Additional day off for JCB employees

Global workforce to get an extra day’s holiday this year as company marks its 75th birthday

JCB are to mark their 75th birthday by giving employees around the world an additional day’s holiday, the company announced today. The news was conveyed to employees ahead of tomorrow’s anniversary.

And in a special video message to the global workforce, JCB chairman Anthony Bamford paid tribute to the efforts of employees past and present who have contributed to the success of the company.

JCB were founded in a lock-up garage in Uttoxeter on 23 October 1945 by the late Joseph Cyril Bamford – the day his son Anthony, now Lord Bamford, was born.

The company’s first product was a hydraulic tipping trailer made out of war-time scrap. Today, JCB manufacture more than 300 different machines, including the world’s first electric mini-excavator.

Lord Bamford (pictured) said: ‘As we mark 75 years in business, I know that everything JCB have achieved is due to the hard work and commitment of everyone who works for us or has worked for us in the past.

‘I’d like to thank everyone for their support over the years and particularly in recent months while we were dealing with the challenging business situation. We did have plans to celebrate our 75th anniversary, but COVID-19 changed all that.

‘So, rather than celebrate, we should remember everything that JCB have achieved in the past 75 years. From small beginnings in a lock-up garage in Uttoxeter back in 1945, the JCB team has helped to create a business that we can all be very proud of.’

The extra day’s holiday will be taken by UK employees on Christmas Eve to extend the traditional festive break. JCB employ more than more 12,000 people globally, with around half of them based at the company’s 11 UK plants.