today, Engelhardt is also leaving the insurer in good health, with a 6 percent rise in pre-tax profits in 2015 at £377 million. The rise in profits could be attributed to the company's decision to increase rates ahead of the market and its efforts to look for revenue growth abroad.
The company is now worth more than £5 billion with large contributions made by Engelhardt. He has spent 25 years working with the company which he co-founded in 1991. In the letter to staff, he added, "I am proud to have been part of the team of thousands who have created such a great business and great place to work."
This is Money noted that Engelhardt is known for always having a quirky approach to business as an entrepreneur. He makes it his task to greet every new employee personally. The firm also has a generous employee bonus scheme and has special division to organize company social events.
Admiral boss Engelhardt has dedicated more than £7 million as a gift to every employee in his company. The chief executive is retiring after 25 years working for the company he co-founded in 1991.
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