Delta Air Lines has a unique way of using its profits. Since merging with Northwest in 2012, Delta has been implementing a policy called “profit-sharing,” which redistributes parts of a company’s profits back into the pockets, retirement plans or stocks of employees.
Over 90,000 Delta Air Lines employees will receive 16.6% of their income in profit-sharing bonuses — two extra months of pay — on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
The payouts will total over $1.6 billion.
Usually bonus programs only offer between 4.7% and 12.9% of pay, according to The Washington Post, making the Delta Air Lines payout even more monumental.
Every year since 2014, Delta has paid out at least $1 billion to workers, CNN reports. They include both full- and part-time workers, union and nonunion, and the profit-sharing program is in addition to other benefits like performance-based bonuses and 401(k) matching.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian shared at a Chamber of Commerce event last week in Georgia that he received a lot of backlash from Wall Street for the profit-sharing program.
But the company said it’s an important way to show employees their work to make Delta the world’s most-awarded airline is appreciated, CNN reports.
While you may be too late for this year’s profit-sharing bonus, Delta plans to hire 25,000 new employees over the coming three to four years, Today.com reports. If you’ve always dreamed of a career in travel, now could be the best time.