LIQUI MOLY said it is paying a bonus of 1,000 euros to each employee during the coronavirus crisis.
“Special times call for special measures,” the German manufacturer of oil and additives said in a news release. “ … With this ‘corona consolation,’ Managing Director Ernst Prost is thanking all employees for their dedication.”
Most of LIQUI MOLY’s administrative staff is working from home, the company noted, thanking the staff for accomplishing “this collective move to home office mode with great commitment and improvisation.”
“Today, we have largely been able to ensure in all corporate areas that we are mastering this balancing act between preventive health care and continued work,” Prost wrote to the workforce. “Now, I can imagine that the current circumstances are not only time-consuming for you, but also involve additional financial expenditure. As a token of our appreciation, allow me to give you an extra EUR 1000 gross with your next salary payment – to a certain extent, as a financial corona consolation!”
LIQUI MOLY called the move “a counterpoint” to news that some companies are considering layoffs and furloughs.
“The current developments are not leaving us unaffected either; the economic consequences will be brutal,” Prost said. “That is precisely why we must now do our part to solve this crisis with our brains and wits, with commitment and diligence, and definitely with courage and confidence.”
All employees worldwide are receiving the same amount for the bonus – from the department manager in Germany to the warehouse clerk in South Africa, LIQUI MOLY noted.
“In most parts of the world, the economic consequences are more severe, because the social network there is less robust or completely absent,” Prost said, adding that workers might have an urgent need for extra cash at the moment. “Besides, spending money on the economy is exactly what we need right now to keep jobs.”
Prost said he is pleased by the team spirit he’s seen within the company during the crisis. “It is very gratifying to see how we come closer together in such a situation, do our work unwaveringly and pull together in solidarity,” Prost added.
