Additional encouragement for employees

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Despite having to bear many additional costs during social distancing, representatives of many businesses are still committed to setting aside a bonus to encourage morale in employees, limit personnel disturbance, and prepare human resources to meet production schedules for orders next year.

Than Duc Viet, general director of Garment 10 Corporation, said that although production costs have risen and business efficiency has been damaged, the company still plans to give Lunar New Year bonuses to about 13,000 employees at an average of about 1.5 months’ salary per person.

“People have worked hard to keep up with orders in the fourth quarter, making up for the late orders in Q3 due to social distancing. The bonus is to thank the employees for always accompanying us,” Viet said.

A representative of Saigon Food JSC said that it has only been producing in moderation through a stay-at-work model, but will offer a bonus of two months’ salary for workers along with other gifts.

Foreign-invested enterprises are striving to offer a seasonal bonus which approaches that handed out last year. Freetrend Industrial Vietnam Co., Ltd, based in Linh Trung I Export Processing Zone of Thu Duc city, has announced a bonus which is about 75 per cent of last year’s. Lieu Quang Vinh, chairman of the trade union of Freetrend Industrial said that it was “a huge effort from the company’s leadership.”

Ngo Duy Hieu, vice chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), said that many businesses with high social responsibility are still making efforts to share profits to help employees celebrate Lunar New Year despite being in a recovery phase. “However, the bonus level will not be as high as in previous years, and the level at businesses in the southern region will even decrease by 30-50 per cent,” he said.

To take care of employees’ New Year, the VGCL will spend around $104 million from the trade union’s financial resources to support Lunar New Year money for about eight million workers at enterprises at the rate of VND300,000 ($13) per person. “For workers with difficult circumstances, depending on the circumstances, we will provide an additional VND1-2 million ($44-$88) per person from socialisation sources,” Hieu added.

According to the provisions of the Labour Code, the New Year bonus is not a mandatory amount, but depends on the production and business performance. The bonus in 2020 was 5 per cent less than the previous year, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and based on more than 30,000 enterprises nationwide.

In the second year of the pandemic, Anphabe’s survey results on 50 businesses with 54,000 employees show that only one-quarter of companies can pay the bonus to employees as expected, with the rest lower than planned.

While businesses are still trying to manage bonuses, many employees are willing to share difficulties with their employers. Some do not expect a bonus at all, but are currently just content with having work and salary ensured every month.

Vu Quang Thanh, deputy director of the Hanoi Employment Service Centre said, “According to our observations, whether or not they receive bonuses, the most important goal for many employees right now is to keep jobs and income to ensure their lives and be ready for the common development of the business”.