Year-end bonus rates for Thai workers

[Admin]

Year-end bonus rates for Thai workers 
The Nation: 30 Dec 2009
ANNUAL BONUSES
Average bonus pay-outs increase

The economic turmoil of 2009 is expected to have an effect on bonus payments this year, with the Personnel Management Association of Thailand saying average bonuses will be lower than 1.6 months' salary - the average in 2007 and 2008.

The good news, however, is that nearly all companies contacted by The Nation will be welcoming the New Year with happy employees. Some are promising bonuses higher than last year, thanks mainly to economic recovery in the third and fourth quarters, boosted by the government's stimulus packages.

Although among the hardest hit by falling tourist numbers following the airport shutdown, political uncertainty and type-A (H1N1) influenza, Bangkok Airways is maintaining a bonus of one month's salary, while Thai AirAsia is paying 1.7 months' - an increase from last year's 1.5 months'. However, more than 20,000 employees of Thai Airways International seem unlikely to receive good news, given the national carrier's persistent losses.

Among hotels, the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok is paying one month's salary, unchanged from last year, and the Dusit Thani is expected to pay the same. Employees of the CentralWorld Hotels and Resorts Group should enjoy a 1.2-month payment, unchanged from last year.

The best performers are property companies, which have reaped substantial benefits from tax incentives that have allowed new home-buyers to deduct Bt300,000 from personal income for tax-calculation purposes.

LPN Development is the company with the highest pay-out rate of 10-11 months' salary. It was the champion in 2007, with a bonus equal to 8.6 months' salary, but paid out only four to six months' salary on average last year. The highest bonus rate in 2008 was 10 months' salary.

Trailing closely behind LPN is the country's largest developer, Land & Houses. President Anant Asavabhokin promised a maximum rate of nine months' salary this year, up from four months in 2008. Asian Property Development's rate is also impressive: seven to nine months' salary, up from three or four months' last year. Employees of Sansiri, which cut its margins sharply to hold onto a place in the industry's leading group, are promised at least one month's salary, against an average of two months' last year.

Buoyed by rising oil prices, energy companies could be expected to raise their bonus payments. But industry sources said bonus payments might have been higher had it not been for the Map Ta Phut fiasco, which has cut potential future gains.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand will pay an unchanged rate of five months' salary, while PTT may raise its rate above last year's 5.5 months' despite expectations its 2009 revenue could decline 20 per cent. Its subsidiary, Thai Oil, will hike its rate from four months' salary to five.

Given that the Map Ta Phut fiasco has hurt Dow Chemical's petrochemical project, it remains unknown whether the company's Thai unit will match last year's payment of four months' salary. But the Siam Cement Group, which has 18 industrial projects suspended by court order, will pay 3.75 months' salary, up from three last year.

Thai Tap Water Supply, which offered its employees a big pay rise earlier this year, is keeping its bonus rate of 3.5-months' salary unchanged.

Banks are also maintaining their year-end pay-out rates of 1.5 to three months' salary despite lending growth of less than 10 per cent this year. Leading the way is Siam City Bank, with three months' salary. It said it might pay more next February if this year's performance was better than expected. Last year's performance bonus was equal to one month's salary.

Kasikornbank, which bases bonus payments on return on assets and performance, normally gives two months' salary, and more is promised after its annualised performance is known. Although sticking to its two-months' rate, Bangkok Bank has cut a special-allowance equivalent to one months' salary. The allowance is now equivalent to 2.75 months' salary.

At Krung Thai Bank, bonuses have been included in salary for a few years, so only performance bonuses are paid. Last year, these averaged 1.5 months' salary.

Siam Commercial Bank is guaranteeing a bonus of two months' salary for all employees, while TMB Bank is paying 1.5 months' - but only to staff below the level of executive vice president.

In the insurance industry, Muang Thai Life Assurance paid six to 6.5 months' salary two years ago, and although its average payment will fall to 5.5 months' this year, it is still the highest in the industry. An executive said that even though the company achieved its premium and profit targets, it needed to be prudent in the light of possible economic conditions next year. Likewise, Thai Life Insurance's rate has been cut in half to 1.5 months' salary despite the industry as a whole enjoying growth in first-year premiums of nearly 20 per cent this year.

When the year started, auto companies' staff were among the worst hit by the economic downturn, with a high likelihood of being laid off. However, demand picked up and retrenched staff re-employed. Toyota's staff will receive a bonus of 6.3 months' salary this year, while Honda's employees will enjoy six months' worth.

Although it was a star in terms of bonus payments in the pre-1997 period, the brokerage industry is expected to remain in the doldrums this year. With commission-fee liberalisation set to affect the industry next year, the staff of securities companies are left wondering what bonuses they will get this year.

The poorest staff this New Year could be those in the media sector, particularly print media, as advertising spending tumbled when companies turned more to below-the-line campaigns to boost sales. Ad spending in newspapers began showing annualised growth for the first time this year in October.

BEC World is paying out an unchanged bonus of three months' salary to Channel 3 staff.

Matichon will cut its rate from 3.5 months' to two, MCOT will slash its staff bonuses from six to seven months' salary to 5.5, and Thai Rath, Thailand's biggest newspaper by circulation, will trim its rate by a month to five months' salary.

Not all of Thailand's 34 million workers can expect bonuses this New Year. Those who have pocketed hefty bonuses should be thanking their good fortune that economic conditions recovered faster than expected - and with healthy bank balances should follow the example of the insurance companies and regard 2010 with caution and prudence.

Bonus winners

- Most companies have managed to keep 2009 bonus payment rates unchanged despite the gruesome economic picture in the first half.

Company/2009/2008

Bank

Bangkok Bank/2/2

Bank of Ayudhya/2/2

Krung Thai Bank/na/1.5

Kasikornbank/2+/na

Siam Commercial Bank/2/2

TMB Bank /1.5/1.5

Siam City Bank/3+/3

Energy

PTT/na/5.5

Thai Oil/5/4

IRPC/5/3

PTTAR/min 2/na

SCG/3.75/3

SCG Paper/3.25/3.25

Dow Chemical/na/4

Egat/ 5 /5

TTW/3.5 with raised salary/3.5

Insurance

Muang Thai Life Assurance/5.5/5

Thai Life Insurance/1.5/3

Krungthai AXA Life Insurance/1.5+/3

AXA Insurance/1+/2

AIA/max 2.5/na

Viriyah Insurance/2.5/2.5

Media

Matichon/2/3.5

Mcot 5.5/6-7

Thai Rath/5/6

Daily News/3/3

TV Channel 3/3-/3-

Property

Land & Houses/1-9/3-4

Asian Property Development/7-9/3-4

LPN Development/10-11/4-6

Sansiri Plc/at least 1 month/average 2 months

Tourism

Bangkok Airways/1/1

Thai AirAsia/1.7/1.5

Mandarin Oriental Bangkok/1/1

Dusit Thani Hotel/na/1

CentralWorld Hotels & Resorts Group/na/1.5

Others

Toyota/ 6.3/na

Honda/6/na

Siemens 2 /2

Tesco Lotus/1 to medium- and low-level employees/1 to all

Krungthai Card Plc/1+/1+

Siam City Cement/3/2

TOT/1.25/2.36

CAT Telecom/4/4

Amway Thailand/2+/2+

SCT/fixed 2.9 months/plus 1 month/2.7 plus 1 month

CP All/ 2.5/2.5

DHL Express (Thailand)/2+/2+

Source: Compiled by The Nation