A CEO who writes 8,000 employee birthday cards a year just got the ultimate 'thank you'
- BELFOR Holdings CEO Sheldon Yellen has made it a tradition to write a birthday card for every single employee at the company.
- He now writes about 8,000 cards a year.
- For Yellen's birthday recently, each person in the company wrote a card to give to Yellen as a token of their appreciation.
Corny jokes and gag gifts often punctuate the average 60th-birthday party. But that wasn't the case for Sheldon Yellen.
His gift was 8,000 birthday cards.
Yellen is the CEO of BELFOR Holdings, Inc., a billion-dollar disaster relief and property restoration company. Since 1985, long before Yellen became chief executive, he has written a birthday card to every employee of the company every year. Today, he said he hand-writes 8,000 cards annually.
As a token of the staff's appreciation for that long-standing gesture, Yellen received a signed card from everyone at the company for his 60th birthday.
"The BELFOR family continues to amaze me and I'm overwhelmed by this incredibly heartfelt gesture," Yellen said in a statement to Business Insider. "People say to me all the time that the customer comes first. But I'll say, 'I'm sorry, but my people come first.' And I truly believe that."
"And it worked," he previously told Business Insider. "It got people talking, we started to communicate more, and I like to think it helped me earn respect within the company."
Employees surprised Yellen with gigantic stacks of birthday cards around 4:00 p.m. on January 17. Some of the cards were strung across the ceiling as decorations. Others sat in neat piles on a long table.
Yellen's longtime executive assistant, Gail Kennedy, said the occasion was especially meaningful after working with Yellen for more than two decades.
"Since I started working at BELFOR 21 year ago, I have always looked forward to receiving a birthday card from Sheldon and I think I have saved nearly every single card," she said. "It really is an amazing tradition for a company of our size. The cards always include a personalized note or memory shared, demonstrating how much Sheldon personally cares about every employee."
To write all those cards, Yellen frequently travels with a stack or two. Whenever he has free time on a flight, he knocks out a few dozen. Over time, the gesture has made for a more compassionate, gracious workplace, Yellen said, since it makes people feel appreciated.
"To every single one of BELFOR's employees, I can't thank you enough for your birthday wishes and for your tireless, compassionate dedication to our customers," Yellen said in a statement. "I'm looking forward to reading each and every card!"