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The scheme will also include infrastructure for a further 300 future charge points across West Berkshire to ensure the network can grow as demand increases in public car parks and on-street locations.

Installations are expected to begin in 2026 and the council said locations would be confirmed once feasibility studies were completed.

Stuart Gourley, the authority’s executive member for environment and highways, called the project “a major step forward in delivering our climate and transport strategy”.

He said: “By expanding public EV infrastructure, we’re enabling more residents to support our net-zero goals by choosing sustainable travel and future proofing the district as demand grows.”

Connected Kerb chief executive Chris Pateman-Jones said the partnership was “all about giving every resident the confidence to go electric”.

The 20-year contract includes a revenue-share model, capped tariffs to keep charging affordable and “strong service level agreements to ensure performance and reliability”.

At the end of the contract, all infrastructure will transfer to the council for long-term public benefit.

Spending tens of thousands of dollars annually on staff Christmas hampers and cash bonuses is something regional Victorian employer, Paul Butko, is only happy to splurge on.

It is a tradition the Wodonga family owned company, JC Butko Engineering, which has about 150 employees, has kept alive since 1976.

“We have got a great team and your business is only as good as your employees,” Mr Butko said.

“It is a significant cost, but our employees are definitely worth it.”

Less festive bonus season forecast

Christmas bonuses are not legislated in Australia and are given at the employer’s discretion, and experts warn, with tough economic conditions lingering, many employees yearning for a holiday bonus may be disappointed.

“Bonuses have always been tied to business performance and the reality is that many employers have been navigating tighter margins, higher operating costs and ongoing economic uncertainty,” Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Sally Curtain said.

“While some organisations may not be in a position to offer the same level of bonuses as in previous years, we know that many businesses are still working hard to recognise and retain their staff in ways that are sustainable.

“As conditions improve, we expect to see more businesses re-evaluating their incentive structures, but right now the priority is keeping businesses strong and people employed.”

Australia’s unique Christmas bonus

Australia’s strong wages and some unique benefits, like annual leave loading, mean the cash Christmas bonus has not always played a strong role in the country’s workplaces, according to the University of Melbourne’s Professor of Human Resource Management, Peter Gahan.

Annual leave loading is not a universal benefit but is included in many awards, and began in the late 1960s to 1970s, primarily in manufacturing, when many workers were dependent on regular overtime but lost this pay perk during periods of leave.

Professor Gahan said the cash Christmas bonus was more typical in North America and some parts of Europe, while the separate Christmas bonus for salaried employees is a more recent development in Australia.

“Traditionally, what we have had is a Christmas bonus in the form of that annual leave loading,” Professor Gahan said.

“Probably in more professional areas, we have seen Christmas bonuses come into play as a fixed amount that might be received for people who are salaried and perhaps not covered by awards.”

He warned bonuses were a double-edged sword for companies.

“The effect of having it tends to become an expectation and then if it’s removed because of conditions in the economy generally as a discretionary element, people will feel that a lot more strongly and suppose will feel less well disposed towards their employer, and feel like there’s some breach of their psychological contract of employment,” he said.

But for those who do receive a bonus at Christmas, Professor Gahan said morale also climbs, at least temporarily.

“In the US, literally the law is silent around many of these entitlements, so it becomes really at the largesse of the employer, so people perhaps feel more positively disposed to their employer because it’s seen as a gift from their employer when it does happen rather than something that’s required by law,” he said.

Over the past few months, Zak Khire had been budgeting extra time to reach the Sadaqa Food Bank — and even more to get home.

“It’s not like five, 10 minutes. It’s almost half an hour — more than a half-an-hour walk,” he said.

Sadaqa — which is only open on weekends — had been without bus service for eight months, after OC Transpo cut route 189’s Saturday and Sunday runs back in April.

For people like Khire, who relies on transit, it was less than ideal.

But that changed on Sunday. After months of complaints from clients, and advocacy from both Sadaqa and Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine, route 189’s weekend service was restored, reconnecting the Colonnade Road food bank to public transit for the first time since the spring.

“I’m really appreciative of the fact that we [can] take the bus now,” said Khire. “It saves me a headache.”

Sadaqa Food Bank manager Salim Jam says the loss of service only added to his clients’ hardships, many of whom already struggle with food insecurity, mobility challenges or limited income.

“It is very important for them to at least have this peace of mind that they are not going to sleep hungry,” he said.

Some people simply couldn’t make the trip at all, Jam said. They began asking for their food to be delivered, he said, a service the food bank didn’t have the capacity to provide.

Only halal emergency food bank

Sadaqa is one of Ottawa’s five emergency food banks and the only one that provides halal food. It serves people from anywhere in the city when other food cupboards are closed, but it’s only open on Saturdays and Sundays — the same days the bus route had been cut.

Devine said that mismatched schedule made the situation urgent.

His office began working with the food bank and OC Transpo earlier this summer, after learning that clients were facing long walks or booking expensive taxi rides just to access free food.

Devine said the decision to restore the route “is not about the number of riders, but about the experience of the people who have lost that bus.”

OC Transpo ultimately agreed, restoring weekend service on Sunday. 

“Their challenges are already tough enough and this is going to make their lives a little bit easier,” said Devine.

Jam says the return of a warm bus ride, especially heading into winter, makes a real difference for families trying to put food on the table.

“This is really something wonderful for them. They feel less worried about the food at least, and that’s what we’re here for,” said Jam.

Khire agrees.

“There’s a lot of people who come to this location,” he said, adding that now, “it’s going to be easy for them.”