A CEO who forked out £20,000 on Christmas gifts for his staff and rewarded them with holidays to the Maldives and Disneyland Paris has been dubbed the ‘UK’s best boss’.
Benjy Leslie, who is the COE and founder of Connect Management – the largest social-first talent agency – believes that treating his staff well means that in turn, they have more motivation to get work done.
As well as taking his team on luxury holidays, the generous boss also introduced his very own ‘Santa Leslie incentive’ where the team member who made the most revenue that day gets to pick out a present – with one being a Rolex watch, The MEN reports.
Benjy, from Willesden, London, says it’s all “worth it” with his festive generosity creating a positive work environment. The entrepreneur said: “I love giving back. Business owners sit on huge amounts of profit. For me it’s about sharing my gratitude. I have got a really happy work force – with 89 per cent staff retention. We wouldn’t have profits if the staff were not happy.”
Benjy quit his job in advertising in 2019 and set up the business in 2020 and as his success has grown he has wanted to share it with his team. He said: “I took them all to the Maldives for the first year of the business doing well.”
Now expecting his influencers to make £18m this year, he is able to give back lots of different incentives. Benjy said: “I give a holiday away every month. It’s a tombola. It gives people that buzz and excitement. The more revenue they deliver to the business the bigger slice of the pie you get.”
The ‘Santa Leslie incentive’ is being run for the second time, after he bought loads of luxury items to giveaway. He said: “I got Celebrations, a Rolex, a holiday, iPhones. Every single day someone gets to pick a present.”
Benjy makes his team come in every single day to the office because he says working from home is “lonely” and “less productive”. He creates a fun office environment and makes someone bring in a game to play each morning.
He said: “They bring a game and that brings the energy in the morning. On a Friday afternoon we do gratitude. Each person has to say something to someone that they are grateful for. It’s just a reminder – it’s such a fast paced world we live in and people need to be shown thanks.”
Recently Benjy also took the full team to Disneyland Paris for their annual Christmas trip. He said: “It was a thank you for everything. It was magical.”
Benjy said he does “expect a lot” from his staff. He said: “They understand what needs to be done. It’s a super amazing team. A lot of work places people resent their bosses and come in and do the bare minimum.
“I don’t feel we have that. You can’t buy that loyalty from staff. You can only earn it by being genuine. We do expect a lot but we hire the right people. If I treat people well they will work harder for me.”
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