The parent company of O2 has said it will give 6,500 employees a one-off £1,900 bonus after reporting the best start-of-the-year in its entire history.
The company, which was sold off from BT in 2002, today said it had the best first quarter since the business launched, in a move that will see staff at O2 and Giffgaff rewarded with the cash payment.
Mark Evans, chief executive, said its entire employee base will get a surprise increase in bonus payment as the company ends its year-long employee incentive scheme.
Staff were told in a live-streamed event on Thursday that they had beaten targets for the year.
It comes a year after employees at the telecoms company were paid a £1,500 bonus through the initiative.
The company’s £10million "See What You Can Do" employee bonus scheme comes to an end next month after launching to help reward staff during the Covid emergency.
Employees who have been at the company since the scheme launched in July last year will be eligible for the bonus, which will be subject to income tax.
Only about 30 senior executives and management will not be eligible for the extra payment.
It comes after parent company Telefonica UK reported profit of £478 million for the first three months of this year, up 7.6% from a year earlier.
O2 has around 36.6 million customers in the UK.
Mark Evans said: “Our record breaking results - including O2’s highest ever first quarter profit and industry leading number of customer connections at 36.6million - were driven by the extraordinary efforts of Team O2.
“I am delighted to reward, and recognise them, with this bonus. I could not be prouder of the commitment they’ve shown to deliver for our customers and our business.”
The surge in profits come despite O2 shops being forced to shut due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Along with all other non-essential retailer, O2 stores were temporarily closed for large parts of 2020 and only reopened on April 12 in England.
