Boss takes entire staff on overseas getaway
A Christchurch business owner has taken staff morale-boosting to new levels by flying his team to Las Vegas for a week.
Paul Kelly, owner of the car dealership that shares his name, is celebrating 20 years of business by taking the entire staff – all 45 of them – for a week’s stay at the Bellagio resort and casino in the US state of Nevada.
Kelly said he planned the trip about four months ago because none of his staff thought he would ‘‘ever be crazy enough’’ to take them all to Vegas. He will shut down the business for a full week.
‘‘I think [I did it] because nobody ever did it for me when I worked for them. It kind of makes sense that if you can, why wouldn’t you?
‘‘My motivation is to get people to be able to either experience things or to be able to do a few things that are perhaps a little bit, sometimes, outside the realm of affordability.’’
The trip is the latest in about 15 years of annual staff events or activities hosted by Kelly, where he had ‘‘spent millions’’.
‘‘I got a group of them [one year] to get three motor vehicles and turn them into amphibious water craft all in one day and race them around a lake, like they did on [British car show] Top Gear.
‘‘I reckon BBC probably spent half a million pounds and we did it for about 10 grand for three vehicles – and they all went, surprisingly enough.’’
Retail NZ spokesman Greg Harford said he had not heard of Kiwi employers forking out for such trips for staff.
‘‘I’ve heard of other employers, perhaps not so much in retail, who take their teams to closer destinations to mark particularly good performance, but not Vegas.’’
Most employers focused on productbased rewards, gift cards and occasionally experiences where ‘‘people might take their team out for dinner’’ to celebrate a milestone.
‘‘There could be a bit of travel involved in that . . . but that would be at the upper end of the scale for what you might usually see.’’
In 2015, a report showed companies like AMP were offering free mole maps for staff, while SkyCity employees enjoyed a free breakfast, and Fonterra staff ate wheels of cheese.
Further abroad, the perks get bigger. According to Time, Netflix offers unlimited parental leave, Airbnb gives away holidays and Spotify covers egg freezing and fertility assistance for budding parents.
‘‘Most retailers, as with any employer, really, are pretty focused on trying to keep their teams engaged and rewarded for things they do,’’ Harford said.
‘‘Celebrating success is really important to keeping employees engaged and it helps people do the best that they can in their job.’’
Kelly gives staff an even cut of 5 per cent of the company’s profits each year as a bonus.
Staff members who have been on board for 10 years are given $10,000.