An Indian-American CEO has remembered with gratitude the time his former boss bought him a business class ticket so he could fly home after his father’s death. Sanjay Khosla, a corporate leader with five decades of experience, started his career with Unilever. Today the CEO of Bunnik LLC, he was once a young employee at Unilever London who was left scrambling to get home to Delhi after receiving the news of his father’s sudden death.
Khosla worked at Unilever for 27 years, leaving in 2004 to join Fonterra. It has been more than two decades since he left Unilever, but he still remembers the act of kindness that allowed him to fly home after his father’s death.
The Indian-origin CEO recounted the incident in a LinkedIn post yesterday.
(Also read: Indian company gives employee a month off after father’s death, pays 20% medical bills)
A business class ticket
“Many years back, I was working at Unilever based in London. It was a beautiful Saturday in June when I got a call from my brother in Delhi. My dad had passed away suddenly,” Khosla recalled.
For Khosla, everything changed in an instant. He wanted to fly out immediately, but all the flights from London to Delhi that day were sold out.
{{/usCountry}}For Khosla, everything changed in an instant. He wanted to fly out immediately, but all the flights from London to Delhi that day were sold out.
{{/usCountry}}“I scrambled to get a flight ticket immediately, but all of the flights that day were sold out,” the former Unilever employee recalled.
That’s when his boss at Unilever stepped in to arrange a ticket for him. When Khosla called up his boss to inform him that he would not be in office over the next few days, his boss told him to wait for 30 minutes.
“Give me 30 minutes. I’ll call you back,” he told Khosla.
A memorable act of kindness
Thirty minutes later, the phone rang. It was Khosla’s boss calling to tell him: “There is a business-class ticket from London to Delhi waiting for you at the British Airways counter at Heathrow. Everything has been taken care of. Go be with your family.”
Years later, Sanjay Khosla is still grateful for that act of kindness.
In his LinkedIn post, he said that the business class ticket was more than a way to get home — it was a symbolic hug, proof that someone cared.
“I couldn’t believe it. At a moment when everything felt like it was falling apart, he made one thing easier,” he wrote.
The Indian-American CEO said that there are two main reasons why people stay with companies for years – “Hugs and money.”
While money is very important, “people also need HUGS,” he wrote.
“Money is important. I will never knock money. Pay people well. Reward them. Recognize the value they create.
“But people also need HUGS. They need to know you care. That you will show up when life gets difficult. That you have their back.
“That plane ticket was a HUG. And I have never forgotten it,” he concluded.