Oh, the holiday bonus. Each year, we hold out hope that it will be something special—something that can help us take a chomp out of the credit card debt we took on to pay for the holidays in the first place—only to rip open the envelope and find $20. On a gift card. To a grocery store. (This actually did happen once.)
Yep, that's how U.S. companies can roll at year's end. But in India, one company is giving its employees the holiday bonus of a lifetime: To mark the Hindu festival of Diwali, gem dealer Hare Krishna Exports will give out 1,260 cars and 400 apartments. Oh, and some jewelry to boot.
“Our aim is that each employee must have his own home and car in the next five years. So we have decided to gift cars, homes and jewelery to employees,” Savjibhai Dholakia, owner of the dealer, told Agence France-Presse. The bonus is a reward, he explained, for the employees' hard work and dedication for the last five years.
It's unclear how many of the company's 5,5000 employees will receive the bonus, but Hare Krishna Exports is spending 500 million rupees—or $7 million—on the rewards.
Before you pack up and seek employment in India, you should know that a holiday bonus like this is rare there too. While most employees do receive gifts for the Diwali holiday, they're most often boxes of Indian candies, according to The Guardian.