LENEXA, KAN. — Hostess Brands, Inc. on Aug. 3 announced the company has awarded bonuses of up to $1,000 to each of its bakery and warehouse employees. The special payments to almost 2,000 company associates was made in recognition of the employees’ “hard work and dedication over the past several months.”

“At Hostess, our people are our top priority, and we are pleased to reward and recognize the flexibility and commitment of our bakery and warehouse workers with ‘thank you’ bonuses for the second time this year,” said Rob Weber, chief people officer. “Our frontline workers are essential to delivering the high-quality, great-tasting Hostess and Voortman snacks.”

Hostess said the company has had to “stay nimble” amid supply chain shortages that interfered with ingredient availability. The disruptions necessitated altering production plans and rescheduling deliveries, which in turn made it necessary for employees to adjust their hours to produce and deliver the company’s baked foods.

Even with the changes necessitated by the supply chain problems, Hostess said its plants ran safely and efficiently. To make this point, the company highlighted its national warehouse in Egerton, Kan., which currently has a 1.26 Total Incident Rate, a measure of recordable incidents a company experiences per 100 full-time workers in a given timeframe.

“To put that in perspective, the national TIR for warehouses is 5.1,” Hostess said. “And throughout the company’s bakery network and warehouse, there hasn’t been a lost-time accident in more than 60 days.”