Banks to raise base salary to Bt15,000
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Some banks plan to hike the base monthly salary for new employees to Bt15,000 and adjust the pay of existing employees accordingly to take into account the stellar performance of the industry and the government's policy to increase the minimum monthly sa
The government will pay at least Bt15,000 to new graduates.
At Kasikornbank, new bachelor-degree recruits currently start earning Bt12,000-Bt14,000 plus allowances of Bt2,000-Bt3,000.
Somkiat Sirichatchai, senior executive vice president of KBank, said the entry-level salary would be raised to Bt15,000 in April.
To maintain the pay scale, existing employees’ salaries will be bumped up to Bt18,000-Bt19,000.
The salary adjustment will cost the bank no more than 10 per cent of 2011’s payroll, which is acceptable.
KBank will add 2,000-3,000 staff for branch expansion, loan growth and the SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) portfolio.
Although the flood hurt the performance of the banking industry this quarter, KBank plans to pay a bonus of 2.5-3.5 months’ salary in April. The actual figure will depend on the financial results of the fourth quarter, Somkiat said.
Apisak Tantivorawong, president of Krung Thai Bank, said it had proposed to the Finance Ministry a rise in the entry salary of those with an undergraduate degree to Bt15,000 from Bt12,000-Bt14,000.
The salary for current employees will also be raised by Bt1,000.
The bank will pay a bonus but the figure will have to wait for its financial results for this quarter. Last year’s bonus was one to two months’ salary, Apisak said.
Kannikar Chaitaporn, president of Siam Commercial Bank, said it had no plan to change its base salary of Bt14,000, as staff already receive 14 months of salary per year.
The bank will hire 1,000 staff for branch expansion. It recruits mostly bachelor-degree holders, but most of them resign because new graduates are young people who look for a new challenge, she said.
Somkiat said KBank was facing higher personnel turnover especially among those below 30 years of age. This so-called generation Y wants to explore new things. When they find that what they are doing is not in their field of interest, they leave.
The good points of generation Y are working at full capacity and creativity. Banks still need them to gain experience and then replace retiring employees, he said.
Of KBank’s 17,000-strong workforce, the baby-boomer generation represents 30 per cent, the X generation that followed the baby-boomers 30 per cent, and the Y generation 40 per cent.
