The world’s best boss?

Queensland $6 billion man, Clive Palmer, the state’s richest man earned the respect of not only his staff, but most Australians this week. Palmer handed out $10  million in gifts to his 800-strong Townsville nickel refinery staff, including a fleet of 55 Mercedes-Benz cars and an amazing 700 overseas holidays.

It is understood to be one of the biggest Christmas bonuses by an Australian boss to their employees.

Tanya Godfrey, 39, an executive assistant and mother-of-three, who has worked at the Yabulu refinery for 13 years, was the first to be handed the keys to her Mercedes-Benz B130.  Until yesterday she drove an old four-wheel-drive:

This is totally unbelievable, he is better than Santa Claus. It makes me want to put in 120 per cent.

Mr Palmer threw a lifeline to Queensland Nickel 16 months ago when it was facing closure and losing $10 million a month. Having recently posted a profit of about $100 million, he attributed it to staff innovation and high nickel prices. Recipients of the cars were chosen on performance, years of service, and input to a program that generated $16 million in savings.

Mr Palmer also threw a $2 million party for 1500 staff and partners who missed out on a car. He said:

Too many people in Australian industries do not appreciate the average person working for them. We want our workforce to be happy and know they’ve got a good future and are well respected.

It is not only an act of tremendous generosity, but its a huge boost in the staff morale, which will translate into better productivity, and boss/staff relationships. One can only hope that other corporate players take a leaf out of his book, and start treating their staff as valuable tools, rather than seeing them as expendable and worthless in the overall scheme of things. We would all be in a better place if this was the ‘norm’ rather than the exception, don’t you think?

[couriermail.com.au]