Workers in two offices, one in North Carolina and one in Colorado, received a super perk—an all-expenses-paid trip to California courtesy of their bosses. They actually went to the Super Bowl—and even the interns are invited!
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Well, the workers just happen to be employees of Jerry Richardson, owner and founder of the Carolina Panthers, and Anabel Bowlen, owner with her husband Pat, and Joe Ellis, president of the Denver Broncos.
Richardson had done this for his employees before in 2004, when he took 550 of them to see the Panthers play the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII. And the Broncos did this for employees in 2014 for Super Bowl XLVIII.
Ellis told the Denver Post that “It’s a huge expense, but it buys you a lot of goodwill and equity with people and makes people feel good about working for Mr. Bowlen.” Panthers’ president Danny Morrison told the Charlotte Observer that “Mr. Richardson understands that this memorable season would not have been possible without harmony and a complete team effort.
The Fayetteville Observer estimates the cost of tickets at between $3,150 and $6,000 (although HRSBT thinks the owners probably get a discount or “group rate”). The paper estimates airfare from Raleigh, North Carolina, to San Francisco at around $500 per person, unless the owners chartered a plane. And hotel rooms go for about $150 per night; no word if the colleagues had to double up. Going back and forth to the stadium would be pricey, but buses were probably chartered. And of, course, the workers have to eat. However, employees would have to buy their own souvenirs (and not put them on an expense account).
So this perk cost the owners a pretty penny, but think of the morale-boosting benefits of this on employees—even if their team doesn’t win.