An insurance company paid employees $50 million as part of ownership plan

'Tis the season for giving, but a handful of companies appear to be feeling extra generous.

The latest? Integrity Marketing Group, a distributor of life and health insurance products based in Dallas, revealed an employee ownership plan where all 750 of the company's workers have a stake in the firm.

As part of the shift, Integrity also says it has retroactively paid out almost $50 million to employees.

"With this groundbreaking plan, our most valued stakeholders – our employees – can now become partners in our tremendous success with this great company," Bryan W. Adams, co-founder and CEO of Integrity, said in a statement.

The company says it has experienced significant growth over the past three years, with earnings increasing more than 800% over that time.

During an interview with Paste BN, Adams said the lowest amount paid as part of the plan was $7,500. Eligible employees must have worked with Integrity for at least one year. Payments were determined based on factors such as tenure and position with the company.

Adams traveled to more than 30 of the company's offices across the country and held surprise meetings to deliver the news.

"Everyone was just shocked," said Kendall Spence, an executive assistant at Integrity. "Instant tears, including myself, and just so grateful and humble to be recognized."

It's the latest goodwill gesture from a company to its employees. Earlier this week, a Maryland real estate company revealed it surprised all 198 of its employees with a shared $10 million bonus.

Meanwhile, Michigan-based United Shore gave away 13 Cadillacs and 30 cruises to the Bahamas to employees after a record-breaking year.

Adams said he wished they had moved to this employee ownership plan sooner, which prompted the company's leadership to approve paying employees retroactively.

"We went ahead and said let's just go pay that out, but today so that they can realize how serious we are about making everybody a partner, and how serious we are about living out our core values."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.