STAFF at Mainline Employment offices in Swindon will be rewarded for battling through tough economic times with a half million-pound trip to the City by the Bay, San Francisco.

Next month, more than 30 staff from the company will be accompanied by their partners to celebrate a belated Christmas on the west coast of America after boss Stella Weekes scrimped and saved for two years to afford the package.

Stella said the company routinely offers trips abroad for its staff, but as they were celebrating a quarter of a century in business the San Fransisco trip would be a special Christmas treat.

The holiday is in place of an end-of-year staff bonus, because Stella feels a more personal touch is more vaulable and sticks in the memory.

“I have taken the staff away many times, to places like Las Vegas, New York, Vienna and Paris, and there have been lots of side trips,” she said.

“We have been all over the world, doing things like whale watching and air ballooning.

“I find memories make a big difference with people. I could hand out Christmas bonuses or put £1,000 into wages, but that tends to be eaten up quite quickly, and if you take people abroad they will still be talking about it 10 years later.

“This is the most expensive one we have done to date, but it is a Christmas bonus for them instead of cash.

“I set the whole team a goal last Christmas Eve to hit and said that I would take them away for the company’s 25th year.

“These people have taken me through two recessions, having to clean their own offices and work weekends unpaid, so this is my way of saying thank you to the whole team for standing by me through all of that.

“We are still having tough times and the market is very competitive at the moment, but we have managed to remain stable so I thought the timing was right to do something like this.”

The team will set out in two groups on January 18 and 25, with the offices remaining manned at all times.

Visits to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge will be topped off with a Christmas dinner on a night harbour cruise.

“Because we are a 24-hour business we can only take half of the staff at a time, so half will be going out the first week and the other half the week after,” said Stella.

“That way the business is still being run by 50 per cent of the staff and we will be out there for 10 days in total.

“People do think I’m crazy, and I have got a bit scared because it is a lot of money but I think the team work really hard and deserve this.

“Most of them have been with me since day one and we really do work hard to keep our margins competitive and tight. It is the memories they will be keeping with them and talking about forever and a day.

“I am not the best boss in the world, and sometimes I have been the worst boss. But it is important to have incentives when your staff work long hours for you.

“It has taken me two years to save for this and all of the last year to plan it all out, because it is not just the money but losing that many people from the business at one time.”