Bonus cheer for auto workers
EMPLOYEE bonuses will drop slightly for this year, but workers in the vehicle industry will fare best.
Automotive workers can expect, on average, to receive a payout of 2.33 months for a guaranteed bonus and 2.14 months for a performance-based bonus for 2017.
A survey indicates about 35 per cent of the employees who will receive a bonus will save the money. By age group, some 55 per cent of baby boomers will put the windfall into their savings. About 38 per cent of those in the Generation Z age bracket will put the money into investments.
Noppawan Chulakanista, managing director of jobDB (Thailand), said that the firm polled workers across the region on the bonus outlook, including 2,020 employees and job seekers in Thailand, 322 organisations in 26 categories and at least 47 businesses in December.
The survey found that employee bonuses are divided into two categories: a guaranteed bonus and a performance-based payment.
The survey found that, coming behind the automotive industry in guaranteed payouts, were the electronics and electrical equipment industries with payments based on 1.31 months, the financial services industry at 1.16 months, the food and beverage industries at 0.89 month and the information technology sector at 0.86 month, respectively. The automotive industry paid the highest guaranteed bonus last year at 2.35 months.
For the performance-based component this year, the automotive industry still paid the highest bonus at 2.14 months, followed by the financial services industry at 1.96 months, electronics and electrical equipment at 1.26 months, food and beverage industries at 1.1 months and IT industry at 0.92 month. Last year the automotive industry paid a performance-based bonus at 4.74 months.
She said that the main factor driving corporate decisions on a bonus is the slowdown in the economy, felt across the country.
For the category of employee that gains the highest bonus, the managers stand out, with a guaranteed bonus of 1.53 months and those in the top executive level will gain a performance-based bonus of 2.17 months. The survey found that 39 per cent of organisations give out the bonuses in December, with 14 per cent paying in January and 12 per cent in February.
