Advertisement

A table-top gaming company handed out $7,000 bonuses to employees after a boom in pandemic sales. That's more than Microsoft, Walmart, and Facebook.

Isobel Asher Hamilton
·2 min read
A person dressed up as a space marine from the popular fantasy game "Warhammer."
A character from the video game "Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine" appears at the 2011 video game conference E3. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

  • Fantasy figurine retailer Games Workshop saw a 70% rise in profits over the pandemic.

  • Games Workshop announced it's giving $6,900 bonuses to its employees as a result.

  • Microsoft gave its employees a $1,500 bonus earlier this month.

  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Games Workshop, the UK retailer behind the hugely popular fantasy tabletop game "Warhammer," has given its staff a huge £5,000 ($6,934) bonus for their work over the pandemic.

The company announced the bonuses for its 2,600 staff during its annual results call on Wednesday, as reported by CNBC and The Guardian. Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree said the bonuses were to reward "exceptional performance in helping to increase our profitability significantly" in a statement.

On top of the special $6,900 bonus employees got an increased profit share which, according to CNBC, translated to an extra $1,000 per employee.

The company reported a boom in sales of its paintable figurines following COVID-19 lockdowns, leading to a 69% increase in profits from £90 million ($125 million) last year to £151.7 million ($210 million).

Read more: Baked by Melissa's founder explains how to turn your passion into a hugely successful business just like she did: 'Surround yourself with people who have the skills you don't'

Per CNBC and the Guardian, Rountree said Games Workshops had to cope with customer demand by bringing in permanent night shifts and additional weekend shifts at its two UK warehouses.

Senior managers at the company will also split a £1.1 million ($1.5 million) bonus pot, up from £300,000 ($416,000) last year.

Games Workshop's pandemic employee bonus far outstrips bonuses offered at much larger companies. Earlier this month Microsoft told employees it would give out $1,500 bonuses, and in March 2020 Facebook handed out $1,000 bonuses to help staff work remotely. Walmart offered hourly employees bonuses of $300 in March 2020, and by the end of 2020 said it had given out a total of $2.8 billion to its 1.5 million employees over the course of the year - translating to roughly $1866 in bonuses for each employee.

Read the original article on Business Insider