Tet bonus: one-month salary is maintained in many businesses

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The wood industry is expected to have good salaries and Tet bonuses this year. Photo: ST

The average Tet bonus is one-month salary

The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs has issued a written request to 63 localities to survey the situation of unpaid wages and Tet bonus of the Lunar New Year 2020, reporting before December 20.

Accordingly, localities required businesses to coordinate with trade unions to revise labour contracts, collective labour agreements, and regulations on payment of salaries and bonuses and develop bonus schemes based on the 2019 production and business results according to Article 103 of the 2012 Labour Code. The survey focused mainly on four groups of enterprises, including: one member limited liability companies with 100 percent State capital; companies with dominant shares or contributed capital belong to the State; foreign-invested enterprises (FDI) and private enterprises.

Regarding unpaid wages in 2019, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs required localities to focus on labour in four groups, namely textile, footwear, seafood processing and wood processing. In particular, the causes of wage debt were clearly divided such as: business owners leaving, closing businesses, and businesses with difficulties.

The localities will coordinate with the Management Board of industrial parks, economic zones, and export processing zones to grasp the situation of salary debt in 2019, the reward plans based on business results on the occasion of the Solar and Lunar New Year 2020 to employees in enterprises inside and outside industrial parks, economic zones, and export processing zones.

According to experts, the Tet bonus in 2020 will have small fluctuations only as enterprises have faced many difficulties. The average bonus will remain at one-month salary for employees (or the 13th month salary). Notably, the highest and lowest bonus among business sectors and localities will have huge differences. The number of businesses rewarding VND300,000 - 500,000 per person on Tet holiday will certainly be, because some businesses have struggled difficult in business activities, and an increase of input cost. This difference shows the health of enterprises is not equal.

Which industry will experience fluctuations?

Talking to Customs News, Can Thuy Huong, Head of Human Resources Department of Nam Duong Investment and Construction Co., Ltd., said with nearly 100 employees, in addition to deploying Tet trips for far-away labourers to get to their hometowns, the firm’s Tet bonus also had a clear division this year.

“Our business results have increased by about 15 percent over the previous year. This is a good growth rate in the current difficult business situation. It is expected this year's Tet bonus will be at least one-month salary and a fixed bonus of 1 million VND per employee. For the sales department, this bonus will be higher, the highest bonus will be eight times the monthly salary. For the management department, the bonus will include seniority. Therefore, each manager will have an average bonus equal to three times their monthly salary,” said Huong.

The wood industry has had remarkable growth this year. Financial statements of many wood enterprises showed many bright spots in their production and business. Therefore, it is expected they will have the most “fluctuating” bonus compared to the previous year.

Specifically, according to Pham Van Thanh, Director of Phu Gia Van Diem Furniture Co., Ltd., participation in free trade agreements (FTAs) has brought many opportunities for the wood processing and export industry. In addition, the development of certified forests has contributed to improving the reputation of Vietnamese timber products. Therefore, the company’s export turnover had very good growth, leading to the improvement in Tet bonus for workers. According to Thanh, there are more than 300 workers in his factory, whose average income reaches nearly 7 million VND per month, an increase of about 1 million compared to previous years.

Last year, Thanh’s company awarded the 13th month salary for workers with 1.8 times average salary. This year, thanks to better business results, they will have a Tet bonus for workers to about 2.2 times the monthly salary.