‘UK’s best boss’ splashes out £100,000 on Christmas gifts for staff

This man may be the UK’s ‘best boss’, after forking out more than £100,000 on Christmas gifts for his employees.

Benjy Leslie, 26, the CEO and founder of Connect Management, believes ‘creating the right environment helps people thrive’ and has always treated his employees well.

In the run-up to Christmas, he hosts the ‘Santa Leslie incentive’ where the employee of the day and the salesperson of the day get to pick out a present.

The gifts range from a trip to Barcelona, a Range Rover Evoque worth £44k, Ninja gadgets, an iPhone and iPads.

The car was won by an employee who had only been there for four months, to the delight of her fellow employees, who screamed and cheered as it was driven out.

Leslie also treated his team to an end-of-year two-day Christmas retreat to a mansion, where they played sports and had an awards ceremony.

He said the party and the gifts have cost him £100,000, but says giving back is what it’s all about.

Benjy, from Willesden, London, said: ‘It’s completely crazy. It’s not even about how long you’ve been here or how senior you are. It’s about turning up to work every day and giving it your all.’

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.

And after treating his team to £20k worth of gifts last year, he decided to run the initiative for a third year running.

One team member won a trip to Barcelona – after spinning a wheel of destinations from across the world.

Benjy said, ‘I was hoping it was going to be something big. It landed in Barcelona, so we said, while you’re out there, we’ll pay for excursions and all your bits and bobs.’

In the run-up to Christmas, the team were also treated to a supermarket sweep at Aldi and had 90 seconds to grab as much as they could. Everything they got was donated to a local food bank.

‘That was one of my favourite parts. Giving back is what this is all about,’ Leslie said.

The entire Christmas party and gifts cost around £100,000, something he says people didn’t expect.

The generosity has also had a huge impact on the business, with videos of the giveaways receiving more than 50,000 shares online.

He said, ‘We’ve had so many comments, likes, and new clients come from it. In a way, I almost see it as a marketing cost – even though it’s really for my staff.’

Around 10 per cent of the company’s profit margin is put aside to look after employees, something Leslie believes is key to success, especially for younger workers.

He said, ‘We want people to work hard, but creating the right environment helps people thrive. The happier the staff are, the better the workflow and work ethic is.’

The boss believes more businesses would do the same if UK regulations made it easier to reward staff.

He said: ‘The government only lets you spend £350 untaxed on employees. Anything above that gets taxed at 40 per cent, which limits what employers can do.’

Despite the costs, Leslie says he has no plans to slow down – and hopes others will follow his lead.

‘I’d love to see more people do this. Look at MrBeast, for example, he’s created a multi-million-pound empire by giving to people and doing things others wouldn’t think are possible,’ he added.

‘If you treat people well, they’ll work harder for you, and everyone wins.’

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