Best Boss: CEO rewards 800 employees with Caribbean cruise for their hard work

A generous boss of a US-based company has rewarded his 800 employees with Caribbean cruise for their hard work over the last 12 months.

The CEO of Bertch Cabinets will pay for all of his staff to have a five-day break at the start of 2017.

Gary Bertch, who co-founded the company with his wife, Becky, told workers last week the company had met its goals for the year and they would go on a week-long Caribbean cruise, including a stop at the island of Cozumel off the coast of Mexico, The Courier reported.

“Bertch is excited to announce a company wide vacation!  We will be closing all facilities January 9-13 so we can set sails for the sunny Caribbean! This trip wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of our incredible Bertch associates!  Happy Holidays, everyone!,” they posted on Facebook.

Bertch will fly staff to Miami for a night in a five-star hotel before the Caribbean cruise begins, the paper said.

“We’ve got four charter aircraft that will be flying directly to Miami Sunday and staying at a nice five-star hotel,” Bertch said. “Then on Monday, we’ll bus over from the hotel to the port and load up on the ship.”

He explained that the cruise was offered to staff at the beginning of the year as an incentive.

“We just tried to get all of our people pumped up a little more to achieve the various goals, both customer-oriented goals and financial goals,” he added.

“We’re happy we were able to achieve our goals. And they’re never easy. The financial goal was the big one,” one of the last to be met.

“We hit the other goals. Not by much. But we hit them. We’re looking forward to the following year.”

Asked why he chose Carnival cruise lines, he replied:

“They’re a fun ship. And if anyone knows our crowd, they like to have fun. The first time we had them we ran them out of beer. We’ve learned they stocked extra for our trip this time so we don’t run out.”

The company, founded in a Gilbertville barn in 1977, is based in Waterloo, Iowa.

Many have praised the company on social media, with one posting: “That’s awesome! What an incredible company! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe trip!!!”