Tet Bonus: Some with billions, others with nothing

Many businesses give bonuses of hundreds of millions, even billions of dong, but in many units, workers have not known about Tet bonuses for many years.

Mr. Duong (Tay Ho), a division director at a large bank headquartered in Hanoi, said that the bank's leaders had just discussed and agreed on a general Lunar New Year bonus for all employees of about 3 months' salary. In addition, each department will have its own bonus package, calculated based on business performance. For Mr. Duong, the bonus after receiving it will probably be more than 200 million VND, an increase of about 15% compared to last year.

Equally excited, Mr. Son (Dong Da), manager of a real estate company in Hanoi, said that this year's Tet bonus depends on the business results of the entire department this month. However, according to the announcement of the company's leaders on the bonus calculation formula, the lowest amount he will receive will be around 100 million VND. Last year, in addition to the year-end bonus, at the end of the sales campaign for each project, if he achieved good revenue, he was also rewarded from several tens to hundreds of millions.

Tet bonuses at many businesses actually amount to billions of dong but are not included in the reports of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. Photo: Anh Quan

Meanwhile, in many businesses, for many years now, employees have not known about Tet bonuses, and have even been owed wages for some recent months. Ms. Hoa (Cau Giay) who works at a company specializing in providing cleaning services said that for the past 3 years, she has never received a Tet bonus. And this year, the company's leadership has just made a similar announcement, even though the business situation is better.

"I just hope to be paid early enough to have money to spend. Some years, I only receive my salary in the afternoon of the last working day to go shopping for Tet. Meanwhile, on the last days of the year, we work very busy, sometimes up to 10 hours a day," said Ms. Hoa.

In the same situation, Mr. Cuong (Bac Tu Liem), working at a small-scale electronics company, said that this year there is no Tet bonus, while the last days of the year will have to work 2-3 times harder. However, for this employee, not being unemployed is a blessing because last year the company cut about 20% of its staff.

According to the representative of the Hanoi Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the situation of Ms. Hoa is not unique. A report from this agency a few days ago said that the highest Lunar New Year bonus compiled by this unit was about 100 million VND, the lowest was 450,000 VND. However, Mr. Pham Van Thanh - Head of the Department of Labor - Wages, Department of Labor said that the number was compiled based on the number of units that sent reports to the Department, which accounts for about 1% of the number of businesses in the area.

"Therefore, this is not a complete picture of Tet bonuses but only represents a small part of businesses. Some places do not have bonuses or many units have bonuses higher than 100 million VND," Mr. Thanh commented.

The newly announced Tet bonus data of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs on the Tet bonus situation of Binh Than 2016 was collected from more than 13,000 enterprises nationwide. Of which, more than 1,700 enterprises have no Tet bonus plan or do not have bonuses for employees. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, the published report shows that the highest bonus for the solar New Year is up to more than 2 billion VND, and the Lunar New Year bonus is 600 million VND, but conversely, there are also 215 enterprises that announced that they may not give Tet bonuses.

The director of a human resources company commented that looking at the Tet bonus picture, one can see the business situation of enterprises.

"It is impossible to demand a uniform and equal Tet bonus picture in a fiercely competitive market economy because the actual potential and business results of each enterprise are not the same," she said.

According to this expert, from the psychological perspective of workers, after working all year, they also hope to receive a bonus, even a small gift, from the company.

"For business leaders, if the company is doing well, everyone wants to treat employees well because salary and bonuses are important criteria to help the company have the opportunity to recruit talent. However, if the company does not have the conditions, employees should not take that as a minus point because in reality, to stick with a company, many other factors need to be considered," he said.

Also due to the pressure of Tet bonuses, many units have implemented a policy of rewarding employees with gifts and products from the company itself, even the lowest bonus this year is only 40,000 VND, belonging to an FDI enterprise in Binh Phuoc.

According to VNE