Hormel Foods Inc. dished out $4.9 million dollars to employees this week as part the company’s one-time holiday bonus awards.

“We are pleased to announce today that all 19,500 Hormel Foods employees are receiving a one-time discretionary monetary award,” said Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer at Hormel Foods.

Ettinger said the checks were given to the employees because of the demonstrated work ethic put forth over the last few years.

“This award recognizes our employees for their hard work during the past couple of years to help us generate excellent performance despite facing economic hard times.”

Each employee received a check worth $250.