Jerónimo Martins distributes €11M to 23,000 workers

Jerónimo Martins announced today that it would invest around €11 million in an extraordinary award for 23,000 employees from shops and distribution centres in Portugal, which will be paid this month.

In a statement, the owner of Pingo Doce and Recheio said that “this award aims to recognise the work and contribution of these employees for the results obtained in such a challenging year as 2020, and will also be awarded in Poland and Colombia, with a total of around 80,100 employees of the Group covered”.

The award will be paid with the April wages.

“In Portugal, 84% of the eligible employees will receive this individual bonus of €500, which accumulates with the monthly variable remuneration in force and with the various programmes and actions to support employees in the areas of health, education and family well-being” adds the group led by Pedro Soares dos Santos.

In 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began, Jerónimo Martins invested “more than €3.2 million in these social responsibility programmes aimed at helping employees” in Portugal.

The distribution group said that in the area of health, “€830,000 was allocated to initiatives such as the SOS Dentist and SOS Dentist Junior programmes, which support the access of employees and their children to oral health providers”, in annual investment of more than €320,000.

In education, with an investment of “more than €540,000, there was an adaptation of the support to the needs resulting from the pandemic”, with more than €200,000 to buy more than 900 pieces of equipment such as computers and tablets so that the employees’ children could participate in distance learning classes.

The “Online Study Space” initiative was also developed to support the employees’ children in their studies, through the provision of explanations in the core subjects of Portuguese, Maths and English, as well as didactic activities”, adds Jerónimo Martins.

The Group has awarded more than 100 study grants “to employees and/or their children who have not had access to state grants, corresponding to an investment of more than €130,000”.

Furthermore, “around €1.8 million was invested in Portugal, namely in reinforcing the Social Emergency Fund to face the social and economic crisis”.

The owner of Pingo Doce pointed out that through the fund, “more than 1,100 employees were supported in 2020, in an investment of €1.1 million, 20% higher than in 2019”.

The group employs more than 33,000 people in Portugal and 118,000 in the three countries where it is present.

“The award of this annual prize is made by the approval of the Board of Directors of Jerónimo Martins of the proposal presented by its chairman, Pedro Soares dos Santos, and translates into a global investment of around €50 million, which is equivalent to approximately 16% of the net result of 2020,” it points out.

This is the 15th consecutive year in Portugal in which the extraordinary prize is awarded to employees in operations.

Between 2017 and 2021 – five years -, the accumulated investment exceeded €45 million in Portugal.

In the three countries where Jerónimo Martins is present – Portugal, Poland and Colombia – investment is around €190 million.