Portugal: Pingo Doce supermarket owner pays €500 bonus to 21,000 employees

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Portugal: Pingo Doce supermarket owner pays €500 bonus to 21,000 employees

8:37 CAT | 06 Apr 2020

File photo: Lusa

Jerónimo Martins has invested €10 million in an annual bonus to almost 21,000 employees in Portugal, announced the owner of the Pingo Doce supermarket chain on Monday.

“The Jerónimo Martins Group has increased to €500 the value of the extraordinary annual bonus, attributed to employees in operations (stores and distribution centres)”, says the company led by Pedro Soares dos Santos.

“This award – whose value is the same in Portugal, Poland and Colombia – aims to recognise work and share satisfaction for the results obtained in 2019 and will be awarded to approximately 71,500 employees in the three countries as a whole”, the group says.

In Portugal, 80% of eligible employees will receive the award, “a total of almost 21,000 people, which represents an investment of around €10 million”, adds the owner of Pingo Doce and Recheio.

“The Board of Directors of Jerónimo Martins approved the proposal of its Chairman, Pedro Soares dos Santos, to increase the value of this award by around 5% compared to the previous year”, he continues, pointing out that “this percentage is higher than the growth in sales of the companies in Portugal, which in 2019 registered an increase of around 3% compared to 2018”.

Currently, with more than 115,000 employees, 30% of whom are in Portugal, where, in 2019, “1,300 jobs were created”, the Jerónimo Martins Group recalls that this is the 14th consecutive year that the bonus is paid in the Portuguese market.

This bonus “accumulates with the monthly variable remuneration in force and with the various employee support programmes and actions in the areas of health, education and family well-being, in which, in 2019, the Group invested” more than “€3.6 million” in Portugal.

In health, in Portugal, “€820,000 were allocated to initiatives such as the SOS Dentista and SOS Dentista Júnior programmes, which enabled more than 3,500 employees and 45 children and young people to have their dental treatments completed”.

“Other examples are the Mais Vida Program, a partnership with the Champalimaud Foundation and the Portuguese Red Cross to support employees and their direct family members with cancer, and the protocol with the Lusíadas group, which allows access to specialist consultations at more competitive prices”.

In education, “an area in which more than one million euros were invested, initiatives such as the attribution of 87 scholarships to employees and/or their children who have not had access to a state scholarship stand out. Ten master’s scholarships were also awarded”.

“As a way of encouraging progression in studies, the Aprender e Evoluir initiative, developed under the public Qualifica programme, allows the conclusion of the 9th or 12th year of schooling in working time”, and in 2019 “more than 370 employees in Portugal benefited from this possibility”.

Regarding family welfare, “around €1.7 million were consumed in Portugal, of which more than €930,000 were channelled to the Social Emergency Fund, which supported 971 employees in the areas of food, health, education, legal advice and financial guidance”.

Jerónimo Martins is present in three markets – Portugal, Poland and Colombia.

In Portugal it owns the Pingo Doce supermarket chain and the Recheio wholesaler. In Poland, it has the Biedronka supermarket chain and the Hebe health and well-being store chain, while in Colombia it has the Ara network.

Source: Lusa