How red envelopes turned out to be Ksh.1billion Christmas bonus for employees

A real estate company in Maryland, U.S. surprised their staff with a hefty $10 million (Ksh. 1billion) Christmas bonus.

Employees of St. John properties were not sure of what was going to happen when they were given red envelopes at the Christmas party.

”When the 198 employees of St. John Properties received surprise bonuses averaging $50,000 (Ksh.5million), it was a holiday miracle most didn’t see coming,” CNN said.

The bonuses were awarded based on the length of time that employees had worked from the company.

An employee who had just been hired and not even started working was given $100 (Ksh 10,170).

The highest amount an employee received was $270,000 (Ksh. 27million).

According to the company President Lawrence Maykrantz, they made a major milestone after building 20 million square feet of real estate over a period of time they had set.

“We wanted to do something to thank all our employees for helping us achieve our goal, and we wanted to do something big,” he said.

One of the staffers identified as Ridgway said he would spend the money on his children’s education and home renovations.

Other staff talked about paying off all their debts, mortgages among other things that they would spend the money on.