“Karelias” Company Hands Out 2.5mil Euro Bonuses to Workers

The following story is indeed inspiring, considering that Greece just entered its seventh year of recession. Greek private sector workers who are rarely paid (or paid every second, third or even fourth month) and who have suffered incredible cutbacks in their wages would surely envy the workers at the Karelias tobacco company because not only are they appreciated for the work they do, but they are handsomely rewarded for it as well. The Greek-owned tobacco company apparently had another exceptional year and decided to share its profits with its workers!

At its annual New Year celebration, the company announced that it would give out bonuses worth 2.5 million Euros to its employees for all the hard work they put into the company in the previous year. And that is not all. The company also handed out 200-Euro “turkey” benefits and employees with children received various benefits including study benefits for their children of up to 1,400 Euros. Karelias also said that employees would receive an additional benefit of 750-2,600 Euros (depending on annual wages).

In 2013 Karelias reportedly increased its sales by 8%, with the vast majority of its annual 16.8 billion cigarette production being exported (14.6 billion), which brought 170 million Euros to Greece in foreign currency. Parallel to this, it increased its staff by 8% to meet demands, while it invested roughly 3 million Euros in increasing production and exports, with a further 1.9 million Euros worth of investments scheduled for 2014.

Karelias' products are exported to dozens of countries and the company averages 60 million Euros in profits every year. The owners are not greedy, their business is not based on only making money, that is why they are self-funded and have no need for loans and that is why they continually invest in their personnel who in return willingly and with great pride help the company's development and productivity.