Bonus falls short of employee expectations

JobStreet.com, an online recruitment website, recently conducted a “Bonus Satisfaction Survey” of both employers and employees. The survey found that 38 per cent of employees were dissatisfied with their bonus.

Tanaporn Satitpunwaycha, country manager of JobStreet (Thailand), said that on average 32 per cent of employers paid 1-2 months’ bonus for 2011 while 21 per cent paid no more than one month, 9 per cent paid 2-4 months, 6.5 per cent paid 4-6 months and 2 per cent paid more than six months. Of the total 10.5 per cent, did not pay bonus for this year.

About 58 per cent of employers stated that the main factor influencing the bonus rate was the company’s financial results in 2011 while 20.1 per cent attributed it to employee performance Some 12 per cent of respondents paid a fixed-rated bonus.

About 56 per cent of employees surveyed said that they had got a bonus while 31 per cent did not get any and 13 per cent still did not know. When asked whether the bonus influenced employees’ decision to stay on in the job or quit, 55 per cent of employers said it would not have a significant affect while 21 per cent said it would be a major reason for employees quitting their jobs. About 20 per cent thought there would be no effect and 3.5 per cent were not sure. 

Among the employees surveyed, 59.9 per cent said bonus was not a major reason for quitting a job while 19.6 per cent said that would be the main reason. Nearly 10 per cent of the respondents said they wanted to change their job, irrespective of the bonus while 2.5 per cent intended to stay in their current job because of bonus satisfaction.

“In terms of bonus satisfaction, Kasikorn Research Centre’s analysis found that although the government controlled consumer prices during last year’s floods but the total expenses of people per household is still higher than normal. It also forecast inflation at 3.9 per cent in 2012 due to several important factors such as the energy price or wage-hike policies. This is consistent with the bonus satisfaction survey, which found that 37.7 per cent of employees were dissatisfied with their bonus as the amount received was not sufficient to make up for the increasing expenses. 

When asked how they planned to spend the bonus money, 47 per cent said they would save the money while 15 per cent will buy a gift for the family, 11 per cent plan to invest it, 11 per cent will pay off loans, and 4 per cent will use it for travel, Tanaporn added.

JobStreet.com also asked what impact the floods had on the bonus. About 53 per cent of employers said there was no major effect while 24 per cent blamed the flood for the lower bonus; 6.8 per cent cancelled bonus plans for this year because of the impact of the flood and 7.5 per cent will pay bonus later than usual.

JobStreet found that that 21 per cent of employers surveyed paid bonus higher than the previous year while 23.7 per cent paid less than last year and 37.7 per cent paid the same amount as year.

There were 427 companies and 2,714 jobseekers from JobStreet.com’s database who responded to the survey questions. The top-three industries that joined the survey were from the manufacturing sector (28 per cent), trading industry (15 per cent) and telecommunication/IT industry (10 per cent). About 74 per cent of participating companies were in the Bangkok area while 10 per cent were in the central area and another 10 per cent were in the eastern area. Of the 2,714 jobseekers, 71 per cent were at office level, 14 were senior office level, 13 per cent were at manager level and 2 per cent were senior manager level. In addition, 27 per cent worked in the manufacturing industry while 10 per cent worked in trading company and 9 per cent in the construction industry.